Spencer Knight can give Blackhawks even more chances to win in 2026-27

This offseason, Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson talked about "checking boxes" when it came to improving their roster. Bowen Byram filled a big need on defense. Cole Smith and Jordan Greenway shored up the bottom six, etc.

The one position they don't need to check a box for is goalie. Ever since Spencer Knight made his Blackhawks debut in 2025 after his acquisition from the Florida Panthers, the Blackhawks saw the potential and committed to him with a three-year deal.

Last season was Knight's first full season in net and so far, he has proved the Blackhawks' right.

His storyline for 2026-27 is about how will continue to grow in the no. 1 spot.

Knight thrived with more responsibility

There were a lot of positives around Knight's game, but one of the biggest things to note is that because the Blackhawks' roster was so young (including 25-year-old Knight), and they were going through the growing pains of development, Knight's calmness was an asset.

Head coach Jeff Blashill described Knight, "He's very calm, pretty level-headed, not easy-going... very competitive and serious, but level-headed. And I think that's probably really important. I think anytime you have the emotional ups and downs and highs and lows that we're going to have with a young team and the young defense corps, you know, as the goaltender, being able to just stay calm in the face of adversity is really important. I think it's important for all of us, but there's certain positions where it really can show up, and he's consistently done that. He hasn't ever gotten too emotionally high, too emotionally low. He's never let frustration become a big piece of what he's about. He just kind of has a really good attitude, kind of like our team has, I think, a lot of nights of learning from the game before and moving on. And he exemplifies that.”

Last season, Knight went 19-25-11 with a 2.82 goals-againt average and a .902 save percentage in 55 games. Considering the Blackhawks struggled with goals-against, giving up the sixth-most goals-against in the NHL per game (3.29), the numbers showed his reliability in net. He was also tied for 10th amongst NHL goalies in shutouts (3).

Experience should benefit Knight in 2026-27

Knight had never started more than 27 NHL games until last season, and now he knows all it entails.

During exit interviews, he touched on how he evaluated his season with the workload: "I think overall it was a good year playing more games. I don't know how many total I played, but I felt good. I mean, I felt like I could have played more. And I'm gonna have to play more at some point, right? You know, you play 50, 60 in regular season, you're going to have to play 70, 80 if you play playoffs, which is what we're going to try to do at some point. So I felt fine. I thought my game felt good... just grew and you just keep learning how to make better reads, you know, getting all different situations, different kinds of games, different types of pressure, playing from behind, playing with a lead. I think that... obviously, you know, has a factor in the reads you make. How you react. So I think that was all really good."

He had some off nights, but not often. Being able to give his team that stability was significant.

Blashill said in April, "He's done a good job. I think he wants to be a number one. That's something that he felt he had the opportunity to do coming here, and we've given him kind of that responsibility. And I think he's done a really good job for us. We haven't been perfect defensively. I think we're going to get better and better defensively as we grow as a group, and so we make it hard on our goalies some nights. And I think he's done a good job of, number one: playing. Giving us a chance to win most nights. I think he's done a good job of fighting through any kind of frustration when we have tough nights.”

Knight's 19 wins tied his career-best from 2021-22, and if he and the team continue to improve as expected, he can eclipse those numbers.

Overall, Knight's performance was encouraging. Next season, he should progress even more in the no. 1 role.

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