Spencer Knight remains one of NHL’s top goaltending prospects
Knight is expected to be back with the Panthers next season, re-joining a tandem with Sergei Bobrovsky
One of the big reasons for the Florida Panthers saw so much success last season was the team’s goaltending.
Florida’s tandem of Sergei Bobrovsky and Anthony Stolarz held down the fort as well as any goaltending duo, helping the Panthers finish atop the Atlantic Division when all was said and done.
They were also fortunate in the health department, as Bob and Stolarz combined to start all 106 regular season and playoff games Florida played last year.
This season, the Panthers are expected to have a familiar face serving as Bobrovsky’s backup.
Spencer Knight has been considered a big part of the team’s future since being selected in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft, and seemed on the fast track to doing so when he was playing, and winning, playoff games within a couple months of signing his first ELC two seasons later.
Knight’s hockey progression took a pause when he left the Panthers last February to join the NHL/NHLPA joint player assistance program to help with OCD issues.
He returned to the team during the summer and played last season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, regaining his form and looking like his usual, confident self by the time he helped them reach the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Now the question is whether Knight remains Florida’s goalie of the future.
There are many in the hockey world who feel Knight remains one of the best young tendies out there.
One of them is Scott Wheeler of The Athletic.
Last week, Wheeler released his rankings of the Top 20 NHL goalie prospects and Knight was high on the list, coming in at No. 4, behind obvious names like Wallstedt and Askarov.
After touching on Knight’s skillset coming into his draft year, he gets into the adversity elements he’s faced and how that can work to the young goalie’s advantage.
“He worked hard to put it all together again last year and I thought he looked back to himself late in the season,” Wheeler wrote. “He still earned his reputation as a reliable and consistent goalie. His profile has most of what goalie scouts/experts want a goalie to have and I expect him to get back to the NHL as a solid goalie. And by goalie standards, he’s still very young even though he has been on the radar/through a lot in his young career already.”
You can check out Wheeler’s full goalie prospect rankings by clicking here.
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