Photo credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images
General manager Kyle Davidson and the Chicago Blackhawks rebuild found its goalie of the future through a trade that many were unsure about at the start.
Chicago has spent years chasing structure, young skill, and a real plan between the pipes since Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane left.
When Kyle Davidson flipped Seth Jones to Florida on March 1, 2025, it wasn’t just a salary dump. It was a swing for the hardest position to solve, and he nailed it.
Knight is 24, 6 foot 3, and was drafted 13th overall in 2019 by the Florida Panthers. Chicago basically bought time for the rebuild, and bought a ceiling.
The early returns look like a starter, not a placeholder. In 33 games this season, Knight sits at 14-13 with a 2.53 GAA and a .913 SV%, eating 1967:44 of ice time, often being the Blackhawks’ best on ice player of the night.
That workload matters on a young roster that still bleeds chances when shifts get loose. A calm goalie covers a lot of mistakes, and it changes how a coach can roll his bench.
Knight also brings real puck battle confidence, which helps a blue line full of kids. When the first pass is clean, breakouts stop looking like survival drills.
And the cap angle is sneaky huge. Chicago extended him for three years at $17.5 million, starting in 2026-27, so the long runway is already set.
Spencer Knight anchors Chicago Blackhawks future
As a fan watching this rebuild, this is the first goalie move in a while that feels like a win you can circle and brag about.
Arvid Soderblom is still around, but the roles are clearer now. Knight is the guy you build your nightly game plan around, not the guy you hope survives it.
Down the road, Drew Commesso keeps the pipeline alive at 23, drafted in the second round in 2020 by Chicago. That’s the kind of internal pressure good teams have.
The «genius» part from Davidson is timing. He grabbed Knight before Chicago’s roster is truly ready, so the growing pains don’t wreck the next goalie’s confidence.
It also sends a message to Connor Bedard and the room. This franchise is done pretending, they’re starting to stack real solutions.
Now the next step is simple. Keep the kids in front of Knight improving, and see how far a real starter can drag this team by the trade deadline.
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Huge trade acquisition by the Chicago Blackhawks grants them their franchise build-around player of the future
Was the Spencer Knight trade a genius move by Kyle Davidson?