There’s no point in sugarcoating Arvid Soderblom’s career goaltending statistics for the Blackhawks. They are objectively awful.
In 50 total appearances, he’s 7-34-4 with an .883 save percentage, 3.84 goals-against average and minus-33.3 GSAA, meaning he has allowed 33.3 more goals than an average NHL goalie theoretically should.
Soderblom’s terrible results at the big-league level gave Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson no choice but to sign an established backup goalie in Laurent Brossoit this summer, even though the organization does still hold some hope that Soderblom can get things back on track this season.
Coach Luke Richardson said goalie coach Jimmy Waite talked to Soderblom in July when Brossoit signed, providing some open communication and context.
At that point, it was clear to all parties that Soderblom was penciled into a demotion to Rockford, where has enjoyed prior success — he’s 36-27-9 with a .913 save percentage in his AHL career — but where he understandably wouldn’t prefer to spend this season.
His resume simply doesn’t stack up whatsoever against Brossoit’s. The 31-year-old Canadian touts a .911 career save percentage in 140 NHL appearances over 10 seasons and has posted .927 save percentages in each of the last two seasons.
Then Brossoit’s late-summer injury popped up, however, adding another twist to the story. His meniscus surgery, which will sideline him until sometime in October, has given Soderblom an opportunity to likely begin the regular season on the NHL roster.
And the 25-year-old Swede, who will start the Hawks’ second preseason game Friday in Detroit, has come into training camp with an honest and healthy mindset about the situation.
“It’s not fun, obviously, but there’s nothing I can do about it,” Soderblom said. “That’s how the business works. For me, my job is still the same: it’s to come here, do my best every day and try to save every puck. I see it as more motivation to do my stuff even better.
“If I’m good enough, I’ll be at the NHL level. If not, then I won’t be. It doesn’t even matter if there’s 10 goalies here or just two; you’re playing where you’re supposed to play. All that kind of stuff will handle itself. It’s up to me to show what I can do. There’s nothing that scares me, really.”
Last season’s struggles produced plenty of constructive takeaways, both tangible and intangible. He and Waite identified he was overplaying the crease when facing shots from his left side as well as failing to rotate his body angle enough when the puck moved right to left across his field of vision, and they worked on addressing those problems in practice last season.
This summer, moreover, Soderblom did “a lot of work with tracking pucks, scanning the surroundings and taking in information,” which he expects will help him make smarter decisions about the angles and depths he should take when facing different shots. He also believes he has matured mentally and learned more effective ways to maintain his confidence.
The Hawks might call upon him to make one or two starts before Brossoit recovers; their back-to-back set against the Jets and Oilers the first weekend of the season, for example, might necessitate it.
And although they aren’t hiding the fact they intend to send him to Rockford eventually, Richardson noted he’ll continue to provide valuable depth in case of another injury to Brossoit or Petr Mrazek. Furthermore, a strong season in Rockford could eventually elevate him back into the full-time NHL mix.
Make no mistake, it’s not ideal for Soderblom, but his wisest path forward involves accepting this detour and trying to make the most of it.
“You can look at it one way and just see failure, or you can see stuff you can learn and use that in your advantage to get better,” he said.