How Sergei Bobrovsky transformed into a ‘special’ playoff goaltender for the Panthers
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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporter
SUNRISE, Florida — Legend has it a cat possesses nine lives, and always lands on its feet.
Florida Panthers‘ goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky seems to have taken those myths to heart.
Like the creature emblazoned on the crest of his sweater, the 34-year-old Bobrovsky has survived — and eventually thrived — through a tumultuous NHL season. In the previous eight months, Bobrovsky has been maligned and lionized, built up and counted out, a No. 1 starter and secondary afterthought.
Through it all, Bobrovsky was saving his best work for this moment, as the Panthers’ postseason hero. Florida is up 3-0 on the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference final, one win away from the franchise’s second Stanley Cup Final appearance, with Game 4 tonight (8 p.m. ET, TNT). Bobrovsky already has the inside track on a Conn Smythe trophy win: 10-2 postseason record, .935 save percentage. 2.15 goals-against average. One shutout. Even one assist.
It’s not how Florida drew things up, of course. That would hardly befit the journey Bobrovsky — or the Panthers themselves — have taken this season.
Florida battled its way into clinching a playoff berth in the final week, turning an abysmal 18-19-4 start into a late-season crescendo capturing the Eastern Conference’s final spot. The Panthers pulled off a blockbuster summer trade for Matthew Tkachuk, saw him put together a 109-point, Hart Trophy-nominated regular season, and kept the faith that Florida’s other stars would eventually catch up.
Bobrovsky reappeared right at the time he could have been written off.
When the Panthers started their unlikely playoff run, Alex Lyon had usurped Bobrovsky — felled by illness late in the regular season — as Florida’s go-to goaltender. It took Lyon faltering in the Panthers’ first-round series against the Boston Bruins for Bobrovsky to get another look. No one’s checked the rearview mirror since — least of all Lyon.
The journeyman might play behind Bobrovsky now, but Lyon has had a front-row seat at Bobrovsky’s master class of preparation — one allowing the veteran to ace these playoffs.
“It’s like a writer being in a room with Ernest Hemingway,” Lyon said of watching Bobrovsky work. “For me to be able to see him operate on a daily basis, that’s literally like striking gold.”
IT’S NOT EXACTLY an investment of precious metals, but Bobrovsky’s $10 million annual salary is the richest backing for any active NHL netminder. The Panthers have been waiting on that stock to mature.
Before landing in South Florida, Bobrovsky was backstopping the Columbus Blue Jackets and cementing his name as one of the league’s top goaltenders, with two Vezina Trophy wins (in 2012-13 and 2016-17). When Bobrovsky hit free agency on July 1, 2019, the Panthers swooped in with a seven-year, $70 million contract offer to theoretically cement Bobrovsky, then 31, as the team’s starter for the remainder of his career.
The road since has been riddled with speed bumps. This season was no exception.
Bobrovsky started out poorly, producing a 12-13-2 record with .897 SV% and 3.24 GAA through mid-January when he was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body issue. Time away clearly did Bobrovsky some good; he returned in February and went on a 12-4-1 run, with a .915 SV% and 2.54 GAA.
Skidding out of March with three straight losses led to a long illness for Bobrovsky, a stretch where Florida turned back to Lyon (Florida’s other netminder, Spencer Knight, had by then entered the NHL’s Player Assistance Program). It was Lyon who subsequently led the Panthers to six straight wins and helped propel them into that final playoff spot.
It was an improbable scenario playing out in the Panthers’ favor, led by a goaltender with all of 24 NHL games under his belt going into this season. Florida coach Paul Maurice chose to ride that hot hand into the Panthers’ first-round matchup against Boston, the Presidents’ Trophy winners who had a record-setting 65-win, 135-point campaign.
Lyon was 1-1 in the series’ first two games. When Florida trailed 4-0 in Game 3, Lyon got the hook. Bobrovsky was back in. He went on to start Game 4 and was rusty in a 25-save performance, but Maurice stuck with him. Once Bobrovsky found his groove it was like turning back a clock to those Vezina-winning days. And Bobrovsky has only gotten better.
He capped off the Bruins’ series with three straight wins to send Florida into the second round. Bobrovsky dominated that next series against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 4-1-0, with a .943 SV% and 1.89 GAA as the Panthers bid adieu to the Leafs in five games.
Somehow, Bobrovsky has improved further taking on Carolina in the conference final. Florida jumped out to a 3-0 series lead with Bobrovsky stopping 132 of 135 shots, and he hasn’t allowed a goal since the opening two minutes of Game 2. Not one of the Hurricanes’ forwards have scored an even-strength goal. And it was Bobrovsky’s first playoff shutout that powered Florida to an electrifying 1-0 win in Game 3 where they were outshot, 32-17.
