Spencer Knight might be the Panthers’ top goalie, but he’s not taking it as a guarantee
Few players in NHL history have started their careers better than Spencer Knight.
He was only 19 when he first joined the Florida Panthers after two seasons with the Boston College Eagles. He won his first game in his first start on the day after his 20th birthday. In the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Panthers turned to the 20-year-old to start their must-win Game 5, and he delivered by becoming the youngest goaltender in NHL history to win his playoff debut. When Florida begins its season next month, there’s a good chance Knight is in net to face the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It’s fair to say it has not gone to his head.
“It’s just one hockey game,” Knight said. “Anyone can win one game and anyone can win a playoff game, but I think you’ve just got to do it consistently. I think that’s what the best people do is they do it every single day.
“My mind-set is that I never really have made the team until I’m on the team, and when I’m there I still have to stay there.”
In reality, he’s virtually guaranteed to make the Panthers out of training camp and might even wind up as the front-runner for the Calder Memorial Torphy. He will compete with Sergei Bobrovsky in training camp and the two goaltenders will likely split time in net throughout the 2021-22 NHL season.
That’s still a few weeks away, though. For now, Knight is just another rookie at Florida’s development camp in Coral Springs — albeit a really good and accomplished one.
“Honestly, he’s been a brick wall,” defenseman Matt Kiersted said. “I’m happy he’s in our net and I’m not shooting against him in a real game.”
The prospect camp is just the first step in the on-ice build-up to his rookie year, Knight said. The Panthers will head to Wesley Chapel later in the week to play in a prospect showcase, then Knight will head back to South Florida for training camp before the preseason begins on the first day of October.
After a whirlwind introduction to the NHL, Knight is finally getting a chance for something close to a typical preseason for an atypical 20-year-old prospect.
Last season, Knight wrapped up his Boston College career in March, signed his entry-level contract with the Panthers before within a week and made his NHL debut less than a month after playing his last college hockey game. It was supposed to be a one-off, coach Joel Quenneville said — just a chance for him to get his feet wet before he took on a bigger role this season — but it turned into four regular-season games after goaltender Chris Driedger got hurt, then multiple postseason starts when both Driedger and Bobrovsky faltered in the Cup playoffs.
Teammates raved about his poise on and off the ice. In postgame interviews, he rarely offered up much more emotional reactions than just a sheepish smile. Coaches and people across the organization unanimously consider him to be unusually mature.
The offseason finally presented Knight a chance to reflect on his rare accomplishments. He went home to Connecticut, spent most of the summer working out away from the ice and conceded the experience was “cool” and “fun,” but he said his biggest takeaways were mostly just gaining familiarity with the NHL and Florida.
When the new season begins, Knight hopes he’ll be even more comfortable with the Panthers.
That is, if they will have him.
“Frankly, I don’t really look at myself as having made the team or making the team. I think I need to still prove to myself that I can do this every single day because I never really want to have that sort of comfort that I’ve already made the team,” Knight said “It’s good to kind of push myself and say to myself that I still need to prove to everyone that I’m still capable of doing what I did.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 5:05 PM.
