Former Flyer Sergei Bobrovsky has the underdog Panthers on the verge of the Stanley Cup Finals

Bobrovsky, who is the Conn Smythe favorite at the moment, counts as yet another star athlete who shone more brightly after leaving Philadelphia.

by Gustav Elvin

Published May 24, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

The Flyers hope they have finally solved their long-standing goalie issues with promising young netminder Carter Hart. But it isn’t as if the organization hasn’t had chances to exorcise its demons in the crease before.

Watch this year’s Eastern Conference finals and the most glaring example is on display in Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.

Bobrovsky was on the Flyers’ books from 2010-12, starring as an undrafted rookie in 2010-11 to the tune of a 28-13-8 record and a .915 save percentage. But he was jettisoned to Columbus for three draft picks a season later as the Flyers put all their eggs into the Ilya Bryzgalov basket (Gulp).

A little over a decade — and two Vezina Trophies — later and Bobrovsky is the star of the 2023 playoffs, and alongside teammate Matthew Tkachuk, is a favorite to win the Conn Smythe as the playoffs’ MVP.

How did we get here? We took a closer look at Bobrovsky’s historic playoff run and the Flyers’ decision to move on from him in the summer of 2012.

A blazing start

Bobrovsky’s time with the Flyers was short and now is looked back at as yet another tragic Philadelphia sports “what if” story. But it started with such promise.

The Flyers signed the skinny, 21-year-old Bobrovsky from KHL side Metallurg Novokuznetsk on May 6, 2010. It was for all intents and purposes a flier on a late bloomer who had put up good numbers on a bad team. (Bobrovsky managed to put up a .919 SV% despite winning just nine of his 34 decisions in his final season in Russia before coming to North America.)

The early returns couldn’t have been better, as Bobrovsky, who was expected to start in the AHL prior to Michael Leighton’s injury, not only made the team out of his first training camp but beat out veteran Brian Boucher for the starting job. He then reeled off an 11-3-1 record to start his career, posting a .932 save percentage and 2.07 goals against average in the process. It looked as if then-general manager Paul Holmgren had unearthed a hidden gem. Even Bernie Parent, the gold standard when it comes to Flyers goaltenders, was impressed.

“He does a lot of good things,” Parent told The Inquirer at the time. “I love goalies that move well side-to-side. It’s very, very important, especially in today’s game; it moves back and forth so fast. He reads the plays pretty good. He is square to the shooters.”

While Bobrovsky had his ups and downs from there, he finished seventh in Calder Trophy voting and was unquestionably the league’s top rookie goaltender.

But Bobrovsky’s poor postseason — although how poor it actually was can be debated — was the beginning of the end for “Bob” on Broad Street. After losing a 1-0 decision in his first playoff start against Buffalo, he was pulled in favor of Boucher early in his second start after allowing three goals on seven shots to begin Game 2. Peter Laviolette continued to play goalie musical chairs from there with Boucher and Leighton, using Bobrovsky only in mop-up duty until handing him his third playoff start in Game 4 of the second round against Boston. He stopped 22 of 25 shots in that start, and could hardly be blamed for the loss as the Bruins finished off the four-game sweep. In all, Bobrovksy’s playoff numbers weren’t pretty (.877 SV%) but it wasn’t as if he got a consistent run of games either.

A ‘humongous’ mistake

A year removed from a Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals, and just a few months removed from a postseason in which disastrous goaltending spelled their undoing, the Flyers made a blockbuster move.

It came in the form of signing Bryzgalov, previously of the Phoenix Coyotes, to a nine-year, $51 million contract. Bryzgalov, 30 at the time, was coming off two excellent seasons in which he had posted save percentages above .920. The trade made Bryzgalov the highest-paid goalie in the NHL and was spearheaded by late Flyers owner Ed Snider as the team went all in to try and win a Stanley Cup.

“But I’m hopeful that this is the guy that can make it happen,” Snider told the Daily News in 2011. “For me, the goaltender is the final piece on this team.”

