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2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Spencer Knight ‘Humbled,’ Back to Work with the Florida Panthers

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2 years ago

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Florida panthers
Florida Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight, pictured here in 2022 against the host Buffalo Sabres, is back with the team as it prepares for the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

FORT LAUDERDALE — Spencer Knight was back on the ice with the Florida Panthers on Friday morning after a 10-hour road trip from Charlotte.

He is glad to be back with his teammates and to see the new IcePlex training facility for the first time.

“This place is really nice,” said Knight, who has a spot in the sprawling locker room beside Sergei Bobrovsky.

Speaking to Florida Hockey Now following his team’s practice Friday, Knight said he was happy to get a chance to play most of a team’s games again as he did this season with the AHL Charlotte Checkers.

“The season was good,’’ he said. “It was refreshing to play and to get a good quantity of games was important for my development.’’

Today, less than a week after Charlotte’s season ended in the postseason, Knight is Florida’s No. 3 goalie.

He is behind Bobrovsky and backup Anthony Stolarz, heading into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

And he is fine with that.

“I know what I am,’’ Knight said.

Knight will get a lot of work in as the Panthers continue their run through the playoffs, but as of right now, Stolarz will dress as the backup to Bobrovsky in playoff games.

“Playing with these guys, even in practices, it is the best league in the world,” Knight said on Friday. “You will always get better from that. … But it is good to be back here, seeing all the guys is probably the best part about it. Just seeing the guys, the training staff, everyone. That has been great.”

Said coach Paul Maurice: “It is a great environment for him to come into because now he can interact with his teammates. And that’s what these guys are; his teammates. It’s a more casual environment because he is not under the pressure of going into the net the next night. It is a great way for him to come back in. We can tailor how heavy his days are. He is going to go in with the shooters, and have some heavy days which is good.’’

Knight, 23, spent the entire season in Charlotte, something the Panthers wanted for him after he left the team last year to enter the NHLPA Players’ Assistance Program to deal with OCD.

The Panthers signed Stolarz as a free agent on July 1 to backup Bobrovsky. Knight went to Charlotte out of training camp with goalie coach Leo Luongo where the two worked very closely this season.

Neither Bobrovsky nor Stolarz got hurt this season, so Knight stayed with the Checkers and kept “grinding,’’ as he put it.

For the first time in his professional career, which has all been with the Panthers, Knight was the starting goalie for the entirety of a season.

“I got to play multiple games in a row and just work on that,” Knight said. “Getting through the grind, playing so much, was really beneficial. It was something I really had not seen in my previous years. I think that is something I will take when — I obviously want to be a starter, have always wanted to play 60, 70 games a year. That’s a lot of games, but it is what I think I am built to do, and what I can do. Ultimately, I am just working toward that.’’

When Knight left Boston College as a sophomore in 2021, he was the No. 3 behind Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger. Yet, there he was starting Game 5 against the Lightning. He won that, and got the start in Game 6.

With Driedger off to the expansion Kraken, Knight started the 2021-22 season as Bobrovsky’s backup. He started the 2022-23 season in that same spot.

In those two seasons, however, there had been times when it appeared Knight had wrested control and would be considered the starter.

Bobrovsky eventually took over again and Knight was back on the bench.

Knight, simply put, needed to get in the proper amount of games a young goalie should.

It was not his fault, nor was it Bobrovsky’s fault or any shortcoming of the Panthers.

Knight just needed to play — and he got that opportunity this year.

“Having the experience of playing a lot, being the guys through the ups and the downs, will carry me when I am back in the NHL,’’ said Knight, who went 25-14-5 with a 2.41/.905 in 45 games for the Checkers this season.

Knight also had to overcome the perception — real, or otherwise — that he was not living up to his lofty contract or high draft status.

In the past, as he admitted in July when he attended Florida’s development camp despite having played 57 NHL games, he hinted that he did not handle going to Charlotte well.

On the surface, Knight was only going to Charlotte because it was a chance to get some games in with the Panthers’ schedule being light at the time, and Bobrovsky expected to get the starts.

He left the Panthers on Feb. 24, 2023, days after being assigned to Charlotte.

Alex Lyon, who was only coming to the Panthers for the interim, ended up staying through the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final — and was integral in getting Florida to the playoffs in the first place.

“One thing I have learned is that I have to be cool with whatever happens,” Knight said in July.

“If you are here, great; If you are there, great. If that happens, great. That’s the approach I have to have. I know the skill I have and I don’t doubt that. The skill combined with physical capability, I think I have tremendous skill and can be one of the best goalies in this league.

“I’m still 22. The mentality of embracing the uncertainty and embrace that we don’t know what’s going to happen next. Do you think Florida thought it would be in the Stanley Cup Final in January? But they were, right? Who knows what’s going to happen but I am cool with that. I am going to be a better goalie and a better person from that.”

Knight was the 13th overall pick of the 2019 draft and signed a three-year extension worth $13.5 million with the Panthers last season.

Florida ended up taking a $3.5 million cap hit with Knight playing in Charlotte as only $1 million of his salary was taken off the cap.

Perhaps Knight thought he was better than playing in the AHL.

After all, Knight has a career NHL record of 32-17-6 with a save percentage above .900 (.906) and a GAA under 3 (2.97).

If Knight thought that before, he says he does not anymore.

“Life is full of adjustments,” Knight said Friday. “Going down is an adjustment; coming back up is an adjustment. … I wasn’t too focused [on being called up to the Panthers], but I was ready for it.

“At the same time, I knew that I was in Charlotte and I could not look past that. I’m not too good for that. I think just grinding and doing that, it humbles you and makes you a better person. It builds a chip on your shoulder.’’

For the most in-depth coverage of the Florida Panthers:

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
FLORIDA PANTHERS (ATL1) V. BOSTON (A2)/TORONTO (A3)
*Round 1 Series Tied 3-3; Game 7 Saturday @ Boston, 8 (ABC)
BEST-OF-7 SERIES
GAME 1

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