If you thought Bobrovsky would accept some credit for the feat, you’d be wrong.
“It’s a team structure, how we play,” a deflective Bobrovsky said of his showing in Game 3. “My teammates allow me to play good. The structure and how hard they work in the defensive zone to get that result and to win, it’s not easy for some players to get that role and block shots and sacrifice their stats for that. Our guys have sacrificed themselves for the team result and it’s happy to see.”
That good-natured energy, that ability to stay humble and focused, is what’s stood out to Bobrovsky’s teammates all along. Regardless of what the outside world had to say, Bobrovsky didn’t let past performance determine his future potential.
“I think that’s what’s so great about Bob,” defenseman Brandon Montour said. “People see him as having come to Florida and maybe not performing as well as he used to. But his mindset, his attitude, the way he comes to the rink every day, win or lose, he’s the same guy, [brings] the same stuff. So it’s great that he’s [on] his game, but I feel like in our locker room, we don’t notice much difference. He’s been the same, worked hard, goes about his business and he’s doing it the right way.”
Anyone searching for insight into how exactly Bobrovsky’s been such a dynamo will have to keep looking — because he’s not telling. It’s not for strategy’s sake. Bobrovsky just doesn’t want to dwell on his own success.
“It’s a team effort,” he said of Florida’s run. “It feels in a game like you just play in the moment. There’s no future, no past, you’re just right here, right now. You see what’s going on and you react accordingly. Everyone contribute[s] to the result. It is what it is. I’m fortunate and humble and thank God for this.”
IT WOULD BE EASY for Lyon to resent Bobrovsky.
After a career spent mostly bouncing around the American Hockey League, Lyon was finally experiencing long-awaited NHL success. How frustrating then that right when Lyon stumbled, Bobrovsky suddenly hit his stride. A missed opportunity? Not for the 30-year-old Lyon. It was more a chance to study with his partner.
“I think when you’re a young hockey player, you get caught in the trap of, ‘What’s the one thing that I can do? What’s the secret that’s going to elevate me to Vezina status?'” Lyon mused. “And it’s just a very unhealthy way to think. You can fall into that trap. There’s not one thing that’s going to make you get over the top.
“It’s just about your body of work, showing up consistently, doing the right things on a daily basis. And Bob’s the model of that. For me to just be able to pick and choose what I like and see what works for me, try different things, be around him, it’s great. I’m a learner. I like to learn by process.”
Bobrovsky has certainly been schooling Carolina.
The Hurricanes pelted Florida from every angle in Game 3. They had breakaway tries. Plays off the rush. Hard shifts spent cycling in the Panthers’ end that obviously put Florida’s skaters on their heels.
It was Bobrovsky who kept standing tall.
“[Top goaltenders] can do that when they’re on a stretch like this,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You’re coming home [after a game] and you just say, ‘I could have four or five.’ That didn’t happen [for us]. It it what it is; he’s playing great.”
If he weren’t, Maurice felt it unlikely that Florida would even be in its current position.
“It’s a piece of the teams get to the [conference final],” he said. “We’re coming in as a wild-card seed; it’s almost a prerequisite the goalie comes in and is special this time of year.”
While Bobrovsky has garnered individual accolades before, this is the closest he’s come in a 13-year career to reaching a Cup Final. Florida went there in 1996. A victory in Game 4 would bring the Panthers back.
If that comes about it will be for a dozen different reasons. None are more paramount than how Bobrovsky has stepped up to star in a Cinderella season.
“It makes me excited, it makes me appreciate it,” Bobrovsky said of being so close to the Cup Final. “I feel good. I’m just enjoying the opportunity and I want to thank God for this position and this game.”
Former Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George was named the next head coach at Bowling Green on Sunday.
George agreed to a five-year deal, sources told ESPN.
His hiring came two days after George, who spent the past four seasons as the head coach at Tennessee State, was one of three finalists to interview for the position.
“Today, we add another transformative leader to this campus in Eddie George,” Derek van der Merwe, Bowling Green’s vice president for athletics strategy, said in a news release. “Our students are getting someone who has chased success in sports, art, business, and leadership. As our head football coach, he will pursue excellence in all aspects of competition in the arena. More importantly, beyond the arena, he will exemplify what excellence looks like in the classroom, in life, in business, and in relationships with people.”
George emerged as a successful head coach in the FCS at Tennessee State. This past season, he led the program to the FCS playoffs and a share of the OVC-Big South title, the school’s first league title in football since 1999.
