George Richards, FHN Publisher
Sergei Bobrovsky says he was not happy with the way his 2021 season with the Florida Panthers ended.
Truth be told, he is not alone.
Bobrovsky, one may recall, started the Panthers’ playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
After losing Game 1 and turning the net over to Chris Driedger for Game 2, Bobrovsky came off the bench to save the Panthers in Game 3 only to get pulled in the second period of Game 4 and not return for the remainder of the series.
Not only did Bobrovsky not play again, the Panthers did not even have him dress for Games 5 and 6 as rookie Spencer Knight took over and Driedger backed up.
“It is what it is. I definitely wasn’t happy with that,” Bobrovsky said following the second day of his third training camp with the Panthers.
“There is management and coaches and they decided that. That’s their decision but I leave it at that. Of course I’m not happy but I don’t want to think about it. This is a new season and a new opportunity. I have to prepare myself to play my best hockey.”
Bobrovsky, perhaps for the first time since his younger days with the Philadelphia Flyers, has some competition for the starter’s net.
Although Driedger got a lot of starts in his two seasons with the Panthers — including 23 of the 56 starts last year — much of that was due to the pandemic shortened and condensed season. Driedger’s play when he was in, obviously, earned him more playing time.
But now the Panthers have Knight, the team’s 20-year-old ‘Goalie of the Future’ seemingly ready to push for some playing time.
Knight, one may remember, was Florida’s first-round draft pick in 2019 — selected a little over a week before the team signed Bobrovsky to the richest contract in franchise history at seven years and $70 million.
Coach Joel Quenneville talked a bit about the team’s goalie plan on Thursday.
Over the years, goalie coach Robb Tallas has pretty much set the goaltending schedule and now Roberto Luongo and Francois Allaire have input.
Quenneville said the plan coming into the season is that Bobrovsky will “have the workload” which means he’s considered the starter.
”We’re going into camp with Tallas and the goalies and Lu and the staff in that area,” Quenneville said. “I’m not going to say we’re going to budget (Bobrovsky) and so many games and Spencer at so many games.
“But Bob’s going to have the workload and off of that, and (maybe) Spencer pushes him in some areas and some ways. I think it’s a good, healthy situation.
“When Bob gets the net, Spencer is going to be the guy learning and absorbing. I think everyone is competitive, everyone wants to play more at their position. Bob has had a good attitude about improving his game and making adjustments over the summer and I look forward to seeing that.”
BOBROVSKY WANTS THE NET
Bobrovsky, not surprisingly, says he likes getting into a groove and a goalie can really only do that by playing.
Last season, Bobrovsky’s 2.91 GAA ranked 42nd among goalies who played regularly per quanthockey.com; his .906 save percentage ranked 33rd.
Statistically, that was better than Bobrovsky’s first season of 3.23/.900. Bobrovsky’s goals-saved above average went from minus-14.91 to minus-1.86.
Not great numbers to be sure, but improved from in 2019-20.
“I like to get the rhythm,’’ he said. “I like to see the shots, be in the game and not think about anything. You have your net and you play there and you go into the game and you have the trust on you. But the coach decides who is in and my job is to be ready and be prepared when it’s my turn to show my best.”
Bobrovsky has always been said to work well with his goalie partners, most recently Joonas Korpisalo in Columbus and Driedger/Sam Montembeault in Florida.
Knight has said he has looked up to Bobrovsky over the years and the two seemingly have a good working relationship.
”I have never had a problem with the other goalie,” he said. “Growing up, I always had a good relationship with the goalies and this is no different. We’re going to build a good relationship and we’re going to do our best to help the team win some games.”
But Bobrovsky knows it is his job to worry about himself.
He is not getting paid to become another member of the Panthers’ goalie department and coach up the rookie.
“I’m not the helper here,” Bobrovsky said. “We have to help the team. He has his own journey and I have my own journey. We’re going to work together and help the team win. The environment helps. I learned a lot from the veteran goalies and how they approach the game, how they approach themselves and how hard they work. All the little details. That’s what I learned as a young goalie.”
BIG CHANGES COMING OFF THE ICE
Bobrovsky does come into this season in a different place on a personal level than ever before.
He and his wife Olga are expecting their first child — a daughter — in October.
The two vacationed this summer, Bobrovsky shutting off his social media account just to get away from things and veg out a little bit before returning to work and a major-league change in lifestyle that becoming a parent entails.
”I expect that this is going to change my life,” he said. “Right now, it’s one day at a time.”
Bobrovsky certainly has heard the chatter about his play with the Panthers over the past two years even though he says deleting his Instragram this offseason “opened up energy for different things.”
Some of that energy was spent enjoying fine music and visiting art museums. Bobrovsky also said he started learning playing guitar and dabbled in cooking to get his mind off the game for a bit.
”It was a good summer,” Bobrovsky said. “My main focus was to get away from the game for a while, refresh, clear my mind and get my body ready for the season. I did lots of things outside, spent time in Russia, in St. Petersburg, went to music concerts and did stuff away from the game.”
While at times Bobrovsky has looked like the player who remains the only active two-time winner of the Vezina Trophy, at other times his play has been rather pedestrian.
His large salary is the first thing critics point to when his play is off.
But goalies have been known to turn things around on a dime.
If Bobrovsky is right this year, that only helps the Panthers’ bottom line — and not the financial one but in the standings.
He knows this as well as anyone else.