The move meant a backup role for Bobrovsky and signaled the Flyers’ full commitment to the elder Russian goaltender. Brygalov was solid if inconsistent during his first season in Philadelphia, winning 33 games and posting a .909 save percentage before completely unraveling in the postseason. Meanwhile, Bobrovsky struggled in a backup role (.899 SV% in 25 games) and was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets that offseason for three picks. (The Flyers wound up selecting Anthony Stolarz and Taylor Leier and traded the third pick.)

Bobrovsky would famously win the Vezina Trophy in Columbus the following season with a .932 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. He would go on to win a second one in 2016-17. Bobrovsky is one of only three goaltenders (Martin Brodeur and Tim Thomas) since 2000 to win multiple Vezinas. Since leaving the Flyers, he is tied with Marc-Andre Fleury for the NHL’s most wins (318) and tied for eighth in save percentage (.916) among goalies (min. 300 games played).

Meanwhile, Bryzgalov’s struggles in Philadelphia continued, and he was bought out after just his second season. Bryzgalov has earned a Bobby Bonilla-esque $1.64 million per year from the Flyers (through the 2026-27 season) since. At least we’ll always have Bryzgalov’s “solar system is so humongous big, right?” quote from HBO’s 24/7 docuseries...

‘Back on the case’

While Bobrovsky has had an outstanding career that may even end with a trip to the Hall of Fame one day, his current playoff magic almost never happened. The Panthers rode journeyman Alex Lyon, another former Flyer, down the stretch to an improbable playoff spot as the eighth seed. Lyon even started the first three games of the playoffs before Bobrovsky replaced him for Game 4 against the Bruins. He’d lose Game 4 and the Panthers headed to Boston on April 26 staring at a 3-1 deficit against a team that had just broken the NHL regular-season records for wins and points in a season. The rest is history.

Bobrovsky would steal Game 5 in Boston with a 44-save performance in an overtime win which included a buzzer-beating breakaway save on Brad Marchand that kept the Panthers’ season alive. The Panthers would then rally from deficits to win Game 6 and Game 7, Bobrovsky standing tall and stopping 33 of 36 shots in the clincher. He was even better in the second round against Toronto, posting an absurd .943 save percentage and allowing two goals or less in all five games of the series.

Through three games of the Eastern Conference finals, he has allowed three goals on 135 shots for an unfathomable .978 save percentage. Bobrovsky stopped 63 of 65 shots in a four-overtime win in Game 1 and posted a 32-game shutout Monday in Game 3 to bring the Panthers, who are up 3-0 in the series, to within a game of the Stanley Cup Finals.

How historic has Bobrovsky’s run been? His 132 saves are the most ever in the first three games of a conference finals, while his 63 saves in Game 1 were the 10th-most in an NHL playoff game. Over his last 11 playoff games going back to the first round, Bobrovsky is 10-1 with a .943 save percentage and 1.86 goals against average. As TSN sports anchor Jay Onrait likes to joke in one of his signature calls: “You’re back on the case, Bobrovsky!”

It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Bobrovsky, who has struggled at points with Florida since signing a record-breaking seven-year, $70 million contract in 2019. But he’s earned every penny this playoff run while leading the unlikeliest of runs by the Panthers.

The Panthers right now seem like a team of destiny with Bobrovsky as the backbone. With Florida now just five wins away from winning a Stanley Cup, and given Bobrovsky’s career arc since leaving Philly, the Flyers have to regret their decision to sign Bryzgalov and subsequently trade Bobrovsky away so quickly.

While no one could have projected an undrafted free agent would go on to become one of the best goaltenders of his era, Bobrovsky did get a quick hook when you consider his promising rookie year. It is just one of several high-profile examples of the Flyers erring when it comes to the goalie position. If the Flyers had been more patient could they have even won a Stanley Cup with Bobrovsky? There are a lot of “what ifs” and second-guessing that can be done. That said, there’s no questioning who the best goaltender in the 2023 NHL playoffs has been.