Blackhawks Practice: Knight’s Blunt Comments, Belief in System Remains, Added Emphasis

November 10, 2026 · Yahoo Sports

Now back in Chicago after a miserable three-game road trip, the Blackhawks held practice Monday morning, with everyone waiting to see what changes lie ahead and how head coach Jeff Blashill plans to get his team out of this dreadful scenario.

News broke Sunday afternoon that the Blackhawks won’t be making any coaching staff changes at this point, despite an utterly disappointing 4-13-1 start to the 2026-27 season.

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Blashill and the assistant coaches are safe for now, and the staff met with management on Sunday to assess the situation, identify specific areas for improvement, and discuss potential alterations.

But when the Blackhawks hit the ice for Monday’s practice, it became clear that significant changes weren’t being made, even though Saturday’s latest debacle, an embarrassing 9-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, made it pretty obvious that’s what’s needed to fix this mess.

The Blackhawks have won only four of 14 games this season, sitting 31st out of 32 teams in the league-wide standings, and rank near or at the bottom in every meaningful statistical or analytical category. Their minus-37 goal differential is also the worst in franchise history through 18 games.

But instead of overhauling the current systems or considering a different lineup strategy, Blashill opted for minor tweaks and to hammer home certain points of emphasis within the team’s structure.

“You can look at full-scale changes, and you can look at tweaks,” Blashill said. “I think midseason, we certainly prefer tweaks to full-scale changes, and that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

Blashill recognizes the Blackhawks must improve, particularly on defense, but doesn’t want to risk things spiraling worse and causing more confusion and hesitation for his players by changing the system in the middle of the season.

“If you make full-scale changes, [we] could walk on the ice Thursday and guys are super hesitant and don’t know what they’re doing. That’s the worst possible situation. For me, it was more looking at identifying areas, either changes in the points of emphasis or tweaks in how we do things, to make sure that we correct the areas where we’re struggling.”

Blashill outlined several aspects that saw added emphasis at practice, including better basic defending by playing “body on body”, defensive-zone tracking, and net-front coverage.

Another involved the 2-1-2 forechecking system, which teams have picked apart in transition too easily and too often this year. Blashill mentioned the Blackhawks have allowed the most 2-on-1 rushes in the league by a lot, which matches the eye test.

Within the system, the defensemen are often pinching aggressively along the walls in the neutral zone or at the opposing blue line, with the high forward (F3) supposed to support them in coverage.

However, the Blackhawks have struggled to execute the system all year, with defensemen frequently letting the puck get behind them, with no help from the high forward in coverage. The result? Odd-man rush after odd-man rush for the opponent.

Blashill wants his defensemen to make smarter decisions and be more cautious about when it’s dangerous to pinch down the falls. Then, the high forward must be automatic with their support and track plays from the middle of the ice, instead of veering toward the walls.

Nearly a quarter of the way into the season, it’s certainly not ideal that the Blackhawks have yet to fully grasp and effectively run Blashill’s system, but they’re going to keep pushing through with it anyway.

Blashill noted the players still have belief in the current system, as he’s looked for feedback from them since returning home from Carolina.

“I had a lot of conversations with our players about whether we know what we’re doing or if there’s hesitation… As I talked to the players, there was full belief in the systems that we’re doing. I didn’t get any feel of ‘Why are we doing this?’, and I’ve gotten that in the past. I got zero [sense] of that.”

The young Blackhawks and Blashill may be bought into the system, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to work for this current group. Ultimately, Thursday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres will reveal whether the tweaks and added emphasis to certain areas make a difference, for better or for worse.

Knight Not Happy

Starting goaltender Spencer Knight seems like the type of guy who might not speak up too often in the locker room, but when he does, everyone should listen.

Knight’s always well-spoken when interviewed by the media and seems wise beyond his years, offering thoughtful and intelligent responses. He’s someone who thinks before he speaks, and that’s what made his comments on Monday even more meaningful.

The Chicago Tribune’s Kalen Lumpkins talked with Knight after practice and asked the 25-year-old netminder about Arvid Soderblom, now his former backup, getting placed on waivers. Lumpkins shared Knight’s response, which caught the attention of many Blackhawks fans.

Let’s hope it caught the attention of his teammates, too.

“I look at myself and the people in this room — (we) should be pissed off at ourselves for letting us allow that to happen,” Knight said, referring to Soderblom being cut from the NHL roster. “I think we put him in pretty s***ty spots, to be honest with you. I’m sure there’s times he wanted to perform and play better, but… I think there are times that we f***ed him over as a team. I wish I could be there for him. When suddenly that happens to your teammate, especially as a goalie partner, I don’t feel good about it. I hope everyone on the team takes a little pride in the sense that we can’t let that stuff happen, and we can’t put our teammates in those spots.”

Knight usually has a subdued demeanor, but not this time. He knows better than anyone the type of spots the Blackhawks put Soderblom in, and he’s rightfully frustrated about the goaltenders frequently getting left out to dry.

The rest of the Blackhawks should take Knight’s comments to heart, because he’s spot on with his assessment.

Despite having a 4-10-0 record and an .881 save percentage, Knight ranks second in the NHL with 364 saves this season. His numbers are not reflective of his individual performance; they reflect how poorly the team has played in front of him.

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