When the Florida Panthers took the ice for the first game of their preseason-opening doubleheader on Sunday, there was a familiar face leading them out of the dressing room.
Goaltender Spencer Knight last played in the NHL in February of 2023.
He made the difficult decision to pause his professional hockey career and seek help in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program for issues he was having with obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Following his treatment, which lasted for several months, Knight was ready to resume his career and re-joined the Panthers last summer.
He spent last season slowing getting back into the swing of things, spending the entire campaign with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.
By the end of the regular season, Knight was playing like a top young goaltender again, looking the part as one of the best goalie prospects around.
Now the question is whether he can do it at the NHL level again.
In his first taste of game action at that level in over a year and a half, Knight looked like his usual calm, cool and collected self between the pipes.
Facing a split squad of Nashville Predators that didn’t include a ton of familiar names, Knight shut the door time and time again, stopping all 19 shots sent his way in 30:52 of game action.
While the result from the game is as good as you’d hope, in the big scheme of things, there is much more to Knight’s return than just making saves on the ice.
“I’m really happy that it’s just this continuation of the entire program,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said of Knight after Sunday’s doubleheader. “He had a good year last year. It was good for him to go through an entire year pro. What he did tonight is the way he’s looked in training camp, so he looks strong.”
If things continue on the path they’re currently on, Knight will backup Sergei Bobrovsky this season and play a similar role to what we saw from Anthony Stolarz last season.
There are going to be a lot of eyeballs on Knight this season, both on the ice and off it.
It will be an interesting and likely challenging balancing act for the young goaltender.
He’ll be working on improving his game while continuing to learn and adjust to the rigors of a professional hockey player’s extremely demanding schedule.
This is all part of the process for any goalie working their way into the NHL, and Knight has been fortunate to be surrounded by coaches and teammates who have been nothing but supportive and nurturing throughout his journey.
“There are some, I would think, some adjustments in his game, and that comes from growth,” Maurice said. “He’s a young guy, and there’s so much to learn to that position, and I think he’s back on that curve. It is day after day, he continues to kind of learn to cope in the National League or in pro sports, and he looks very, very strong, so he’s done well.”
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