George Richards, FHN Publisher
The Florida Panthers will go into the 2023-24 season with their goaltending position either being a strength or a real question mark.
As it stands right now, the Panthers feel pretty good about where things stand — and Sergei Bobrovsky’s run through the postseason has a lot to do with that.
The Panthers plan to come into training camp next month with three NHL-caliber goalies: Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight and Anthony Stolarz.
Only two are going to be on the Opening Night roster and, baring injury, one of them will be named Sergei Bobrovsky.
So what will the Panthers be looking at out of their goaltending this season?
Last summer, the Panthers came in with a pair of NHL proven goalies.
Only it was Alex Lyon — who had spent the vast majority of his career playing in the AHL — who ended up saving Florida’s season with some well-timed wins before the All-Star break and then led the Panthers into the playoffs with a seven-game point streak at the end.
The Panthers loved what Lyon brought to the team last season.
Lyon’s play both leading into the playoffs and early in the Boston series earned him a multi-year, one-way contract he had always been hoping for.
Only that contract came from Detroit.
The Panthers could have matched what Lyon got if they wanted to — he got two-years with $900,000 guaranteed annually from the Red Wings — but instead decided to go with Stolarz who has played 55 of his 81 career NHL games over the past three seasons with Anaheim.
Florida spent its short offseason following the loss to Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final trying to upgrade positions of need.
It felt it did so at goaltending by replacing Lyon with Stolarz — recent feelings put aside.
Although the Panthers will go into their season with two goalies, there is no way they play the entire season with just two.
Florida, like many other teams around the league, will have to rely on three or more goalies this season.
With what they have, the Panthers feel pretty good about things.
Now, how do things play out when the season starts?
General manager Bill Zito has been clear in saying the best player will be on Florida’s roster and that just may mean the Knight beats out Stolarz for the backup job right out of camp.
There is a feeling, however, that the Panthers would like to see Knight get consistent playing time from the start of the season after he missed the end of last year after entering the NHL/NHLPA players’ assistance program.
Knight is entering the first year of a three-year contract which pays him $4.5 million annually — and Florida will have to pay him that sum whether he plays for the Panthers or in Charlotte.
The Panthers seem willing to pay Knight that money to play for the Checkers as long as his development continues.
Knight also does not have to go through waivers to get to Charlotte which makes this move a little easier.
Combine Florida’s want to see Knight play a lot of games instead of riding the bench with Bobrovsky getting the lions’ share of starts and the ability to get him through to Charlotte and, well, we could see that very well working out just that way.
That said, the Panthers are not going to run Bobrovsky into the ground, not at 35.
Bobrovsky may want to play each and every game but that is not going to happen.
Florida saw how good Bobrovsky was during the playoffs and it is hard not to think that him getting so much rest while Lyon was playing down the stretch did not benefit him physically.
The days of Florida asking Bobrovsky to play 15 out of the final 16 games of a season are over.
It may just be Knight carrying a lot of the load later in the season.
Knight has been Florida’s so-called goalie-in-waiting since they made him a first-round pick in 2019 and they would like to see that continue.
He is still the future in net in Florida. Even if he starts this season in Charlotte and finds himself playing most of his games there, that probably does not change.
But do not be surprised if we see Bobrovsky and Stolarz start the season as Florida’s goalies with Knight getting in a lot of games in with Charlotte.
Then, perhaps January or February, we see Knight come back to Florida.
Stolarz is on a one-year deal with the Panthers so, unless he lights it up and gets a contract extension from the team, he is fairly expendable. It would not mean the end of the world for the Panthers if he were to be lost to waivers midway through the season.
Of course, if Bobrovsky gets sick or hurt, we may just see Florida running with a Stolarz/Knight tandem for a while.
Based on past experience, bet on seeing those two share the Panthers’ net at some point this season.
FLORIDA PANTHERS ON DECK