“I am truly excited to be the head coach at Bowling Green State University,” George said in the news release. “Bowling Green is a wonderful community that has embraced the school and the athletics department. We are eager to immerse ourselves in the community and help build this program to the greatness it deserves. I am overwhelmed with excitement and joy for the possibilities this opportunity holds.”
George returns to the state where he rushed for 3,768 yards over four seasons as a running back for Ohio State, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1995.
George went on to star in the NFL for nine seasons, rushing for more than 10,000 yards. He was a 1996 first-round pick of the Houston Oilers and made his name by playing seven seasons in Nashville for the Titans, becoming the franchise’s all-time leading rusher. The Titans retired his jersey in 2019.
Tennessee State hired George despite his lack of traditional coaching experience, with the school president at the time calling the move “the right choice and investment” for the future of TSU. George has worked as an actor and entrepreneur and earned an MBA from Northwestern.
George paid back the administration’s faith by building Tennessee State into a winner, including a 9-4 season in 2024 that culminated in its first FCS playoff appearance since 2013. Tennessee State lost to Montana in the first round.
George’s hire at TSU continued the trend of former star players being hired at historically Black colleges and universities. Jackson State made the biggest splash in hiring Deion Sanders, who went on to a successful stint at Colorado. Michael Vick’s hire at Norfolk State and DeSean Jackson’s hire at Delaware State continued that trend in the current hiring cycle.
George will replace Scot Loeffler, who left the school to become the quarterbacks coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bowling Green has become one of the top coaching springboards of this generation, with Urban Meyer, Dave Clawson and Dino Babers all advancing from the school to power conference jobs. Loeffler went 27-41 over six seasons, a run that included bowl appearances in each of the past three seasons.
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Eli Lederman
Defensive end prospect Richard Wesley, one of the nation’s top recruits in the 2027 high school class, has reclassified into the 2026 cycle and will sign with a college program later this year, he told ESPN on Friday.
A 6-foot-5, 245-pound pass rusher from Chatsworth, California, Wesley completed his sophomore season at Sierra Canyon (California) High School this past fall. His move marks the latest high-profile reclassification in the current cycle, following wide receiver Ethan “Boobie” Feaster (No. 21 in the ESPN Junior 300), tight end Mark Bowman (No. 23), running back Ezavier Crowell (No. 29) and cornerback Havon Finney Jr. (not ranked) in the line of the elite former 2027 prospects to reclassify into the 2026 class since the start of the new year.
ESPN has not yet released its prospect rankings for the 2027 class, but Wesley is expected to slot in among the nation’s top five defensive line recruits in 2026. He took unofficial visits to Oregon and Texas A&M in January and holds a long list of offers across the SEC, Big Ten and ACC.
Following his reclassification, Wesley told ESPN he will take trips to Ohio State, Georgia, Texas, Miami, Oregon, USC, Ole Miss and Texas A&M across March and April before finalizing a slate of official visits for later this spring.
“I really can’t say what the future holds for me,” Wesley said. “I’m excited for more opportunities to go talk with these coaches and see what they’re about. I’m really open to everyone that’s offered me and who really wants me in their program.”
Wesley emerged as one of the nation’s most coveted high school defenders after he totaled 55 tackles and 10 sacks in his freshman season at Sierra Canyon in 2023. He followed this past fall 44 tackles (16 for loss) with nine sacks and four forced fumbles as a sophomore.
The rash of reclassifications into the 2026 class comes after a series of top prospects opted to reclassify during the 2025 recruiting cycle, headlined by five-star recruits Julian Lewis (Colorado) and Jahkeem Stewart (USC) and Texas A&M quarterback signee Brady Hart. Wesley told ESPN that his decision to enter college early was motivated by conversations with college coaches and his belief that he will be physically ready to compete at the next level by the time his junior season ends later this year.
“All the colleges I talk to have shown me their recruiting boards and told me I’m at the top of their list at the position regardless of class,” Wesley said. “They’ve told me good things and they’ve told me the things I need to work on. I need to work on my violence. I’ve been grinding at that every single day.”
Wesley now joins a talented 2026 defensive end class that features 11 prospects ranked inside the top 100 in the ESPN Junior 300.
Five-star edge rusher Zion Elee, ESPN’s No. 1 defender in the class, has been committed to Maryland since this past December and closed his recruitment last month. JaReylan McCoy, a five-star prospect who decommitted from LSU in February, and four-stars Jake Kreul (No. 19 overall) and Nolan Wilson (No. 54 overall) stand among the cycle’s top uncommitted defensive ends.
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