As a team, the Blackhawks have little on the line during the final month of the season. Plenty of individual players, however, have plenty on the line — such as their futures in Chicago.
Goalie Arvid Soderblom definitely falls in that bucket. The 25-year-old Swede needs to finish strong to tie a knot on his impressive season and move toward restricted free agency this summer having left no doubt he’s an NHL-caliber goalie.
On one hand, Soderblom has already altered how the Hawks, their fans and the league perceive him. Because of his disastrous 2023-24 campaign, he wasn’t supposed to be in the NHL in 2024-25. But Laurent Brossoit’s knee problems created an opportunity for redemption, and he took full advantage.
He allowed three goals or fewer in each of his first nine appearances, and by the end of January, he touted a .909 save percentage and plus-5.0 GSAA.
“He had a full year under his belt, and he just said, ‘I’m just going to go out there, relax and have fun,'” Hawks goalie coach Waite said recently.
On the other hand, Soderblom’s situation has become a bit shakier during the past month. The biggest change has been the arrival of Spencer Knight, who now has the inside track to become the Hawks’ long-term cornerstone goalie.
Soderblom’s play has also hit a rut. Since Feb. 5, he has gone 1-4-4 with an .880 save percentage with a minus-5.1 GSAA, allowing four or more goals in five of nine appearances. Suddenly, his season-long GSAA has dipped ever-so-slightly into the red, and his save percentage of .901 sits right at league average.
To be fair, much of that damage was inflicted by one disastrous start Saturday against the Canucks, in which he allowed six goals on 15 shots. Before that, his recent downturn was much less noticeable, especially coming off an excellent performance last time out against the Predators.
Some of the Canucks’ goals — particularly the first two — were probably savable, but Soderblom had no chance on several others. The Hawks’ all-or-nothing defensive approach made his life difficult.
“That was one of the weirder games I’ve played in my career, but you’ve got to go through that…and be able to learn something from it,” Soderblom said Monday. “It’s probably going to happen again at some point. It’s just a part of life as a goalie.”
A game like that might’ve affected his psyche last season, but he’s more confident and unflappable now. Some technical adjustments suggested by Waite — like taking more time to keep his head up and read plays and keeping his pads inside his posts (rather than overlapping) — have also made a difference.
As of now, the Hawks have penciled in Soderblom as the No. 2 goalie in their depth chart next season. They intend to re-sign him this summer and give him a raise over his current $1 million salary.
They consider him their most important pending RFA, not that it’s a long list this year: Wyatt Kaiser, Louis Crevier, Philipp Kurashev (who’s as good as gone) and two AHL forwards comprise the rest.
Soderblom sounds content to be Knight’s backup moving forward, too.
“You need two good guys to help with the workload, especially here where we have the type of games we have,” he said. “A lot of times, [we’re] up against 40 shots a night. Obviously, you always want to be the guy that plays the [majority of the] games. And he’s a competitor, as well, so we always want to play. But we also support each other.”
If Soderblom continues to struggle down the stretch, though, some uncertainty could be introduced into that plan.
He could use a few more brick-wall outings before the season finale April 15 in Ottawa to ensure the Hawks don’t get second thoughts.