2019 NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Spencer Knight scouting report

Spencer Knight is the best American goaltending prospect to come along in years. He enters the 2019 NHL Draft as the consensus top goalie.

Before recently, drafting goaltenders is sort of like being on a game show and having to choose door number one or door number two. Teams often pick not really knowing too much about them. Thankfully, scouting is much better these days. But still, drafting goalies in the first round is usually frowned upon. That said, Spencer Knight could, and arguably should, be drafted in the first round of the 2019 NHL Draft.

Knight is a product of the famous USNTDP program, which had arguably its most talented roster ever this season. He’s been hyped as the next great American goalie for years. Thus far, Knight has done nothing to silence the hype. In fact, he’s likely increased it.

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A franchise goalie can carry a team for years. Everything I’ve seen from Knight suggests there’s a franchise goalie somewhere in him. At worst, he should be an above average NHL starter.

Prospect Profile

Height: 6’3″
Weight: 198 pounds
Teams: USNTDP (USDP and USHL); Committed to Boston College in 2019-20
Country: USA
Position: Goaltender
Handedness: Catches left-handed
Date of birth: April 19, 2001

All profile info is courtesy of Elite Prospects.

Strengths

Knight has the perfect size for the NHL. His athleticism combined with his size gives him virtually limitless potential. Knight’s side-to-side movement is extremely impressive for his age. His glove is very quick as well. Knight nearly missed my top 10 prospects list (which you can find here).

He was much better in his draft season than his stats suggested (.913 save percentage in the USDP and .903 save percentage in the USHL). The USNTDP program had so many great forwards, they took a ton of chances. This often left Knight having to handle odd-man rushes and breakaways. He really impressed me with how he handled them.

However, the best thing about Knight is his positioning. You might notice he rarely makes highlight-reel saves. While Knight is fully capable of making them, I believe this “weakness” is more of a “strength”. Why? Because it shows how rarely Knight is caught out of position. Having size and athleticism to fall back on is a nice security blanket, but ultimately, positioning matters the most for goalies.

On top of that, Knight’s an above-average puck handler for a goaltender and I think he has a lot of room to grow in that area. Also, he’s going to Boston College, where he’s likely going to get a bulk of the starts. This should help expedite his development.

Weaknesses

Knight plays a little too deep in the crease for my liking. That said, it works extremely well for him. I had questions about his ability to challenge shooters before this season, but he answered those questions this season.

What They’re Saying

"When a tough save needs to be made, he’s there, square, in perfect form even if it requires him to move to get there. – Corey Pronman from The Athletic"

"He’s explosive post-to-post, he’s big, he uses that size to challenge shooters, and — probably most importantly for goalies his age — he rarely gets caught swimming in his net because he has trained himself to be compact. – Scott Wheeler from The Athletic"

Highlights

Next. 2019 NHL Mock Draft. dark

Overall Outlook

I’m of the opinion to never draft goalies in the first round. You can find them in later rounds. For every Andrei Vasilevskiy and Marc-Andre Fleury, there’s a Jack Campbell and a Chet Pickard. Skaters are far easier to scout and are less of a coin flip than goalies.

That said, Knight is someone I’d at least consider. He’s the best goalie prospect I’ve seen since I started watching prospects in 2013. With teams like the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and even the Carolina Hurricanes facing uncertain futures in net while lacking a true starting goalie in their pipeline, it’s not hard to see Knight going in the first round.

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