Before there were Matthew and Brady Tkachuk, before there were Sam Bennett and Sam Reinhart, even before there was Paul Maurice, there was Sergei Bobrovsky.
Bobrovsky signed a $70 million contract with the Florida Panthers in summer 2019 when the franchise was far from a destination. When Bobrovsky joined the Panthers, they had just missed the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years and were 23 years removed from their most recent playoff series win.
Seven years and two championships later, Bobrovsky’s deal is up, and it is expected that he will not return to Florida, much to his and his teammates’ dismay.
“I want to be here,” Bobrovsky told reporters late in the season. “I love the team. I love the fans. I love the organization. I love the guys. I love everything. Yeah, I want to stay here.”
“We cannot lose him,” Matthew Tkachuk told reporters after the Panthers missed the playoffs. “He’s our guy. He is going to get us back to where we want to be. (He is) the most important piece of our team the past couple of years with what he has done. It’s the character, the work ethic, the drive. He sets the tone on and off the ice. I don’t care what age he is, he is the backbone of this team.”
Last week, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos wrote that Bobrovsky, who turns 38 in September, could seek a new contract “as high as $42 million over six or seven years.” That would be a tough ask, considering Bobrovsky is coming off the worst statistical season of his 16-year career. (AFP Analytics’ projection for Bobrovsky is a two-year contract with a cap hit of around $5.6 million.)
Bobrovsky posted a 3.07 goals-against average and .877 save percentage in 52 games (51 starts) this past season, a steep drop from the 2.40 GAA and .911 save percentage he had across Florida’s consecutive Stanley Cup-winning seasons. He saved more goals than expected in 59.6 per cent of his appearances, which ranked 35th out of 51 goaltenders who played at least 30 games in 2025-26.
Bobrovsky’s ability to make saves from the prime scoring areas cratered this past season. His .789 save percentage on slot shots was the worst of all qualified goaltenders and down considerably from the .839 save percentage he recorded over the previous two regular seasons.
Florida’s team defence, which finished 10th in shot quality against despite missing three-time Selke Trophy winner Aleksander Barkov all season, was not entirely to blame for Bobrovsky’s issues. He faced the fourth-fewest slot shots on net per 60 minutes among qualified goaltenders.
The addition of Brady Tkachuk leaves the Panthers with roughly $7.1 million in projected cap space, which could squeeze out Bobrovsky if he sticks to his reported asking price. Backup Daniil Tarasov is also about to hit free agency, which further complicates matters for Florida.
Bobrovsky could rejoin old partner Anthony Stolarz, who backed him up during the Panthers’ first Stanley Cup run in 2024. Stolarz has never started more than 33 games in a season, so having a seasoned starter and familiar face to support him would be helpful. (Friedman also mentioned Bobrovsky’s close relationship with Maple Leafs forward Steven Lorentz from their time in Florida.)
The Maple Leafs’ internal options behind Stolarz are 24-year-olds Dennis Hildeby and Artur Akhtyamov, who have 29 combined games of NHL experience. Samuel Ersson, acquired last week from the Philadelphia Flyers, is a restricted free agent who struggled just as much as Bobrovsky this past season. (Ersson ranked 47th in slot save percentage and 49th in goals saved above expected out of the 51 qualified goaltenders.)
The recent run of unheralded (and cheap) goaltenders who have won the Stanley Cup could steer teams away from spending top dollar on Bobrovsky. But it is rare that a multi-time Vezina Trophy and Stanley Cup winner comes available, even at an advanced age.
“Until doors close, you never know,” Panthers general manager Bill Zito told reporters Tuesday. “(Bobrovsky) is a guy (who’s) done so much for our organization, and we continue to evaluate every single day. … There are no doors closed here ever.”
