Corban Knight

Corban Knight (born September 10, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward currently playing for Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was a fifth round selection, 135th overall, by the Florida Panthers in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, but was traded to the Calgary Flames after the Panthers were unable to sign him to a contract. Knight played four seasons of college hockey with the University of North Dakota and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in 2012–13.

Corban Knight
Born (1990-09-10) September 10, 1990
Oliver, British Columbia, Canada
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Right
KHL team
Former teams		 Avangard Omsk
Calgary Flames
Florida Panthers
Philadelphia Flyers
Barys Nur-Sultan
NHL Draft 135th overall, 2009
Florida Panthers
Playing career 2013–present

Early life

Knight was born in Oliver, British Columbia and moved to High River, Alberta at age 11.[1] His parents are Jack and Laurie Knight. Jack Knight is a Baptist minister and chaplain for the Calgary Flames and Calgary Stampeders.[2]

Playing midget hockey with the Strathmore UFA Bisons, Knight led the Alberta Midget Hockey League in scoring in 2007–08 with 65 points.[3] He was also named the most valuable player of the 2007 Mac's Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament after leading the event in scoring.[1] A late developer physically, he was not drafted to play junior hockey in the Western Hockey League, and opted to play Junior A with the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL).[2] He played a handful of games with the Oilers in 2007–08, then won the league's Rookie of the Year award in 2008–09 after finishing eighth overall in AJHL scoring with 72 points, including 34 goals.[3]

Playing career

College

The Florida Panthers selected Knight with their fifth round selection, 135th overall, at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.[4] While he had expected to return to Okotoks for the 2009–10 season, he instead joined the University of North Dakota (UND) on a full scholarship after junior forward Matt Frattin was dismissed from the squad.[5][6] Knight studied physical education, exercise science and wellness while attending UND.[3]

In his freshman year, Knight finished second on the team in rookie scoring with 13 points and was twice named Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) rookie of the week.[3] Knight and UND won their first of three consecutive Broadmoor Trophies as WCHA playoff champions.[7] He finished second on the team and 10th in the WCHA with 40 points in his sophomore year, 2010–11, and set a school record for faceoff efficiency; he won 59.9 percent of his draws to surpass Zach Parise's mark of 59.1 percent in 2003–04.[3] Knight was named an assistant captain in his junior season of 2011–12,[8] and finished with 40 points. He won the Archie Krum Memorial Athletic Scholarship, given by the school to a player who "demonstrates leadership qualities, high academic standards and athletic excellence."[3]

Completing his college eligibility in 2012–13, Knight recorded his third consecutive 40-point season as his 16 goals and 33 assists totaled a personal high of 49 points.[4] He had a 19-game point streak, the longest for any UND player in 25 years. Knight won the Jeff Anderson Scholarship Award as UND's most valuable player, was named to the National Collegiate Athletic Association West Region All-Tournament Team and was named to the second team at both the All-WCHA and All-American levels.[9] He was also named a top-ten finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as top player in American college hockey;[10] the award was ultimately won by Drew LeBlanc.[11]

Professional

Upon his graduation, the Panthers were required to sign Knight to a contract, or risk losing his playing rights as he would become an unrestricted free agent. Unable to come to terms on a deal, Florida chose to trade him to the Calgary Flames in exchange for a fourth round selection at the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.[2] Knight began the 2013–14 season with Calgary's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. He had 14 goals and 51 points in his first 53 games when a string of injuries in Calgary led to his recall on March 5, 2014.[12] Knight made his NHL debut that night in a 4–1 win over the Ottawa Senators.[13] He scored his first goal (and point) against goaltender Frederik Andersen in a 7–2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on March 12, 2014.[14]

During the 2014–15 season, while with AHL affiliate the Adirondack Flames, Knight was traded by the Flames in a return to his original club, the Florida Panthers, in exchange for Drew Shore on January 9, 2015.[15]

Knight signed a one-year AHL contract with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on September 1, 2016.[16] In the 2016–17 season, he appeared in 72 games with the Phantoms where he recorded 11 goals and 29 assists for 40 points. On July 1, 2017, Knight was rewarded by his season through regaining a NHL contract in accepting a two-year, two-way deal with the Phantoms' NHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Flyers.[17] Knight performed quite well in the 2017-18 season with the Phantoms tallying 14 goals and 23 assists appearing in just 58 games.

