He ranked second on among team blueliners in hits (84), fifth in blocked shots (54) and has only had 18 giveaways in 56 NHL games.
Knyzhov collected his first NHL point on Feb. 9 at Los Angeles and scored his first NHL goal on March 31 vs. Minnesota. He skated in a career-high 22:10 TOI on Feb. 18 at St. Louis. He made his NHL debut on March 7, 2020 vs. Ottawa.
Born in Kemerovo, Russia on Aug. 20, 1998, Knyzhov moved to the United States as a teenager. He spent 2015-16 and part of the 2016-17 season playing between Regina (WHL), Springfield (NAHL) and Austin (NAHL), before returning to Russia. Over the next two seasons, he played in the Russian Jr. League and three games with St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The six-foot-three, 215-pound blueliner was signed by San Jose as an undrafted free agent on July 2, 2019.
PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD:
2019-20 Mario Ferraro
2018-19 Radim Simek
2017-18 Joakim Ryan
2016-17 Kevin Labanc
2015-16 Joonas Donskoi
2014-15 Melker Karlsson
2013-14 Matt Nieto & Tomas Hertl
2012-13 Matt Irwin
2011-12 Andrew Desjardins
2010-11 Logan Couture
2009-10 Jason Demers
2008-09 Tomas Plihal
2007-08 Torrey Mitchell
2006-07 Marc-Edouard Vlasic
2005-06 Milan Michalek
2003-04 Tom Preissing
2002-03 Jim Fahey
2001-02 Matt Bradley
2000-01 Evgeni Nabokov
1999-00 Brad Stuart
1998-99 Alexander Korolyuk
1997-98 Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Andrei Zyuzin
1996-97 Stephen Guolla
1995-96 Marcus Ragnarsson
1994-95 Jeff Friesen
