Offseason of goalie questions begins
Team in unique spot with Knight, Bobrovsky, Driedger all on hand
The Florida Panthers have one of the most unique goaltender situations in the National Hockey League.
The rise of 20-year-old prospect Spencer Knight by season’s end has many excited to see what the future holds for him, on one hand. On the other, the Panthers are also handcuffed by the five years remaining on underperforming veteran Sergie Bobrovsky’s seven-year, $70 million contract. Add to that, Chris Driedger was one of the league’s most effective backups for much of the season before Knight got into the mix.
It makes for an interesting summer as Driedger, 27, is set for unrestricted free agency in an offseason that will also involve the expansion draft of the new Seattle Kraken.
“I don’t know exactly,” said Panthers general manager Bill Zito in a Wednesday afternoon web conference with reporters on the team’s goalie outlook. “I can’t sit here and tell you specifically what the future’s going to hold, but we’re going to review everything thoroughly and make some decisions.”
With six games of NHL experience, many already want to
anoint Knight as the goalie of the future after he went 4-0 in his regular-season appearances and then extended Florida’s season by saving 36 of 37 shots in Game 5 against the potent Tampa Bay Lightning in their first-round playoff matchup, which the Panthers eventually dropped in six.
“When [Knight] gets back, we’ll sit down with the goaltending department, and we’ll go through everything with coach [Joel Quenneville] and [goaltending coach] Robbie Tallas and decide on our strategy for goaltending for next year,” Zito said.
“I thought Spencer did a great job, and I thought there was a lot of highlights to Bob’s season, as well. I think there were areas that he would like to improve upon, but he had some bright spots, too — and also Chris.”
Zito, named Panthers general manager on Sept. 2, 2020, inherited Bobrovsky’s contract, signed in 2019, as well as Driedger and Knight, who was Florida’s firstround pick in the 2019 NHL draft before he signed and joined the team on March 31.
Bobrovsky was 19-8-2 with a 2.91 goals against average and .906 save percentage in the 2021 regular season. Driedger went 14-6-3 with a 2.07 GAA and .927 save percentage. The duo had an uneven first four games against the Lightning in the postseason, leading Quenneville to go to the rookie Knight for the final two playoff games.
“One thing that we’ve been trying to work toward is best players play,” Zito said. “On any given night, Q is going to dress the lineup, and he’s said this time and time again, ‘I’m going to try to win hockey games.’ There’s a lot of factors that go into many things. We’re going to get with the goaltending department, and we’ll figure it out.
“We need to approach each season from a fresh perspective. We’re going to do that. We’ll get with the goaltending department and we’ll evaluate and we’ll do everything in our power — as we do with all our players — to help each of our players, individually and collectively, be as good as they can be. And I think they will be.”
Zito said the Panthers plan on getting 19-year-old prospect and 2020 first-round pick Anton Lundell in for training camp ahead of next season.
“He’ll be here. There’s a plan. I’m going to go get him myself,” said Zito of Lundell, the center from Finland. “He’s tearing up the world championships. He’s a pretty good prospect.”
On Friday, star Panthers center Aleksander Barkov, who is entering the final season on his contract, said he hadn’t put much thought into negotiations, but expressed a general desire to want to remain in South Florida.
“It’ll be something that’s paramount to me, and we’ll address it in short order,” Zito said Wednesday.