Knight ready to take on No. 1 role for Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Spencer Knight hesitates to call himself the No. 1 guy.

The goaltender was the prized acquisition for the Chicago Blackhawks when they traded defenseman Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers on March 1 but for Knight, it's about keeping a certain mindset.

"Honestly, I just look at myself as me. I don't try to label myself as No. 1 or whatever," Knight said. "I think once I start doing that, I start thinking in a different way."

But Sergei Bobrovsky, who Knight backed up three of the past four seasons in Florida, said there's no doubt Knight is ready.

"He has all the ingredients to be one of the best goalies in the game, and I think he's going to do that," Bobrovsky said. "He's going to achieve that."

Knight is expected to start against Bobrovsky and the Panthers in the season opener for each at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN1, TVAS). The Panthers will be raising a Stanley Cup banner for the second consecutive season. It will also be the first time Knight will face the Panthers since the trade.

"It'll be cool. It'll be nice to go back. Obviously, a lot of familiar faces, familiar place," Knight said. "I haven't really looked too far ahead but it'll be good. It'll be fun to get the season rolling and I think just get the ball going."

The 24-year-old signed a three-year, $17.5 million contract ($5.83 million average annual value) with the Blackhawks on Sept. 13. As training camp opened, Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson said Knight is "a big part, a very big deal for us."

"Getting him under contract for the next few years gives him and us some runway to kind of further establish ourselves, put him in a position to be the No. 1 guy and give him some runway in that role and kind of make sure we revisit things in a couple of years and make sure he's here for a really long time," Davidson said.

The No. 13 pick for Florida in the 2019 NHL Draft, Knight was 44-25-7 with a 2.76 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and five shutouts in 80 games (70 starts) with the Panthers. He did not play in the NHL in 2023-24 after entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in February 2023.

Getting the No. 1 job in Florida, however, likely wasn't going to happen for a while. Bobrovsky is entering the final year of a seven-year contract he signed with the Panthers on July 1, 2019, but the 37-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down. He's played 50 or more games in each of the past four seasons and is now a two-time Cup champion.

Knight was 5-8-2 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .896 save percentage in 15 starts for the Blackhawks following the trade last season. He was fine with being thrown into the fire immediately. On March 3, two days after the trade, he won his first start with Chicago, making 41 saves in a 5-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings.

"He reminds me of how hungry I was when I got to the League, you know, how hard he works," Bobrovsky said. "He has a great attitude, enjoys everything that happens."

Now Knight is wrapping up his first training camp with the Blackhawks. He's gotten familiar with his teammates, especially the defense, which outside of Connor Murphy, 32, and Matt Grzelcyk, 31, who is in camp on a professional tryout contract, is fairly young.

Defenseman Wyatt Kaiser said Knight has been a huge help.

"He's very active in talking. He's very engaged in the game, so as a 'D,' I enjoy that because I'm back there and I hear him talking," the 23-year-old said. "You feel you have another guy out there; even just chatting, just hearing a guy talk on the ice is huge. Either, 'Back door, back door, 1-on-1.' After the whistle, he's talking a little bit, very engaged. I love it. He plays the puck, too, which makes our life easy."

Knight is fine tuning his own game with Blackhawks goalie coach Jimmy Waite, who said the two have worked on making sure Knight's glove hand is more open so opponents don't see as much of the net. Waite also wants Knight to "stay taller when the puck's up high. Don't get so low because it opens up the top of the net."

"He's a very particular guy," Waite said. "He knows what he wants and he's going to tell you what he wants a lot of time, which is fine. I like that. He's a guy who prepares well for games and he knows he's got a schedule, he knows what he wants and he's very disciplined about it. He needs to do his stuff and he's very disciplined about everything he does."

Knight immediately built a good rapport with backup goalie Arvid Soderblom when he got to Chicago in the spring. Their competition has been a friendly but strong one that should benefit the Blackhawks.

"I feel we're having a good connection going into this year," said Soderblom, who was 10-18-7 with a 3.18 GAA and .898 save percentage in 36 games (33 starts) last season." We can just keep pushing each other and make each other better every day. Yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun."

Soderblom, 26, may be older than Knight, but said he takes a lot from watching his starts.

"He's a great technical goalie. So, it's just all the small things he does," Soderblom said. "He's very focused and like I said, good technically. There are always things you can learn from each other and yeah, it's good to have him here. I feel we're going to have a good year together."

Knight has had a good preseason as he prepares for his first full season with the Blackhawks. His new chapter is set to begin, and he's ready for the journey.

"It's definitely been a fun group, and I really enjoy the presence of my teammates and the staff's been awesome, the front office has been great," Knight said. "So again, I'm looking forward to getting better as a player and a person.

"The journey, to me, is the best part. I've had a lot of ups and downs and you know what; I wouldn't trade it for the world. Everything's made me stronger, and I know I can handle whatever comes my way. So, I'm just excited for that."

NHL.com independent correspondent George Richards contributed to this report