{"id":473607,"date":"2025-08-26T12:54:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=473607"},"modified":"2025-08-26T12:54:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T16:54:40","slug":"nhl-rumours-more-news-chicago-but-crease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/08\/26\/nhl-rumours-more-news-chicago-but-crease\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours and More News Out of Chicago but from the Crease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Welcome back to the latest NHL Rumours, and we just had an update from the Windy City, and here\u2019s another. Today we explore what Elliotte Friedman was hinting at when he was discussing an update on the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/08\/21\/chicago-blackhawks-sign-young-star-to-massive-extension\/\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Blackhawks<\/a>. No, we aren\u2019t referring to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nazarfr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Frank Nazar<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/bedarco01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Connor Bedard<\/a>, but rather another restricted free agent. So, let\u2019s dive in.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NHL Update From Europe | 32 Thoughts\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lPEBDXobwvM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">NHL Rumours: Lots Swirling in the Windy City and Some Chatter from the Net<\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Rumour: On 32 Thoughts Podcast, Friedman is suggesting that Chicago is looking to continue to do business. What he is referring to is their goalie, who is set to be an RFA after 2025-26, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/knighsp01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spencer Knight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Analysis: Chicago has lots of cap space. Also, Knight seems like a fairly low-risk signing, given his potential upside. He is of the age range to develop with the club\u2019s current core group of players. It seems like a match.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Friedman referenced lots going on in Chicago. He acknowledged the recent Nazar signing, and marveled at his potential upside. Friedman went on to add that his inclusion to the US Olympic Orientation Camp isn\u2019t just a courtesy, but he has earned his stripes. He also touched on <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/08\/25\/nhl-rumours-first-overall-pick-extension-talk\/\" target=\"_self\">Bedard, as we previously explored<\/a>. Finally, in the spirit of their front office remaining busy, he referenced Spencer Knight\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">\u201cHe\u2019s up after this year, and the surest predictor of future behavior is past behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">As it stands, Knight will be a free agent in the summer of 2026. He seems like a great fit, given his age and career trajectory in the Chicago organization. Furthermore, when he has been successful, it was very successful.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Last season with the Florida Panthers for 23 games, he went 12-8-1 with two shutouts, posted a 2.40 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage. His numbers did slip, as you can imagine, with the Hawks, but still relatively decent on a poor defensive team. His .893 SV% in 15 games was more than respectable. Overall for his career, he\u2019s played 95 games with a 2.83 GAA and a .904 SV%. In any case, he is more than ready to take a shot at the starter\u2019s role with the rebuilding Blackhawks franchise. He\u2019s currently 24, and with the experience he already has, will be more than on track to grow alongside guys like Bedard, Nazar, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/k\/korchke01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Korchinski<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/l\/levshar01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Artyom Levshunov<\/a>, among others.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">The Hawks Situation and the Health Competition Between the Pipes<\/h3>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">There\u2019s more to these NHL Rumours, too. Chicago has also done well to provide Knight with a good combination of support and competition between the pipes. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/s\/soderar01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Arvid Soderblom<\/a> has been Chicago\u2019s goaltending homegrown talent. He would love to grow into an NHL goaltender, either as a backup or a starter. Moreover, a goalie a little more proven, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/b\/brossla01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-08-26_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Laurent Brossoit<\/a> is there to keep both of them accountable.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #000000; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; background-color: #faf8ff;\">Knight is the highest paid of the trio at $4.5 million for the coming season. Therefore, he has a fairly high standard set for himself. But given his ability, he is more than capable of making it work. On the other hand, Chicago might be wise to sign him early, as we are discussing. If he has a big year in Chicago, and plus the competition for a goalie of his age and potential NHL ceiling, teams might make him an offer sheet candidate into next summer. If Chicago can lock him up early, it will likely pay off in the long run. We will just have to wait and see what happens.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #888888; font-family: Helvetica, Arial; font-size: 14px; background-color: #eeeeee;\">Main Photo Credit: Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Welcome back to the latest NHL Rumours, and we just had an update from the Windy City, and here\u2019s another. Today we explore what Elliotte Friedman was hinting at when he was discussing an update on the Chicago Blackhawks. No, we aren\u2019t referring to Frank Nazar or Connor Bedard, but rather another restricted free agent. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4222,"featured_media":473610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[5981,3915],"class_list":["post-473607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blackhawks","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-chicago-blackhawks-rumours","tag-spencer-knight"],"modified_by":"Levi Pike, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473611,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473607\/revisions\/473611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}