Colby Guy
The Florida Panthers are rumored to be aggressively shopping Sergei Bobrovsky this offseason. If general manager Bill Zito is successful in doing so, 21-year-old Spencer Knight would be thrust into the starting role.
Florida only has $3-plus million of cap space this offseason and trading some of Bobrovsky’s $10 million cap hit will alleviate its cap problem.
Bobrovsky’s bounce-back campaign made his contract look a lot more tolerable for some teams, but the Panthers would still have to retain a decent chunk of it to make it worth it.
Coupling the amount of money Florida would have to retain — close to 50 percent of the $10 million cap hit, if not the maximum full half — with likely extensions for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar looming in the near future, the likely solution boils down to handing the full-time starter’s crease to Spencer Knight.
But is he ready?
The 2021-22 season left that question fairly open, with Bobrovsky starting 53 of the Panthers’ 82 games this season — not including all 10 postseason games.
At points, Knight’s starts were few and far between.
Florida ended up sending Knight down to the AHL during a stretch Bobrovsky started 21 of 26 games from Jan. 1 to Mar. 10 and went 17-3-1 with a .916/2.63.
That stretch was not all for not for Knight, however.
Before his first — and likely only — lengthy stint in the AHL, Knight was 9-6-2 with a .898/3.22.
Definitely not NHL starter numbers, but he was not playing as consistently as he nor the Panthers would have liked.
But with Bobrovsky playing the way he was, there was nothing either could do.
Knight’s time with the Charlotte Checkers gave him the opportunity to play and he went 7-2 with two shutouts before being called back up to the big squad ahead of a March 7 start against the Buffalo Sabres.
Knight’s confidence seemed to ooze in that one as he stopped 29 of 30 shots and took a shutout late into the third.
He continued that momentum when Bobrovsky missed Florida’s West Coast road trip, forcing him to start four games in seven nights.
Albeit in a small sample size, Knight had a 2-1-1 record with a .929/1.96 in the only stretch of games where he was given a starter’s workload.
Not bad.
With Bobrovsky facing struggles down the stretch following the lengthy absence, Knight saw more opportunities in net — both starting games and in relief for not one, but two four-goal comebacks — and saw success.
After his March call-up, Knight wrapped the season up with a 10-3-1 record with a .921/2.23 and two shutouts in 12 starts and 14 overall appearances.
During that same stretch, it seemed like closer to a 50-50 workload with Bobrovsky starting 14 games, going 11-1-0 with a .901/3.01.
At points, Knight gave the two-time Vezina winner a good run for his money for the Game 1 starter’s role in the playoffs, but after the season he had, Florida coach Andrew Brunette was not going to take the crease from him.
And, of course, Bobrovsky was far from the issue in the Panthers’ ultimate demise.
But if Bobrovsky is to be moved, it is fair to say that Florida would be in good shape with Knight in net.
Again, in a small sample size, Knight has proven to be steady at the NHL level when he is starting consistently and he has proven to be mature enough to get himself out of ruts when he needs to.
He has shown that throughout the season.
“My comfort level with him has been the same all year,” Brunette said in April.
“He’s an extremely talented and very mature goaltender for his age that seems to get better every time you play him.”
But still, as reliable as Knight has been when thrust into a heavy workload, the guy can’t start all 82 games. so the Panthers have to look for a reliable option behind him.
With likely $5 million in dead cap space sticking around until 2026 if a Bobrovsky move was done and Huberdeau’s pay day looming, it does not leave Florida with very many options.
If Bobrovsky gets moved, there is no bringing in a 1B for Knight. He would be the guy.
So, what are the options behind Knight for the 2022-23 season?
That list starts with Jonas Johansson, who is a restricted free-agent, but in the nicest way possible, he is not the solution.
In two starts since the Panthers claimed him off waivers from Colorado, he went 0-2-0 with a .766/7.74, allowing 10 goals to the last-place Montreal Canadiens in the final game of the season.
He’s likely headed to the AHL or somewhere else.
Chris Gibson, a pending free agent, is another internal option with NHL experience going 4-5-3 record with a .901/3.33 although the Panthers could find more stability on the open market.
Bringing in another goaltender for around $5 million would defeat the purpose of moving Bobrovsky’s contract, so that leaves Florida with a limited field of options.
One of those options could be solved via the Bobrovsky trade itself.
If the Washington Capitals were to bite, one of Vitek Vanecek or Ilya Samsonov (both of which being restricted free-agents) could come back in the deal.
Both Vanacek and Samsonov have experience with receiving a heavy NHL workload and are each coming off of a lackluster season, which drives down their contract value.
Either of the two could end up being a solid option to supplement Knight’s workload if Washington is willing to part ways with one of them to get a deal done for Bobrovsky.
Jaroslav Halak is another solid option on the unrestricted free-agency market.
The journeyman goaltender has experience being a starting goaltender for multiple playoff teams and can help Knight adjust to that role if need be.
He was most recently Thatcher Demko’s backup in Vancouver and went 4-7-2 with a .903/2.94 in 14 starts.
His value on the open market is low, but he is just two seasons removed from putting up a .919 save percentage in 30 games as a backup in Boston if Florida needs him to step up.
No matter who the Panthers would bring in, one thing remains certain — if Bobrovsky is dealt this offseason, Florida’s goaltending hopes will lay in Knight’s hands.
Is the kid up for it?
He has proven time and time again that he is.