The Chicago Blackhawks Need To Move on From Arvid Soderblom After This Season

Every goalie develops at a different pace, but there are enough data points to conclude Arvid Soderblom is not the guy at goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks. Heck, he is not even the solution as the backup.

It is time to move on from Soderblom after this season. You could make an argument that he should have been demoted to the AHL after he gave up four goals in a shutout loss to the Anaheim Ducks last night. Jaxson Stauber is the only other goalie in the Hawks system who is capable of playing in the NHL, and the Rockford IceHogs need him as they try to make the Calder Cup playoffs.

Yes, that is more important to the organization as it means at least a couple more games for the team's prospects to skate in.

That means Soderblom will probably get a few more starts and that has been rough to watch lately. He has given four goals in four of his five starts this month. He was chased 14:19 into the game against the Los Angeles Kings.

Just when you think Arvid is making some progress, he keeps going through these rough patches.

He was solid in two February starts as he gave up just four goals. Outside of one solid start at Arizona this month, Soderblom has been the same struggling goalie we have seen all season.

He is 4-20-1 this season. Soderblom ranks 53 in goals allowed and 52nd in save percentage in the NHL. He is second to last among goalies who have played in a minimum of20 games in goals saved above expected. He is number in that category is -18. That means not only can he not make saves an average goalie should make, but he is allowing 18 more goals than your normal netminder.

The defense has not been great in front of Soderblom. The one reason it is time to move on is he just keeps failing to make bail-out saves. Players are going to get beat from time to time, but a goalie needs to make a save when that happens to support his team.

Petr Mrazek has done that all season and it is not like he has been a wall in goal. He has been solid for the most part with his numbers, but keeping the opponent from breaking the game wide-open has made Mrazek so valuable to the Blackhawks.

Soderblom just cannot do that. He also then fails to make the easy save on most nights.

A full season and two brief showcases over the past two years have shown there is no fixing Soderblom. It is time to move on. The Blackhawks can find a cheap backup goalie in the offseason or give Stauber a chance to win the No. 2 job in training camp next season. They just need someone to cover next season until Drew Commesso is ready to compete for an NHL job in 2025.