With the Chicago Blackhawks rebuilding, they now have a ton of promising young players who have the potential to become big parts of their roster. 

In a recent article for The Hockey News' main site, Jared Clinton discussed one breakout candidate for each Central Division club. When it came to the Blackhawks, Clinton went with goaltender Spencer Knight for their top breakout candidate. 

While the Blackhawks have many other fascinating young players on their roster, like Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov, and Sam Rinzel, Knight also makes sense as a breakout candidate to watch for Chicago. The 2019 first-round pick has all the tools to become a very good NHL goalie and could very well take a notable step forward with his play in 2025-26 because of it. This is especially so when noting that he is expected to be a true No. 1 starter for the first time in his career, as Clinton notes. 

In 95 career NHL games thus far, Knight has recorded a 49-33-9 record, a 2.83 goals-against average, a .904 save percentage, and five shutouts. Overall, the Darien, Connecticut native has shown that he is a solid NHL goalie, and it will be fascinating to see if he can hit a new level with the Blackhawks in 2025-26 from here. 

Ex-Blackhawks Defenseman Signs PTO With RivalFormer Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Jack Johnson is another step closer to playing in his 20th NHL season.