Why Spencer Knight is perturbed by Blackhawks demoting Arvid Soderblom: 'Just isn't right'

It isn't sitting right with Spencer Knight that his former goalie partner, Arvid Soderblom, was the only player sent down to Rockford after the Blackhawks' disastrous road trip.

"Sody, to be real, has only played like four games," Knight said Tuesday. "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."

The Hawks' coaching staff has indeed leaned heavily on Knight so far this season, starting him 14 times in 18 games — including in all nine home games. Soderblom's four starts had all come on the road, including a matinee and the second half of a back-to-back.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like Knight doesn't believe Soderblom got enough playing time to be justly 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."

Knight's viewpoint is understandable, but Soderblom's lengthy track record as a statistically subpar NHL goalie — combined with his especially acute struggles in his aforementioned four starts this season — did seem to justify a change.

Nevertheless, it's very fair to question why Soderblom's demotion is the only change the Hawks have yet made to their entire roster. Nobody else has been waived or traded, even though general manager Kyle Davidson — who's 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 to date hasn't met those standards.

After all, Soderblom isn't responsible whatsoever for the fact the Hawks have allowed the most two-on-one rushes in the league, or that they've surely had among the most failed defensive-zone exits, too.

The Hawks hope hammering down on some system tweaks and points of emphasis in practices 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 his .881 save percentage and negative-3.7 GSAA — are down from last season. For comparison, Soderblom had an .842 save percentage and negative-6.4 GSAA.

The Hawks' defense has made life difficult for Knight, however, even if he hasn't stolen as many wins for them 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."