The NHL has named Panthers goaltender Spencer Knight as the Rookie of the Month for April. The 21-year-old finished up his first full professional campaign on a high note, posting a 2.16 GAA along with a .925 SV% in seven starts for Florida this month. With veteran Sergei Bobrovsky’s numbers checking in at 3.27 and .893 respectively over that same stretch, Knight has made a strong push for playing time in their upcoming playoff series against Washington. He’s the second Panther to get the award this season, joining center Anton Lundell who received the honor in January.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Sabres goaltender/surprise anthem singer Malcolm Subban told reporters today, including Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that he’d love to return to Buffalo next season. The pending unrestricted free agent was traded to the Sabres in December but got into just four games before suffering a season-ending upper-body injury back in January. After clearing waivers earlier in the year, it seems likely that Subban’s best fit would be as a third-string netminder and Buffalo will likely have an opening in that spot with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen expected to be up full-time in the NHL next season.
- Veteran forward Chris Bourque announced (Twitter link) that he is retiring. The 36-year-old played in 51 career NHL games over parts of four seasons with Washington, Pittsburgh, and Boston while spending 13 years in the minors where he’s 20th in all-time AHL scoring with 746 points. Bourque spent the past three seasons with Ingolstadt in Germany, collecting 134 points in 141 games.
- Avalanche defenseman Kurtis MacDermid and winger Logan O’Connor avoided any suspensions from the league for their actions against Minnesota on Friday. However, both will be a little lighter in the wallet as the Department of Player Safety announced (Twitter links) that both players received fines worth half of one day’s salary, the maximum allowable under the CBA. MacDermid was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing winger Marcus Foligno who looked to be seriously injured on the play. O’Connor, meanwhile, had cross-checked defenseman Dmitry Kulikov although the blueliner was eventually able to return to the game.
If Knight plays, I like FLA’s odds to win a Cup. If it’s Bob, they don’t make it past Tampa.
Seems like an easy choice, but $10 million a year can force some hands.
Tampa has a lot of mileage, I’m not even sure they’ll make it out of the first round.
Also, thankfully there is a mute button because anti-Leafs takes are getting pretty tiresome.
This dude is tad bit touchy and defensive about his team which hasn’t won the Cup in the post lunar landing era.
If you pick the two time defending champions over a team that loses in the first round every year you are “anti-Leaf” and get muted…for the ninth time…
K.
Tampa in 3.
The Avalanche will destroy Nashville, they will be fortunate if they win one game against Colorado. GO AVS!!!!