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Is it time Spencer Knight starts for the Florida Panthers?

Published

2 years ago

June 20, 2022

Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight skates during the first period of a game against the host Buffalo Sabres on April 3 as the Panthers became the first team in the NHL to clinch a spot in the 2022 postseason. — AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes

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?

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