Spencer Knight is establishing himself as a top goaltender in the league

Even with little expectations, Spencer Knight is helping make the Chicago Blackhawks relevant again.

Through the first month or so of the 2025-26 season, Knight has been exceptional, and his ability to come up with big saves at the right time has kept the Blackhawks in the playoff race, albeit in the month of November.

In starting 14 of Chicago’s first 20 games, the 24-year-old has a record of 7-4-3, with a 2.47 goals-against average, a .922 SV% and one shutout. It’s simple to say that many would be looking at the Hawks as an afterthought had it not been for Knight’s play thus far.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Blackhawks analyst Darren Pang joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to explain what makes Knight an exceptional goaltender.

Darren Pang: There’s not a question in my mind that he’s a top goaltender in the league. His mechanics, especially in the game today, where you see a lot of goal line plays, a lot of jam plays, where I look back at my career, I don’t think I’d be able to, besides being really small, I don’t think I’d be able to handle the jam plays down low. His ability to go post-to-post and seal the post and seal the short side is remarkable. He’s also a great puck handler. He’s got very good hockey sense. So, he makes good plays out of his own zone. He makes good handoffs to his defensemen, so his defensemen don’t often get jammed.

Those are a lot of elite areas for Spencer Knight…There’s no denying that Spencer Knight is the number one guy here. Shoot, if there’s any injuries to any of the U.S. goaltenders going forward, I mean, this guy, he’s ready to step in because he’s been as good as basically any of them. Maybe Hellebuyck’s got the step ahead of him. Swayman’s had a good season, but if they need a plan B, I think he’s ready for them.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…