Panthers loan Spencer Knight to Charlotte, where goalie’s comeback story will continue

Spencer Knight’s comeback story will continue in Charlotte, after the Florida Panthers loaned their young goaltender to the team’s AHL affiliate on Friday.

Knight hasn’t played in a game that counts for Florida since Feb. 18. The 22-year-old stepped away from hockey for several months to focus on his mental health, and recently revealed that he has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

He had a 2.43 goals-against average and stopped 91.8% of the shots he faced during the preseason.

Knight knew this was a possibility entering camp, especially with Sergei Bobrovsky locked in as the No. 1 goalie. Sending Knight to Charlotte — a move the Panthers do not look at as a demotion — simply allows him to play more in the short term.

“This was something that we looked at from the start,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s made great progress in his program. He feels good. He looked fantastic in training camp. But we need to put him in kind of a No. 1 position, a No. 1 role and then run his program and work on what he’s working on.”

Anthony Stolarz will start the season as Bobrovsky’s backup. The plan is for Knight to play regularly with Charlotte and open as the go-to starter there.

Knight is in the first year of a $13.5 million, three-year deal and clearly remains a big part of Florida’s plans going forward. Teammates raved about what they saw from him in camp, with captain Aleksander Barkov saying Knight has improved.

“For me, he was like Knighter 2.0,” Barkov said. “He was really good in practice. He was really good in games. He battled, he competed, he works hard. He comes here and he’s one of the most professional guys that I’ve been around. He’s at the gym all the time, doing something, trying to become better. ... It’s good for him to get a lot of games down there, but obviously we’re waiting for him to come back.”

Knight started in 19 games and appeared in 21 last season, going 9-8-3 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. He’s 32-17-6 in parts of three seasons with Florida.

“What’s best for Spencer Knight right now is also what’s best for the Florida Panthers long-term,” Maurice said. “He looked good in camp and we want to keep that going.”