Paul Maurice: Knight starting season in AHL is ‘best for the Florida Panthers long-term’
Spencer Knight’s 2023-24 season will not start with the Florida Panthers.
The team announced Friday that the 22-year-old goaltender will begin the season on loan with the Charlotte Checkers, the Panthers’ American Hockey League affiliate.
The reasoning is simple: The Panthers want Knight to get as many reps as a starter as possible after not playing in a live game that counts in nearly eight months. That wasn’t going to happen at the NHL level, with Sergei Bobrovsky slated to be the Florida’s starter in net.
“This was something that we looked at from the start,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s made great progress in his program. He feels good. He looked fantastic in training camp. But we need to put him in kind of a No. 1 position, a No. 1 role and then run his program and work on what he’s working on. It’s been good. He was well aware of it. We didn’t say it was for sure going to happen but there was definitely a plan for it to happen.”
Outside of preseason action the past couple weeks, Knight, hasn’t played in a live game since Feb. 18. Less than a week later, he entered the NHL and NHL Players Association’s joint player assistance program for what he later revealed to be due to an ongoing case with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Knight was away from the team throughout its run to the Stanley Cup Final as a result.
Knight looked like his normal self throughout training camp, and his teammates know just how valuable he can be to the team and its postseason aspirations when he’s at full strength.
“For me, he was like Knighter 2.0,” Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov said. “He was really good in practice. He was really good in games. He battled, he competed, he works hard. He comes here and he’s one of the most professional guys that I’ve been around. He’s at the gym all the time, doing something, trying to become better. ... It’s good for him to get a lot of games down there, but obviously we’re waiting for him to come back.”
Overall this preseason, Knight had a 2.43 goals-against average and stopped 91.8 percent of the shots he faced. He started in 19 games and appeared in 21 last season, going 9-8-3 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. For his career, Knight is 32-17-6 in parts of three seasons with Florida.
“Through the good and also the bad, you just have to remain level-headed,” Knight said after his first preseason start on Sept. 25. “That’s something that I think will carry me to another level and to play more and more games hopefully because the more nights you play, the more you just have to move on to the next one.”
With Knight starting the season in the AHL, Anthony Stolarz will start the season as the Panthers’ backup goaltender behind Bobrovsky.
Stolarz appeared in 19 games with the Anaheim Ducks last season and has played in 81 NHL games overall between stints with the Philadelphia Flyers (2016-17 to 2018-19), Edmonton Oilers (2018-19) and Anaheim (2019-20 to 2022-23), producing a 2.93 career goals against average and a .912 career save percentage. The 29-year-old has logged six career shutouts and set the Ducks franchise record for most saves by a goaltender in a shutout with 46 in a 4-0 win over the San Jose Sharks on April 12, 2021.
At some point, though, the hope and the plan is for Knight to be back at the NHL level. For now, he’ll continue his progression in Charlotte.
“What’s best for Spencer Knight right now is also what’s best for the Florida Panthers long-term,” Maurice said. “He looked good in camp and we want to keep that going. We’re in good shape there.”
Other notable roster moves
In addition to sending down Knight, the Panthers also placed forward Grigori Denisenko and defenseman Matt Kiersted on waivers on Friday as part of a slew of roster moves to get their training camp roster down to 30 players before their final preseason game on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
If Denisenko and Kiersted clear waivers, they will join AHL Charlotte.
The Panthers’ plan is to have their 23-man Opening Night roster finalized shortly after their final preseason game, with the regular season starting Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.
With veteran defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour set to be out until mid-December and start the season on long-term injured reserve, that leaves five more cuts to make to get the roster down to 23 for the season opener.
These moves also seemingly set the stage for winger Mackie Samoskevich, the Panthers’ first-round pick in 2021, to make the Opening Night roster, with Zac Dalpe and Justin Sourdif likely competing for the final forward spot.
Casey Fitzgerald and John Ludvig appear to be the main candidates for the Panthers’ final defenseman spot.