As a free agent from the Flyers, he left North America and signed a one-year contract with Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL on May 28, 2019.[18] He made an instant impact with the Kazakh based club, posting 20 goals and 40 points in 60 regular season games in the 2019–20 season. He added an assist during Barys' opening round victory in the playoffs before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a free agent at the conclusion of his contract with Barys, Knight continued in the KHL, securing a lucrative two-year contract with Russian club, Avangard Omsk on May 1, 2020.[19]

Career statistics
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2007–08 Okotoks Oilers AJHL 4 1 0 1 0 7 0 0 0 0
2008–09 Okotoks Oilers AJHL 61 34 38 72 55 9 10 2 12 12
2009–10 University of North Dakota WCHA 37 6 7 13 35 — — — — —
2010–11 University of North Dakota WCHA 44 14 30 44 34 — — — — —
2011–12 University of North Dakota WCHA 39 16 24 40 36 — — — — —
2012–13 University of North Dakota WCHA 41 16 33 49 40 — — — — —
2013–14 Abbotsford Heat AHL 70 18 26 44 50 2 0 1 1 2
2013–14 Calgary Flames NHL 7 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2014–15 Adirondack Flames AHL 22 8 4 12 12 — — — — —
2014–15 Calgary Flames NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2014–15 San Antonio Rampage AHL 36 8 16 24 8 3 1 0 1 0
2015–16 Portland Pirates AHL 33 4 7 11 8 5 0 3 3 6
2015–16 Florida Panthers NHL 20 2 5 7 4 — — — — —
2016–17 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 72 11 29 40 44 5 0 1 1 2
2017–18 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 58 14 23 37 20 13 1 3 4 4
2018–19 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 23 1 3 4 0 — — — — —
2018–19 Lehigh Valley Phantoms AHL 8 4 6 10 2 — — — — —
2019–20 Barys Nur-Sultan KHL 60 20 20 40 12 5 0 1 1 0
NHL totals 52 4 8 12 4 — — — — —
KHL totals 60 20 20 40 12 5 0 1 1 0

Awards and honours
Career
Award Year Ref.
AJHL Rookie of the Year 2008–09 [2]
All-WCHA Second Team 2012–13 [9]
AHCA West Second-Team All-American 2012–13
NCAA West Region All-Tournament Team 2012–13 [9]
gollark: Nonsense, it is 149717241 intuition.
gollark: ddg! spin lock (computing)
gollark: ddg! spinlock
gollark: Random hardware initialization and detection, probably busy loops to spite you, sort of thing.
gollark: Due to different design constraints, fewer peripherals, and less overhead I guess.

References
  1. Gilbertson, Wes (June 18, 2013). "Calgary Flames acquire rights to High River's Corban Knight from the Florida Panthers". Calgary Sun. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  2. Cruickshank, Scott (June 19, 2013). "Ex-Okotoks Oiler a Flame". Calgary Herald. p. C3.
  3. Hajdu, Jayson, ed. (2012). 2012–13 UND Men's Ice Hockey Media Guide. University of North Dakota. pp. 47–48.
  4. "Corban Knight player card". National Hockey League. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  5. Hill, Angela (August 21, 2009). "Knight excited about his future". High River Times. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  6. "UND adds forward to hockey roster". WDAY. August 24, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  7. Halverson, Brian (March 17, 2012). "Dell's 22-save outing keeps Broadmoor Trophy with North Dakota". US College Hockey Online. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  8. Hajdu, Jayson, ed. (2012). 2012–13 UND Men's Ice Hockey Media Guide. University of North Dakota. p. 167.
  9. "Knight named MVP, Kristo receives pair of awards". University of North Dakota. April 26, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  10. "Panthers Prospect Corban Knight Named a Finalist for Hobey Baker Award". Florida Panthers Hockey Club. March 22, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  11. "LeBlanc wins 2013 Hobey Baker Award, signs with Blackhawks". The Sports Network. April 12, 2013. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  12. Vickers, Aaron (March 5, 2014). "Hemsky debuts with Senators; Knight up for Flames". National Hockey League. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  13. Gilbertson, Wes (March 6, 2014). "Hosts heat up". Calgary Sun. p. S5.
  14. Sportak, Randy (March 13, 2014). "Hosts dine out on Ducks". Calgary Sun. p. S3.
  15. "Flames acquire Drew Shore from Florida". Calgary Flames. January 9, 2015. Retrieved January 9, 2015.
  16. "Forward Corban Knight Signed to AHL Contract". Lehigh Valley Phantoms. September 1, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  17. "Flyers sign Vecchione, Knight and Varone". Philadelphia Flyers. July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  18. "Corban Knight Moved to Barys" (in Russian). Barys Nur-Sultan. May 28, 2019. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  19. "Center Corban Knight is Avanagard's first signing" (in Russian). Avangard Omsk. May 1, 2020. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
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