chicago_suntimes
Spencer Knight is uneasy about the Chicago Blackhawks' choice to assign goaltender Arvid Soderblom to the Rockford IceHogs, the team's AHL affiliate, after a disappointing road trip. Knight, who previously shared goaltending duties with Soderblom, voiced his concerns on Tuesday, pointing out that Soderblom had seen minimal action this season.
"Sody, to be real, has only played like four games," Knight remarked. He continued, "I feel like giving up someone like that who had only played that many games, [and had] been put in tough situations, to me just isn't right." Indeed, the Blackhawks' coaching staff has relied heavily on Knight, giving him 14 starts in 18 games, including all nine home contests. Soderblom's four starts were all on the road, with two coming on the second night of back-to-back games.
Knight's comments suggest he believes Soderblom wasn't given a fair chance to prove himself before being blamed for the team's 4-13-1 record. "I'm sure he wanted, [at] times, to play better," Knight said. "There's a lot of times where everyone wants to play better. But if [sending down] 'Sody' is the only thing we do, I'd rather them come to me and put something on me, blame me or something. I've played most of the games. I'd rather take the heat than have him take the heat if that's the only thing we do. No one has talked to me about it, and frankly I think I deserve more of the blame."
While Knight's perspective is understandable, Soderblom's track record as a statistically below-average NHL goalie, combined with his particularly rough four starts this season, seemed to justify the move. Still, it's fair to question why Soderblom's demotion is the only roster change the Hawks have made. No other players have been waived or traded, even though general manager Kyle Davidson, who is scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday, has reportedly been exploring trade options.
Knight mentioned how the team "talks about accountability and what we want to hold the standard to be," and there's no doubt Soderblom isn't the only Hawk whose performance has fallen short of those standards. After all, Soderblom isn't responsible for the fact that the Hawks have allowed the most two-on-one rushes in the league, or that they've likely had among the most failed defensive-zone exits.
The Hawks hope that emphasizing system tweaks and points of emphasis in practice this week will help, but the lack of bigger changes is certainly curious. It's also curious that the Hawks haven't yet committed to Drew Commesso, who was called up Sunday to replace Soderblom, sticking in the NHL moving forward. Coach Jeff Blashill said the team determined they "needed a little bit more" from the backup goalie role, but he has given several evasive answers when asked specifically about Commesso.
"Right now, he's here, and Spencer is our starter and he's the backup," Blashill said Tuesday. "We wouldn't have recalled him if that wasn't the case. But I also don't want to get too far ahead of myself on anything. That's not fair to anyone involved."
As for Knight, his numbers—including an .881 save percentage and a minus-3.7 GSAA—are down from last season. For comparison, Soderblom had an .842 save percentage and a minus-6.4 GSAA. However, the Hawks' defense has made life difficult for Knight, even if he hasn't stolen as many wins as he did early last season. He has faced the second-most high-danger shots per minute among all goalies leaguewide.
"There's always frustration," Knight said. "But I try to channel that frustration more toward, 'I should've done this. I should've done that.' Not being like, 'What's going on in front of me?' At the end of the day, that's all I can control. Once you start trying to control the externals, you find yourself not enjoying and not focusing on your process."
Originally reported by chicago_suntimes.