The Chicago Blackhawks must flip the page in the 2025–26 NHL season. Last year was far from ideal for Connor Bedard and company, but a strong campaign now could make it all fade away. Spencer Knight seems to agree, naming Cole Caufield’s Montreal Canadiens as an example to follow.
The Canadiens were one of the biggest surprises of the past NHL season. After years languishing in the league’s basement, the Habs shocked everyone making the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Such an upswing might not be quite on Chicago’s plans, but Knight isn’t losing faith in Bedard and company just yet.
The last couple of years have been tough for fans in Chi-Town, but there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel. How much exactly? Well, that will depend entirely on how Bedard and the Blackhawks adapt to Jeff Blashill’s system, and its effectiveness.
Still, the 2025-26 NHL season is approaching and one of the newest additions to the team is confident in Chicago’s potential. It’s only a matter of time before the young core blossoms into household names in the league.
Cole Caufield #13 of the Montreal Canadiens skates against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on October 19, 2024 in Elmont, New York.
“What I’m really excited for this year is for us to become better hockey players and become a better team. We’re going to battle each other,” Knight admitted, in dialogue with the Chicago Sun-Times.
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“I’ve got everyone else’s back, I know they have mine, and we’re going to drive this in the right direction and get to a point where [we can say], ‘OK, we’re in this.’ Once you see this team take off, things turn around fast. You saw that with Montreal last year.”
Adapt and evolve
Knight had grown accustomed to a winning standard during his time with the Florida Panthers. He was set to be the goaltender of the future for the franchise in Sunrise, but a series of concerns (and Sergei Bobrovsky’s ageless performance) convinced the Cats of trading the former first-round pick in 2019.
Overnight, Knight went from the humid, sunny days in South Florida to the Midwest’s frigid climate. Moving to the Windy City was no easy task for Knight, as was adapting to Bedard’s Blackhawks. Chicago faced a reality Knight had never experienced in the NHL before.
Spencer Knight #30 of the Chicago Blackhawks looks on during the playing of the national anthem prior to the game against the Seattle Kraken at the United Center on March 18, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois.
“Once [I got] over the initial shock of being traded, I was ecstatic to have landed in Chicago,” Knight admitted. “Everyone who asks how it is, I tell them, ‘I love it. It just feels like hockey.’ You can feel the energy in the building, in the city.“
Full-circle
Aside from a stretch of games in the 2021-22 NHL season and postseason, Knight had never managed to secure the starting job in Florida. Immediately after touching down at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the Blackhawks deposited their faith in the new netminder.
Now, the crease at United Center is Knight’s to lose. Bedard and company are counting on the 24-year-old to guide them to victory night in and night out. His first test of the 2025–26 campaign will be one that not even novelists could have imagined.
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On October 7, Knight and the Blackhawks will step onto Amerant Bank Arena ice in Sunrise, Florida, to face the Panthers. If emotions weren’t high enough for Knight in his return to So-Flo, the Cats will raise their second Stanley Cup banner during the pregame. It will also mark Seth Jones’ first matchup against his former Chicago teammates.
