Should Arvid Soderblom be the Chicago Blackhawks' No. 1 goalie for the rest of the season?

The Chicago Blackhawks snapped their five-game skid with a 4-2 home victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Goaltender Arvid Soderblom played a large role in that victory, stopping 38 of 40 shots. He was fantastic in the second period when the Canadiens had 10 high-danger scoring chances and did not score a goal.

That performance only furthers his recent case to take over the No. 1 netminder spot.

Considering Soderblom was the goalie during the Hawks' first win streak in what seemed like forever along with only one statistically poor outing in his last seven appearances, he has earned the right to see if he can still be the team's top goalie--especially with Petr Mrazek struggling since returning from injury.

Soderblom failed miserably to take hold of the top goalie spot last season. It was one reason Mrazek was extended and Laurent Brossoit was signed in the offseason to be the backup goalie.

Soderblom was supposed to finish his days with the organization in the AHL when his contract was up after this season. Instead, Brossoit required offseason knee surgery which allowed Soderblom to have a second chance at the NHL. Brossoit needing a second operation and Arvid taking advantage of this opportunity has given his NHL career a new lease on life.

He has gone from has-been to rising star.

Soderblom is 6-9-1 with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage--good for 15th in the league. His saves above expected in all situations is at four. However, it does drop to -1.5 in 5on5 situations. Not all of that should be placed on Soderblom as the blue line has been terrible at moving screeners out of his view and keeps allowing opponents to get to prime scoring spots on the ice.

Considering Mrazek has been awful lately, it is time to give Soderblom to see if he can still be a long-term piece.

Mrazek has allowed 24 goals and has a 5.39 GAA in his past six starts. In November, his GAA was 2.24 in eight starts.

Mrazek's overall production has plummeted to a 3.23 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Soderblom has stayed steady the past two months with a 3.04 GAA in December and a 2.28 in November. December includes two games where did give up five or more goals, but again some of that can be attributed to the defense being awful lately at making things easier on the goalie.

It cannot hurt to see if Soderblom can reclaim being the team's long-term goalie of the future especially since he is set for restricted free agency after the season concludes. The team must decide who will be the long-term netminder since Mrazek and Brossoit are only signed through next season.

Drew Commesso is waiting in the wings in Rockford and has shown promise he can be a legit No. 1 netminder too. If the decision is to stick with Commesso as the long-term option, it still makes sense then to showcase Soderblom so he can be dealt by the trade deadline.

Either way, it is time to give Soderblom a run and finances should not dictate Mrazek still being the top goalie. Performance should and right now, Arvid is performing better.