Panthers lock up 21-year-old goaltender Spencer Knight with three-year contract extension
The Florida Panthers locked up their goaltender of the future Tuesday, signing Spencer Knight to a four-year, $13.5 million extension.
The 21-year-old goaltender, who was set to become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 NHL season, will likely be the Panthers backup this year, but he’s also a budding star after he closed out the 2021-22 NHL season with a .921 save percentage in his final 14 appearances.
“Spencer is a phenomenal goaltender, as well as an exceptional athlete and person,” general manager Bill Zito said in a statement. “He has thrived in his professional career, dedicating himself to his training through his first two seasons with our organization. With this extension, we are excited about the present and future of Panthers goaltending.”
Florida took Knight with the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and he has, so far, managed to even exceed those lofty expectations. He shut out Canada in the final of the 2021 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships to win the United States a gold medal, was then a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as a sophomore for the Boston College Eagles and initially signed his entry-level contract with the Panthers later in 2021, just after his sophomore season ended.
He made his debut for Florida at just 20, and then was surprisingly thrown into net during the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs after fellow goaltenders Sergei Bobrovsky and Chris Driedger, now with the Seattle Kraken, faltered. In his first postseason game, Knight stopped 36 of 37 shots from the eventual-champion Tampa Bay Lightning and become the second youngest goalie in NHL history to win in his playoff debut.
He has also, however, been mostly blocked by Bobrovsky for the last year-plus. Less than two weeks after they took Knight in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft, the Panthers signed Bobrovsky to a massive seven-year, $70 million contract.
Although he struggled for the first two years of the deal, Bobrovsky bounced back last season to lead the league in saves, keeping Knight from ever seriously challenging him for the starting job. Knight, who began the season with Calder Memorial Trophy aspirations, wound up splitting his rookie season between the Panthers and AHL Charlotte.
This year, they should form one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL, with Knight providing insurance for Florida’s notoriously streaky starter and Bobrovsky still letting Knight avoid a full-time NHL workload at just 21. The extension also means the Panthers only have about half a dozen NHL-caliber players due to become free agents at the end of the season.
For now, it’s a great situation for Florida, with Knight still making only about $900,000 on his entry-level deal. Next year, the Panthers will have trickier decisions to make, with $14.5 million in cap space tied up by their goaltenders alone and, currently, only about $11.3 million in projected room. Both Bobrovsky and Knight will have three seasons left on their deal, due to become free agents in 2026, although Knight, even then, will only be a restricted free agent.
Currently, no goalie tandem in the NHL is making even $11 million combined, assuming Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price starts the season on long-term injured reserve.
