While he may not be a crime-fighting vigilante, newly acquired goalie Spencer Knight may be the hero the Blackhawks needed.

Knight, 23, was acquired along with a 2026 first-round pick in a trade that sent Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers. There are a lot of things to like about this trade, and Kyle Davidson deserves some praise for this one. Seth Jones was looking more and more like a bad fit for Chicago. He has a huge contract (8 year, $76 million), he didn’t want to be here, and from the looks of it, nobody else wanted him here either. He was open about wanting to be traded to a contending team. He gave the hawks two teams- the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers. The Stars wanted nothing to do with the guy, so it was down to the Panthers.

Now, it blows my mind that there was one singular team to make a trade with and the Blackhawks still came out on top. Chicago may have gotten a franchise goalie in Knight which also comes with a 2026 first round pick for 30 year old Seth Jones. The Blackhawks will retain 26.3% of Jones’s contract (roughly $2.5 million). ESPN gave the Blackhawks an A+ grade for this trade.

The Panthers believe that Seth Jones is a proven leader and an elite veteran defender. To be honest, they can believe whatever they want to believe, but I believe that Kyle Davidson just fleeced them. So far this season, Knight is 12-8-1 with a 2.40 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage in 23 games. That doesn’t include his first start in Blackhawks uniform either. Last night against the Kings, he saved 41/42 shots and earned his first victory as the Hawks won 5-1. I even saw a stat on X that Knight is the first Blackhawks goalie in 1,118 days to record 40+ saves while only allowing one or fewer goals in a regular season game. That’s quite impressive. He came here and immediately showed Chicago that he wants to be a champion here. I love it.

Not jumping the gun on anything, but was Seth Jones a locker room cancer? In the two games since being traded, the Blackhawks are 2-0-0 and have outscored their opponents 11-4. It almost looks as though there is new life on the ice.

Between Connor Bedard and Spencer Knight, Chicago has their franchise center and goalie. It’s amazing how one trade seemingly changed the direction of this team for the better and gives fans hope for next season. The youth movement is here, and it’s going to be exciting. With how well the young guys are playing now, the talent pool on the way, and securing the goalie of the future in Spencer Knight, we may soon have to put the word out there that we are back. Not yet, but soon.