Spencer Knight Game Day Recovery Drill
- Knight's recovery drill emphasizes back shoulder rotation and head position before dropping into the butterfly, keeping the goalie square rather than sprawling.
- The drill starts from the post opposite the shooter, with the goalie pushing to the crease edge, dropping into a butterfly, and recovering across as the shot is released.
- Knight's coaching cue sequence is 'down, back shoulder, hands' — a checklist that keeps him on angle during lateral recoveries.
- The goal is not just making the save, but arriving in control: Knight acknowledges he can save sprawling, but wants to eliminate it as a habit at the next level.
- Working game-day skate drills with goalie coach Rob Tallas reflects Knight's approach of using pre-game time to reinforce technical habits under low-pressure conditions.
Spencer Knight Photo Richard A. Whittaker/Icon Sportswire
Spencer Knight is one of – if not the – best young goalies in the NHL, and at the current rate we may have to take the word “young” out of that description, even if he is just 21 years old.
Knight is fast becoming one of the best goalies in the NHL. Period.
A big part of Knight’s fast rise to NHL prominence with the Florida Panthers is the precision and control with which he plays the position, so it was interesting to see him work a recovery drill with goalie coach Rob Tallas at the end of a morning skate on game-day in Vancouver.
It’s a simple drill. Knight starts on the post opposite where Tallas has positioned himself and some pucks just inside the face-off circle outside the corner of the crease. He makes a push to the edge of crease, again opposite Tallas and the pucks, drops into a butterfly and recovers across, with Tallas winding for a shot just as Knight plants his push skate:
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