Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 Player Grades: Spencer Knight

The Chicago Blackhawks finished their 2025-26 campaign 31st in the league, with a record of 29-39-14 and 72 points. It was an improvement from last season’s totals of 25-46-11 (61 points), but the organization had more progress in mind when they embarked on this campaign. The good news is the Blackhawks finished with more wins and more points than the previous season. They also feel they’ve taken positive strides in the growth and development of a plethora of young players, who could be a big part of a more successful future.

In this summer series, we’ll hand out individual grades to every player on the team. Today we highlight goaltender Spencer Knight.

Knight’s Season Stats

Win/Loss Totals: 19-25-11 in 55 games played, .902 Save Percentage (SV%), 2.82 goals against average (GAA), 3 shutouts

Contract Status: New contract kicks in this upcoming season (2026-27), contract runs through the 2028-29 season, $5.83 million cap hit

Season Overview

Before the 2025-26 season, Knight served as a backup goaltender for the Florida Panthers behind famous netminder Sergei Bobrovsky. The 25-year-old was acquired by the Blackhawks as part of Seth Jones trade, with the expectation he could become the franchise goaltender for the club. He then signed a lucrative contract extension right before the season started (which runs through the 2028-29 season).

So far, so good in Knight’s time in Chicago. He hit career highs in games played, wins and shutouts, plus ranked fourth in the NHL in saves and shots against.

SPENCER KNIGHT🌙
⚔️ played a career-high 55 games
⚔️ tied his career-high 19 wins
⚔️ 3 shutouts
⚔️ ranked 4th in the league with 1,428 saves and 1,583 shots against pic.twitter.com/fAUL4nofX2

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 27, 2026

That’s not too shabby considering the developing team in front of him. Knight was the backbone of the Blackhawks, both literally and figuratively. Every night (with very few exceptions) he made the saves that needed to be made to keep this team in the game, and give them a chance to win. The Stamford, Connecticut native entrenched himself with the starting role for the first time in his NHL career, earning him our Most Valuable Player award for the season.

An ongoing theme with Knight throughout the season was his calm demeanor, which is a great asset to have with such a young team. He was also very vocal and communicative on the ice. Said defenseman Louis Crevier after a game on Dec. 10, “…he’s really good, and he talks to the D-squad too. So it’s makes it easier for us to make plays.”

Before a game on Jan. 15, head coach Jeff Blashill expanded on Knight being so level-headed, and how that affected the team.

Any time you have the emotional ups and downs and highs and lows that we’re going to have with a with a young team and a young defensive corps; as the goaltender, being able to just stay calm in the face of adversity is really important. And 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 has a really good attitude, kind of like our team has, I think, a lot of nights of learning from the game before moving on. And he exemplifies that.

At 25 years old, Knight is one of the elder members of this very young Blackhawk’s squad. Hence, he’s embraced a leadership role, constantly talking about the process of what it takes to win, learning and growing together. His steadfast positive attitude is infectious. Knight has been an excellent addition to the team, and should continue to be moving forward.

Quotable Quote

Knight regressed a little bit at the end of the season, with the workload likely catching up to him. But he knows his playing time is only going to increase, and he’s preparing. As a matter of fact, he’s already talking about the playoffs. At exit interviews on Apr. 16 he said,

I’m gonna have to play more at some point, right? You know, you play 50-60 (games) in the regular season. You’re gonna play 70-80 if you play playoffs, which is what we’re gonna try to do at some point. So I felt fine. Thought my game felt good. Just grew, and just keep learning how to make better reads, getting all the situations, different kinds of games, different types of pressure. Playing from behind, playing with the lead. I think that obviously has a factor in the reads you make, how you react. So I think that was all really good.

Knight’s Final Grade: B+

As mentioned above, I named Knight the MVP for the Blackhawks this season. So should he not receive a better grade?! Well, I’d like to think he’s only scratching the surface of his potential. The young netminder did a phenomenal job in his first season as the No. 1 guy. But he still has plenty of room for growth and improvement. To quote the man himself, “The sun rises the next day; you just go back to battle.”