Blackhawks Waive Arvid Soderblom

This afternoon the Chicago Blackhawks placed goaltender Arvid Söderblom on waivers, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed.

Last night’s 9-2 drubbing at the hands of the defending champions in Carolina was enough to prompt the Blackhawks to shake things up, and the last straw for Söderblom was surrendering three goals on 16 shots in relief of Spencer Knight who was pulled at around the halfway mark. In five games so far the 27-year-old has not yet notched a win, coming away with an .842 SV% and 4.67 goals-against-average.

Taking the crease an average of 31 times over the past three in Chicago, leading the pack in 2024-25 but otherwise a backup, naturally the numbers haven’t been kind as would be the case with anybody on a bottom feeding club. The main issue is that this season things have hit a new low for him, while the group is aiming to turn the corner on their rebuild. The undrafted goalie ranks fifth worst in the league in terms of goals saved above expected according to Moneypuck stats. Last season he was still under water at a -4.1, however, that ranked 25th from the bottom in terms of netminders with a workload of at least 18 games. Such performance put him around the likes of Tristan Jarry and Carter Hart who had the benefit of playing on much stronger teams.

Speaking to that, Söderblom’s underlying numbers tell more of the story as to his struggles this season. The Blackhawks’ poor play in front of him has made things particularly difficult as the Swede faces the second highest percentage of unblocked shot attempts on goal so far in 2026-27. He averages one shot on goal every two minutes.

The Hawks must find some sort of stability in the backup position, as the #1 Knight has been placed in a difficult position for a promising youngster needing to reach his full potential. The 25-year-old is on track for 68 starts this season, a point raised by Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio. His numbers are also below average but Knight has had to face nearly 30 shots every game, already turning in four 30+ save performances with only one ending in the win column.

Internally Chicago has Drew Commesso as the next man up. The 24-year-old got into three games last season, including a 36-save shutout win in January, and he’s shown plenty in a small sample size to warrant a real stint as Knight’s backup moving forward. As long as Söderblom clears waivers, the organization could effectively flip the pair, allowing him a reset at the AHL level and leaving the IceHogs with an adequate starter to lean on.

Holding a contract worth $2.75MM which leads to unrestricted free agency this summer, there’s always the possibility of a team taking a flyer on his potential regardless of what the numbers looked like. The Canucks already did that with Leevi Merilainen earlier this season. His performance in Vancouver hasn’t been glaring enough for an obvious change, not to mention that he is three years younger. Regardless, it’s not like going from the 31st ranked team to the 32nd would do too many favors for Söderblom. In terms of teams that could present a better opportunity, Pittsburgh’s Sergei Murashov is set for backup duty, and there’s cap space on hand should they opt to send the prospect down for more AHL seasoning. His first win of the season came yesterday, however, limiting the odds of a reunion with his brother Elmer. Otherwise there aren’t many immediate fits. The Rangers have had their own uncertainty in net, but Joonas Korpisalo returned with a win yesterday.

All that being said, as long as he clears, a successful reset with the IceHogs could get Söderblom another shot in Chicago before his contract expires this summer. Rockford is currently ranked 27th in the AHL, a team which could use a spark of its own. They’ll hope to have the 6’3″ netminder joining them for the week ahead, returning for the first time in four years. As for the Blackhawks, losers of eight out of their last 10, it’s safe to assume more changes are on the horizon. Even if the playoffs are already out of reach here in November, another campaign coming short of 30+ wins after an aggressive summer would be tough to swallow.