Was having some knee issues this past fall, riding Speedplay X2s, especially on the left leg. Switched to SP Zeros so I could play with adjusting/removing float, which seems to help (among a couple other fixes). Locked out most of the float range on the left; and middle range on the right.

So in my case Yes - less pedal float seems to be more knee friendly, but with the caveat that I also worked on other issues, like saddle height/setback, insole support, weak hips, stretching etc.