2019 NHL Draft: Vegas Golden Knights should select Spencer Knight with No.17

You should always enter a draft with the mission of selecting the best talent available, and that will apply to the Vegas Golden Knights this weekend.

The Vegas Golden Knights will arrive at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft on Friday boasting a treasure chest of nine picks, including the No.17 selection in the first round.

It is the first time the Knights have had a pick in the opening round since taking forward Cody Glass sixth overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

This year’s draft is loaded with high-end playmaking and scoring talent, particularly in the first round, while there are some intriguing options to consider for teams wishing to beef up their blueline.

Having the No.17 pick will present the Knights with the opportunity to select a potential game-changer for the franchise, whether they add a potent offensive weapon or a defensive lynchpin.

However, could and should the Vegas front office tandem of General Manager Kelly McCrimmon and President of Hockey Operations George McPhee act now to find the long-term successor to Marc-Andre Fleury?

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We pose that question because there is a potential generational talent lurking in the middle of the first round who could well emerge as the best goaltending prospect to come out of America in decades.

We are of course talking about Spencer Knight and we carried out a brief profile on the highly-rated prospect in a piece on Wednesday.

But we are now going to delve deeper into why we think the Golden Knights should seriously consider knighting their future franchise netminder by selecting Knight with the No.17 pick.

Now, of course, there are no guarantees that Knight will even be on the board by the time Vegas go on the clock given that a slew of experts have the 18-year-old ranked as the best American goalie prospect since Jonathan Quick.

That is high praise indeed but it seems warranted when you consider the eye test when studying Knight’s impressive body of work.

Standing at 6’3″, Knight is built to be a modern-day NHL goalie and he can boast the mental makeup to thrive in the majors too.

Impressing an army of scouts with his sheer athleticism, the rapid quickness of his glove and his spotless positioning, the stud has all the tools in his armoury required to morph into a franchise goalie.

He has very few blemishes on his copybook and will of course only continue to develop and blossom, making him even more of an attractive proposition for teams with a pick in the first round.

One minor concern could be the fact that Knight has a habit of sticking close to his net, although he has begun to challenge skaters more and he has the talent and the skill set to be able to pull that off.

Most impressive is the grace with which he moves from side to side and the speed he moves his glove at is also eye-catching.

Many scouts and draft experts say Knight is the best prospect to emerge from the famous USNTDP Program in years, while he has committed to Boston College where he can continue to hone his skills and learn his craft.

Knight posted a 1.51 GAA and a .936 SV% in six games at this year’s U18 tournament in Sweden, in addition to putting up a .913 save percentage for the U.S. National U18 Team and a .903 save percentage in the USHL.

Now, the only real caveat here is that it is normally a huge risk to take a netminding prospect in the first round of a draft, it isn’t the done thing and history backs that up.

Tampa Bay Lightning star Andrei Vasilevskiy was the last goalie taken inside the top 20 back in 2012, while there hasn’t been a netminder selected in the first round since the Dallas Stars took Jake Oettinger with the 26th overall pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

However, what is important to remember here is the fact that McPhee is no stranger to rolling a dice and taking an almighty gamble in the first round.

Prospect Profile

Height: 6’3″
Weight: 198 lb
Date of Birth: Apr 19, 2001
Position: Goalie
Born: America
Catches: Left

He did it way back in 2006 when General Manager of the Washington Capitals after selecting Semyon Varlamov with the No.23 pick. Varlamov has gone on to enjoy a pretty solid career in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, being named to the NHL Second All-Star Team in 2013-14.

Now, of course, Knight has got a much higher ceiling than Varlamov and he ticks all the boxes when it comes to mapping out what a team would want in a future franchise goalie.

The Knights are blessed to have Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes and the three-time Stanley Cup champion was at the peak of his powers in 2018-19.

However, now at 34-years of age and signed through until 2022, Fleury won’t be around forever and the wear and tear of a long and distinguished career in the majors has already started to show.

Throw into the mixing pot the fact that the cupboard is bare when it comes to elite goaltending prospects in the farm system, then you could make a compelling argument that the Vegas front office needs to make finding their franchise goalie of the future a priority in this year’s draft.

Spencer Knight is the most exciting netminding talent to come out of America in years and he boasts all of the tools required along with the right mindset and set of characteristics to become a franchise goalie for the Vegas Golden Knights.

Plus, by drafting Knight with the No.17 pick on Friday you would ensure that you have a ready-made replacement in the building who would be able to study and learn from Fleury over the next few years, ensuring that he would be primed and ready to go to take over the throne when Fleury does eventually hang up his skates.

There is a glut of high-end offensive and defensive talent littered throughout the first round but, in order to win championships, you need elite goaltending and the Vegas Golden Knights now have the chance to find their future face of the franchise who can backstop them to multiple Stanley Cups.

Plus, with a surname like his, Knight would be an absolute marketing dream for the Vegas Golden Knights. How cool would that be?!