The Chicago Blackhawks have been in a long rebuild, but they’re finally moving in the right direction. The young core they’ve put together is starting to show what they’re capable of.
One of the most challenging aspects for NHL front offices to get right is the goaltending position, but Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has positioned the club perfectly for the present and future.
Related: Top 3 All-Time Chicago Blackhawks Goalies
They have two young goalies with all the ability and affordability that every front office in the league hopes to build for their own franchise. One of the two goalies I’m talking about has barely even started his NHL career.
Spencer Knight
Spencer Knight has proven to be a fantastic return for the Blackhawks in the Seth Jones trade with the Florida Panthers, along with the first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.
Knight has given the Blackhawks serious stability in goal since arriving from Florida. He’s been a huge reason why Chicago still finds themselves in the hunt for a wild-card spot.
Through the 32 games Knight has played this season, he’s posted a .910 save percentage (SV%), 12.64 goals saved above average (GSAA), and 25.04 goals saved above expected (GSAx). Those numbers are good enough to place him fifth in the league in GSAA and fourth in the league in GSAx.
At just 24 years old, Knight is showing the upside to be a stud for the Blackhawks’ present and future; the best part is that he’s cost-controlled.
He came over to the Blackhawks with a contract that had an annual average value (AAV) of $4.5 million for another season. A little over six months after the trade, Davidson signed Knight to an extension, which kicks in after this season. He is under contract until after the 2028-29 season, where he will be making an AAV of $5.83 million.
To put that in perspective, Knight will be just the 17th-highest-paid goaltender in the NHL and will be paid less than Jordan Binnington, Jacob Markstrom, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson.
With the salary cap continuing to rise, having a franchise goaltender locked up for only a smidge under $6 million is great value.
Drew Commesso
Drew Commesso is a different situation than Knight, and that’s not groundbreaking analysis, but the Blackhawks have a stud in him.
Commesso was Chicago’s second-round pick back in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Since then, he’s featured in three different American Hockey League (AHL) seasons and two NHL seasons. His performances in the AHL have been consistently pretty solid.
His first taste of AHL hockey came back in 2023-24, where he played 38 games and had a .906 SV%. In the 2024-25 season, he had a .911 in 39 games, and this year he’s at a .906 through 20 games. He was even better in the playoffs last season for the Rockford IceHogs, where he posted a staggering .926 SV% in seven games.
He’s had some NHL action sprinkled throughout, with two appearances in the 2024-25 season and two more this season. This year, he had a rough game against the Washington Capitals, where the Blackhawks suffered a 5-1 loss. Chicago didn’t give him much help that night, but sometimes teams need their goalie to make a tough save to keep them in the game. After that rough outing, he bounced back in a big way, posting a 36-save shutout in a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators.
I’m a big fan of Commesso. I think he moves well in his crease, and while he’s on the smaller side at just 6-foot-2, I still think he can be a solid goalie in a league that is more keen on tall goaltenders.
His entry-level contract is coming to an end after this season, so Davidson has some work to do on that front. The good news for the Blackhawks is that I don’t see Commesso commanding anything significant in terms of AAV. With just four appearances in the NHL and him being a restricted free agent, it shouldn’t be a difficult negotiation.
Blackhawks fans should be excited about their future between the pipes. Trading for a young goaltender of Knight’s calibre is extremely rare, and having homegrown talent like Commesso is a rarity for countless franchises in this league.
