CHICAGO (AP) — The rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks are counting on Spencer Knight to become their long-term starter after signing the goalie to a three-year, $17.5 million contract extension on Saturday.
The 24-year-old Knight has one more year left on his contract, with the extension securing him through the 2029-30 season. The Blackhawks acquired Knight, along with a first-round pick, in a trade that sent Seth Jones and a draft pick to Florida in March.
Knight was selected by the Panthers in the first round of the 2019 draft, and spent his first three-plus seasons in Florida primarily serving as a backup to Sergei Bobrovsky.
In Chicago, Knight gets the opportunity to take on a larger role with a Blackhawks team coming off three straight last-place finishes in the Central Division, and with Jeff Blashill entering his first season as coach.
“After joining the team in March, Spencer quickly cemented himself as a crucial piece of our future,” general manager Kyle Davidson said. “A talented, young goaltender, he brings athleticism, sound positioning and a calm demeanor to his game, and we’re excited to watch Spencer continue to flourish in Chicago over the next four seasons."
Arvid Söderblom, who went 10-18-7 last season, returns for a fifth season in Chicago, while Petr Mrazek was traded to Detroit following Knight's acquisition.
From Connecticut, Knight went 5-8-2 in 15 appearances with the Blackhawks, and finished the season with a 17-16-3 record. Overall, the 6-foot-3, 191-pound player out of Boston College has a record of 49-33-9 with five shutouts.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
FILE - Chicago Blackhawks goaltender Spencer Knight (30) makes a save during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights Friday, March 28, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — More drops for AI stocks are dragging the U.S. market lower Wednesday, and Wall Street is heading toward a fourth straight loss.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% in midday trading, though it's still not far from its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 89 points, or 0.2%, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.1% lower.
The majority of stocks across Wall Street were rising, but they're getting drowned out by drops for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry. Questions continue to dog them about a possible bubble and whether all the investment in AI will produce enough profit and productivity to prove worth the cost. Worries are also rising about the debt that some companies are taking on to pay for it all.
Broadcom dropped 5%, Oracle fell 5.9% and CoreWeave sank 6.8%. Nvidia, the chip company that’s become Wall Street’s most influential stock because of its tremendous size, fell 3.6% and was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500.
Only 17% of respondents in a survey of relatively big businesses by UBS said they're in production at scale with their AI projects. That could be “a reminder for tech investors to remain sober about the likely 2026 revenue growth uplift from AI products,” according to UBS analysts, though the rate continues to rise.
Also on the losing end of Wall Street was Lennar, which sank 5.4% following a mixed profit report. The homebuilder delivered a weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected, though its revenue topped expectations.
Executive Chairman Stuart Miller said that conditions remain challenging, with customers feeling less confident while looking for discounts and more affordable options. As a result, the company gave limited forecasts for its upcoming financial performance.
Progressive, meanwhile, sank 3% after the insurer based in Mayfield Village, Ohio, said that its net income for November fell 5% from its year-ago level.
On the winning side of Wall Street were oil companies, after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela. It’s Trump’s latest escalation in pressure on Venezuela, which may be sitting on more oil than any other country.
That sent the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude higher by 1.5% to $55.98, just a day after it sank to its lowest level since 2021. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 1.4% to $59.73 per barrel.
That in turn helped ConocoPhillips rise 2.6% and cut into its loss for the year so far, which came into the day at 8.5%. Devon Energy rallied 3.8%, and Halliburton added 1.1%. Oil prices had dropped through most of this year on expectations that companies are pumping more than enough crude to meet the world’s demand.
Netflix climbed 1.8% after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board said it still recommends shareholders approve a buyout offer for its Warner Bros. business from the streaming giant, rather than a competing hostile bid from Paramount Skydance for the entire company.
Warner Bros. Discovery slipped 1.1%, while Paramount Skydance fell 4.4%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady ahead of a report coming on Thursday that will show how bad inflation has been for U.S. consumers.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.14% from 4.15% late Tuesday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a stronger finish in Asia.
South Korea’s Kospi leaped 1.4% for one of the world’s bigger gains and shaved its loss for the week so far down to 2.7%.
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Dilip Patel, right, and Bobby Charmak, left, work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader stands near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
