There was a rumor circulating the internet about Spencer Knight being named the starting goaltender for the Panthers when the next season rolls around. I personally saw it on Puck Empire; however, they also likes to throw shit on the wall and hope they get it right every now and then so I take what they say with a grain of salt.
While Spencer Knight is the future franchise goalie, I think it would be a big mistake to name him as the #1 right now.
First of all, it would definitely ruffle Bobrovsky’s feathers. This move could piss Bob off enough to make him work harder, but it could just as easily have the opposite effect where he decides to say “fuck it, I am still making $10 mill a year” and performs worse than usual.
If you have followed my posts long enough, you know damn well that I am not the biggest Bob fan; however, I have seen him when he was at his best and he can be an elite goalie. Ask Tampa bout him just three seasons ago. I am not sure what it would take to get him back to the level he was playing in Columbus, but I don’t think sitting him at #2 will help that situation. As I said, he could take the IDGAF approach and be terrible when the team has to rely on him.
Additionally, if the Panthers name Bob the starter, they can always go to Spencer Knight or split it much like they did with the Bob-Driedger combo. I think a 60/40 split would be great and it would let Knight dip his toes in the NHL before becoming “the guy”. It would take a lot of the pressure, whether it be internally or externally, off of Knight and people would be happy to see him play.
If Knight is the starter, people would tend to criticize him the same way people bitch about Bobrovsky should he underperform. Keep in mind, Knight only has played in 6 NHL games leading in to this season.
Furthermore, if you start with Knight and then go to Bob as the #1, it would be very hard to go back to Knight should Bob shit the bed. My whole argument is to keep Knight as the “ace in the hole”. If people think Knight can come in and do better, they have hope. If they see that Knight wasn’t cutting it and Bob is underperforming, they lose confidence in the goaltending all together. There is no longer that illusion of something better waiting.
Finally, how many times have you seen teams rush a young goalie up as the “future of the organization” only for them to shit the bed shortly afterwards? Two prime examples that come to my mind are Steve Mason and Carter Hart.
Mason started his NHL career by winning the Calder Trophy in the 2008-2009 season and lead the Blue Jackets to their first ever postseason appearance posting a .916 SV% and a 2.29 GAA. That same season he finished 4th in the Hart Trophy voting for the NHL’s MVP and 2nd for the Vezina. With a rookie year like that, you would think he would be a household name and Hall of Famer, right? Especially being selected 69th (nice) overall in the 2006 NHL draft. He ended up with a fairly average career and never really took the spotlight again.
Carter Hart is still young so his story has not fully played out and hopefully he can right the ship and get back to his first two years of play. After posting a 2.83 GAA and .917 SV% his rookie year and following it up with a 2.42 GAA and .914 SV% his sophomore season, Hart fell to a 3.67 GAA and .877 SV% last year. As mentioned, the 22-year-old is still young and has plenty of time to find his game; however, the pressure of being the full-time starter on a team that should be a contender may have started causing some cracks in the youngster’s game.
While I think that Bobrovsky is overpaid and underperforming, my opinion is that the best path forward for the Panthers is to let him take the heat and lead for another season or two before turning over the reigns to Knight. This would allow Knight to get comfortable playing as an NHL regular and let Bob be the fan, media, and team whipping boy.
In Knight we trust, just not yet!
