Should The Edmonton Oilers Trade For Spencer Knight From The Florida Panthers?

It was another lost season for the Edmonton Oilers and unfortunately for them, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl aren’t getting any younger. It can start to get frustrating when you have the best player in a generation on your roster with nothing to show for it. Sure, having a trophy cabinet of Hart Trophies is pretty nice, but it would look nicer with a Stanley Cup ring.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Since McDavid and Draisaitl are still in the prime of their careers at 24 and 25 years old, respectively, it may not be a “desperate” time, but it is a go big or go home moment. The Oilers should make the most drastic move the NHL has seen in a while and try to trade for Spencer Knight from the Florida Panthers.

Knight is one of the top two goaltending prospects in the game. Then again, he shares that distinction with  Yaroslav Askarov, a prospect for the Nashville Predators, who are still playing in the KHL. It was a little surprising seeing the Florida Panthers take him in the 2019 NHL draft considering they were the favorites to land the talents of free agent Sergei Bobrovsky. Then again it wasn’t that surprising considering Knight was the best player available by the time the draft went to the 13th pick.

Bobrovsky has been somewhat inconsistent his first two years in South Florida and Knight gave the Panthers insurance. He’s the crown jewel of Florida’s prospect pool, even if he’s projected to be a full-time NHL player this season. Why would Florida ever want to let him go? Well, everyone has a price, and the Edmonton Oilers might be needing to pay up.

Right now Edmonton’s goaltending tandem in Mikko Koskinen as the presumptive starter and veteran Mike Smith as the backup. Koskinen had a rather below-average showing last season with a 3.17 goals-against average along with a .899 save percentage. Remember that was playing only against a weak all-Canadian division. Mike Smith started slightly more than half of last year’s games and put up nice numbers with a 2.31 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. Entering his age 39 season, replicating those numbers is far from given.

The Edmonton Oilers have had lackluster goaltending for a long time. Could a blockbuster move to acquire Spencer Knight be an answer to their problems? 

As for their goalie of the future, Edmonton’s top goaltending prospect is Stuart Skinner. Skinner had great numbers with the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. While those stats put him on par with the aging Mike Smith, Skinner is still set to start in Bakersfield for another season.

Making the splash by acquiring Knight could finally address the Oilers long last goaltender problems. In the Connor McDavid era (from the 2015-2016 season through the present), the Oilers are the seventh-worst NHL team in both total goals allowed and goals allowed per game. Edmonton rolled the dice on Koskinen and it didn’t work out as planned. Betting on Knight seems like it has better odds.

Of course, the cost would be steep, and Florida seems to be in no rush to move Knight. When you have the two best players in the world at such a young age on your team, Edmonton can afford to open up their cub boards and overpay with prospects and draft picks. Florida doesn’t want to trade Spencer Knight. Then again Edmonton might be the only team that can offer then a deal that’s too good to turn down.

There are still concerns. Edmonton’s overall defense up front seems to be a bigger problem than its goaltending. Not to mention that Edmonton is a place where goaltending careers seem to waste away. Remember Devan Dubnyk and how he found success right after leaving oil country? Remember Ben Scrivens and Brian Elliott? Also trading for Knight wouldn’t do anything to get rid of the criticism that Edmonton can’t develop their own goaltending talent.

Edmonton is too good a team for a first-round exit to be the expectation every year. The team owns it to themselves, and their players, to push this team over the edge. Getting Spencer Knight would be the perfect boost of optimism for this young, and long-suffering, club.