Chicago Blackhawks 2025-26 Player Grades: Arvid Soderblom – The Hockey Writers – Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks finished their 2025-26 campaign 31st in the league, with a record of 29-39-14 and 72 points. It was an improvement from last season’s totals of 25-46-11 (61 points), but the organization had more progress in mind when they embarked on this campaign. The good news is the Blackhawks finished with more wins and more points than the previous season. They also feel they’ve taken positive strides in the growth and development of a plethora of young players, who could be a big part of a more successful future.

In this summer series, we’ll hand out individual grades to every player on the team. Today we highlight goaltender Arvid Soderblom.

Soderblom’s Season Stats

Win/Loss Totals: 8-13-3 in 26 games played, .880 Save Percentage (SV%), 3.80 goals against average (GAA), 1 shutout

Contract Status: Contract runs through the 2026-27 season, $2.75 million cap hit

Season Overview

It isn’t easy being a backup goaltender, always having to be ready and really never able to find a groove. But such is the life of the No. 2 guy, whether it’s fair or not. With Spencer Knight being the bonafide starter, Soderblom has no choice but to embrace his role and do the best he can every single night. After all, it’s a smaller sample size, so he has to make the most of his starts to prove his worth.

Soderblom had an up-and-down campaign, that’s for sure. There was the 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 9 where he stopped 45-of-46 shots, and the 4-3 victory against the New York Islanders on Mar. 24 where he stopped 44-of-47 shots. The Swedish netminder also earned his first career shutout on Mar. 1, stopping all 22 shots in a 4-0 win over the Utah Mammoth.

But then there were the rough contests, such as the 9-3 loss at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 21, the 7-1 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 7, and the 7-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 28. Granted, not all that can be attributed to the goaltender. When head coach Jeff Blashill was asked late in the season about Soderblom’s subpar statistics, he said, “In his case, honestly, we had a couple really, really bad games where he was in the net, and I think that kind of crushed the numbers. I left him in in Buffalo; that didn’t help his numbers.”

Nevertheless, there were eight times this season where the 26-year-old gave up five or more goals. That’s not a good look. When Soderblom struggled, his puck tracking suffered, and his rebound control wasn’t always the best.

It’s also not like this is new to him. Soderblom has served as the Blackhawk’s backup for the last three seasons. In that span, he had a combined .886 SV% and a 3.63 GAA. Again, not very encouraging. He also regressed this past season from his 2024-25 numbers (.898 SV% and 3.18 GAA).

Soderblom is signed with the Blackhawks for one more season, and it’s assumed he’ll serve as Knight’s backup once again. However, Rockford IceHog’s netminder Drew Commesso inked a two-year extension with the organization this offseason. He’ll be knocking on the door, pushing Soderblom to be better.  

But Soderblom knows all this. He’s very even-keeled, which is a much-needed attribute for a goalie. As fellow goaltender Knight said of his partner in net, “He’s very quiet, but he’s got a work ethic that’s really great.” For his part, Soderblom says he’s never satisfied. After stopping those 44-of-47 shots on Mar. 24, he discussed his mindset.  

You gotta keep doing the stuff you’re doing every day. Just keep playing your game, even though you get a lot of shots and sometimes you might be a little tired. But then it’s even more important to just stay in there and keep battling, and just have the focus up all the way and not let the focus slip away.

Soderblom will be fighting an uphill battle this upcoming season, as he tries to prove his worth to the Blackhawks, or perhaps another future team.

Quotable Quote

Coach Blashill on Soderblom, ahead of a game versus the St. Louis Blues on Apr. 11,

I’m totally comfortable where his game is at, comfortable that when we put him in in certain games, I have belief that he’s gonna give us a chance to win, like everybody else, some nights he’s played better than other nights. But I would put a lot of it is you get a lot of tough starts when you’re a backup.

When you’re a backup of a team that’s first in the league, it’s easier on those tough starts. When you’re backing up a team who’s climbing out of a rebuild like we are, that’s way harder, and so it stresses them way more. I’ve been around different teams and seen a lot of different guys in his role, and he’s got the skillset and the mental makeup to be real good at it.

Soderblom’s Final Grade: C

Soderblom was a serviceable backup last season, attempting to make the most out of a difficult role. But the fact remains he’s never had a save percentage above .900 in his NHL career. Can he turn things around this season, with arguably a better team in front of him? Will some added competition in Commesso light more of a fire under him? The pressure will be on Soderblom to show more improvement and consistency in 2026-27.