This Blackhawks goalie prospect can really become a star

The Chicago Blackhawks haven’t had a good goalie plan ever since they lost Corey Crawford. There have been some decent young goalies in there but none of them are the goalie of the future. They also had Marc-Andre Fleury for a little bit but they traded him at the deadline.

It would have been nice to see Fleury play for this team and take them to the playoffs but they weren’t good enough in front of him. Now, they have to look for someone to be the long-term solution. There might be one prospect in their system that can become a star.

Arvid Soderblom is a kid that they believe can go far. It isn’t a lock that he becomes a star but his AHL numbers at 22 years old suggest that it is a possibility. In 2021-22 with the Rockford Ice Hogs, he played in 38 games where he had a record of 21-15-2.

In those games, he had a .919 save percentage, a 2.76 goals-against average, and two shutouts. It was a great season for him as Rockford had a fair amount of success with him in the net. For being so young, he was awesome.

Arvid Soderblom is a young goalie prospect that the Chicago Blackhawks like.

He did make three appearances in the National Hockey League this season. The Chicago Blackhawks are a very bad defensive team so he wasn’t well protected.

Combine that with the fact that he is 22 years old with very little (AHL or NHL) experience with the North American pro game and you get the results that you saw. He had a 5.01 goals-against average and a .863 save percentage. His NHL record sits at 0-2-0.

Forget about all of that. As mentioned already, Fleury struggled with that team in front of him sometimes so what would you expect from Soderblom? He is so talented and going to be a good NHL goalie someday.

It might be wise to continue letting him develop in Rockford. They will be much better for him in the short term. When the Hawks are ready to play well in front of him, then it will be time to see what he can do against NHL shooters.

Soderblom isn’t the only goalie in the system to be excited about either. We don’t know for sure how these guys are going to play in the NHL but Drew Commesso is a promising young prospect as well.

He is coming off a year where he played for Boston University and Team USA in the Winter Olympic Games. He was really good at both levels and will be looking to make his pro debut in 2022-23.

They might want to bring in a veteran or two to play in 2022-23 while these guys continue to develop because the team at the NHL level is going to be very bad. Soderblom and Commesso have bright futures and it is going to be fun to watch them develop.