Spencer Knight ‘grateful’ to have extension done. What it means for Bobrovsky, Panthers

There was never much of a doubt about whether the Florida Panthers would keep Spencer Knight after his entry-level contract expired next offseason, but the franchise and its 21-year-old goaltender both went into the fall not knowing quite what a next deal would look like.

They did know, however, they wanted to get one done as soon as they could and they finally did Tuesday.

“I’m very fortunate to be able to get it done before the season,” said Knight, who was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. “When you come to the rink, you just want to play and be with the guys, and have fun and that’s why I’m so grateful to get this done before the season because this allows me to do that.”

The extension, agreed to after Knight has played just 38 meaningful NHL games, is something of a historic agreement. At $14.5 million across three seasons, the Panthers will start paying Knight next year — he’s still only owed $925,000 this season on the final year of his entry-level contract — as if he’s a starting goalie, even though he mostly backed up star goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky throughout his rookie season.

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It’s a bit of a gamble for both parties, although Florida probably wears more of the risk, especially because Bobrovsky is still owed $10 million per year for four more seasons, including this one. At the same time, the certainty both sides get out of the extension — a monster year for Knight, for example, could have made him worth more than $4.5 million if the Panthers waited to extend him — is what everyone was hoping to get out of a deal, especially since because Florida hopes to once again contend for a Stanley Cup this season.

Right now, few teams have a better goaltending situation than the Panthers, who have two legitimate star-level talents.

“It’s a really good thing for this franchise to have two spectacular goalies,” coach Paul Maurice said between preseason practices Wednesday at the Florida Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs. “You’re spoiled.”

The dynamic will still pose its challenges, though. In the short term, Florida needs to figure out how to get the most out of two top-flight challenges. Last season, Bobrovsky handled the net for most of the first half of the year and Knight struggled while playing sparingly, eventually getting sent to Charlotte in the American Hockey League for more consistent playing time.

When he returned from the AHL, Knight saw a more even split of playing time — some injuries played a role — and thrived. In his final 14 games after returning from the Charlotte Checkers, Knight posted a .921 save percentage, which would have ranked fourth in the league across the full 2021-22 NHL season.

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Maurice said he and goaltending coach Rob Tallas have already discussed a plan for how the goalies will split playing time, with the goal to “keep them both fresh and sharp.”

“We will always have a plan for each month, what we’d like to see happen, and then we’ll make adjustments as you go,” Maurice said, “but both of these guys — we’re going to put a guy in the net that is giving us a chance to win.”

The trickier challenge will be with the future at the position. The Panthers’ 2019 offseason remains baffling — they took Knight in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, then signed Bobrovsky to a seven-year, $70 million deal less than two weeks later — and Knight’s rapid rise to stardom now leaves them in a situation where they’re poised to play their goalies more than anyone else in the league.

Florida’s ideal outcome, from a cap perspective, would be for Bobrovsky and Knight to dazzle this season, with Knight clearly proving himself capable of being a full-time starter and Bobrovsky, 34, reasserting himself to the point where other teams are interested in trading for him.

If not, the Panthers could potentially explore a Knight trade — he did acknowledge, “there’s nothing guaranteed” — or, more palatable, a Bobrovsky buyout.

A buyout next summer would drop Bobrovsky’s annual cap hit from $10 million to $6.7 million in each of the next three seasons, with a new $1.7 million cap hit for each of the following three years. It’s still a big number, but it’s doable because retired defenseman Keith Yandle’s cap hit — Florida bought out the recently retired defenseman last year — drops from $5.4 million this year to $1.2 million in each of the next two and means the currently cap-constrained Panthers are currently set to have more than $11 million in room to work with next offseason.

Either way, Florida feels good about one thing.

“There should be some real good goaltending for the Florida Panthers for a lot of years,” Maurice said.

Panthers open home (preseason) schedule

The Panthers will play their first home game of the 2022-23 NHL season Thursday, hosting the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. in a preseason tilt at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise.

Admission to the game is $15, with all revenue going to organization’s Learn to Play program, which promotes the growth of youth hockey in South Florida. Parking is free with a ticket.