Is Spencer Knight the future of the Blackhawks’ crease?

Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

When the Florida Panthers selected Spencer Knight with the 13th pick on June 21, 2019, they found their goalie of the future.

The Panthers had never really had a homegrown goaltender—Roberto Luongo was originally drafted by the New York Islanders. So when the club used a first-round pick to take Knight, it meant something.

And then, 10 days later, they signed Sergei Bobrovsky to a seven-year contract worth $10 million per season – one of the most lucrative deals for an NHL goaltender ever.

Who could blame them? Bobrovsky was the top goalie on the market. Two-time Vezina Trophy winners rarely make it to July 1 without contracts. But Knight’s long-term path to an NHL’s starting gig was suddenly clouded before it could truly begin.

On Saturday, the Panthers traded Knight and a 2026 first-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Seth Jones. The Hawks moved on from their most valuable trade asset. But they got a first-rounder, saved some long-term cap space, and took a chance on a goalie with huge upside. Knight isn’t a prospect anymore, but he was the team’s most tantalizing young talent they could have dangled.

Knight has endured a lot in his short career. It started off hot, winning World Junior gold and putting on an absolute clinic in his two years at Boston College. But after taking time away from the game in 2022-23, and missing the Panthers’ two Cup runs, Knight needed a reset.

The Panthers are in win-now mode, and GM Bill Zito wants to make sure they can snag Lord Stanley’s mug for a second straight year. Losing Knight is a tough pill to swallow, knowing Bobrovsky will be 37 when his contract ends in a year, but maybe Knight wasn’t the answer in the net for Florida moving forward. They don’t have another notable starter-quality prospect on the horizon, though. But if Jones gives the Panthers the stability and extra oomph they need to win the Cup, they won’t care.

The Blackhawks, meanwhile, needed a goalie of the future. Drew Commesso and Adam Gajan are two solid prospects, but Chicago needed someone to step in sooner. At some point, GM Kyle Davidson needs to give this team the tools to start making the most of the Connor Bedard era – so far, it’s been ugly.

If you haven’t followed Knight’s career to date, here’s the TL;DR. After winning Hockey East Player of the Year in 2021 (and finishing as a Hobey Baker Award finalist as one of the top college players), Knight finished the 2020-21 season with a 4-0-0 record with the Panthers. He then did something very few college goaltenders ever do: go straight into NHL duty a year after leaving school. But there’s a reason why it’s rare – even though goalies play most of the games during a year, it’s still a massive uptick in the quality of shooters, and the overall grind can be daunting. Just ask Devon Levi. Knight was ultimately loaned to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, where he had his ups and downs.

The 2022-23 season was a more difficult one as he struggled for consistency in Florida. Eventually, he sought a leave of absence to enrol in the NHL/NHL Players’ Association player assistance program that February. In an interview with The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell, Knight said he dealt with a case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, better known as OCD. Knight said he thought taking time away from the game made him a better goaltender, and while he wasn’t part of the Panthers’ two Cup runs, he quickly became one of the AHL’s better goalies last year. He had five shutouts and a 25-14-5 run as Charlotte’s No. 1 – a truly impressive campaign. Knight was promoted back to the big club when Anthony Stolarz bolted on the open market on July 1.

Knight’s surface numbers might not be special, but his 9.1 goals saved above expected at all strengths is good for 20th in the league, according to Evolving-Hockey. At 5-on-5, he’s 27 at 3.89. In both cases, he’s ahead of Bobrovsky. The Panthers have saved the tougher starts for the Russian veteran, for sure. But Knight did everything you could have asked him almost every night this year. By all accounts, Knight is playing some good hockey and has the potential to be a serious upgrade for the Hawks.

There’s a lot to like about Knight’s makeup. He’s a quick 6-foot-3 goaltender with fantastic positioning who seems to never have issues managing traffic. When he doesn’t have the upper hand positionally, he’s got the reflexes to make a last-second save. Knight is rarely fazed by a bad goal, either. Like Jordan Binnington at the 4 Nations Face-Off, Knight tends to find a way to get himself back in the game quickly. Combine those traits, and Knight is still one of the league’s most promising young goalies.

On the surface, there’s a lot to like here for the Blackhawks. Petr Mrazek has a $4.25 million cap hit until the end of 2025-26, while Laurent Brossoit (on injured reserve for the entire year) makes $3.3 million. All three goalies will need new contracts in 2026, while 25-year-old Arvid Soderblom will be an RFA this summer. At his best, Knight is better than Soderblom (and younger, too). Mrazek is a veteran who could become an attractive trade deadline acquisition for a team needing to stabilize their goaltending. Mrazek has played some excellent hockey at points for a terrible team this year, and he has been a No. 1 on competitive squads before. A tandem of Knight and Soderblom would be formidable, at least in the short term.

Chicago is still a few years away from being true contenders, but they can’t just keep stockpiling draft picks and hope for the best. At some point, Davidson needed to start making big moves, and Knight was the first. Talking to some scouts, many believe Commesso and Gajan might not be as good as once hoped. Commesso has been good, but not great, and likely will round out as a No. 2. Gajan, meanwhile, has had a brutal season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and while the losses haven’t all been his fault, he simply hasn’t been good enough.

When it comes to goaltenders, you want to have as many bullets in the chamber as possible. It’s the hardest position in the game to develop, and we’ve seen plenty of sure things miss the mark entirely. There’s a real chance Knight could have petered out into a career backup had he stayed in Florida – and it might still end up that way in Chicago. But the Hawks are betting on upside with Knight.

Here’s a list of all active U-24 NHL goaltenders with at least 100 games played: Spencer Knight. That’s it. He’s also the only one with more than 50 wins and one of three with at least 30. So, while it hasn’t been smooth sailing for Knight, that’s still a tremendous amount of experience already. Dustin Wolf was taken in that same 2019 NHL Draft, and he’s just a rookie. At this point, it’s not about slowly developing Knight – if you’re the Hawks, throw your full confidence in him over the next year. Let him show he can handle the pressure and be a No. 1 like so many thought he could be.

By all accounts, the best is yet to come. The highs have already been impressive enough to suggest that his prime hockey will be fantastic.

Always bet high on talent.

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Is Spencer Knight the future of the Blackhawks’ crease?

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