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.”
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Greg Wyshynski
NEWARK, N.J. — Zeev Buium was the Minnesota Wild‘s defenseman of the future until they made him the centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes trade last Friday, shipping the 20-year-old in a package to the Vancouver Canucks for their star captain.
Buium said he doesn’t feel he was misled about his status with the Wild before the trade.
“I don’t think anything they told me was a lie. I really don’t,” Buium said Sunday after the Canucks’ 2-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils. “[Wild GM] Bill Guerin is an unbelievable person. He’s such a smart guy. He wants to try and win now, and that’s a move he thought was best for the team. At the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for the team.”
Buium was traded to Vancouver along with center Marco Rossi, winger Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick for Hughes, the 26-year-old Norris Trophy winner who is considered one of the best defensemen in hockey. Hughes had 432 points in 459 games heading into Sunday’s action and was the leading scorer on Vancouver (23 points in 26 games) before Friday’s blockbuster trade.
Buium had two points in his debut with the Canucks, both on the power play. He earned an assist on Jake DeBrusk‘s opening goal and then was credited with his fourth goal of the season when his pass deflected off the stick of Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon.
He was drafted 12th overall in 2024 by the Wild and was an offensive dynamo with the University of Denver for two seasons (98 points in 83 games). He had 14 points in 31 games as a rookie this season before the trade.
Guerin called Buium a “special kid and a special human,” but he indicated that the Wild’s bid for Hughes was only successful because Buium was a part of it.
“I love that kid, but you have to give something to get something,” Guerin said.
Buium didn’t take the trade personally, but he said he’ll use it as motivation.
“I don’t think it’s [Guerin] saying, ‘You’re not good enough’ or ‘We don’t believe in you.’ But I think he sees me needing to develop a little bit more,” Buium said. “I think it works out for both teams. I’m going to do my best to show the Canucks that they made a good trade. Hopefully, I can turn into a player like that.”
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Mark Schlabach
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who led the No. 1 Hoosiers to a perfect 13-0 record and their first Big Ten title since 1967, captured the 91st Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.
Mendoza beat out quarterbacks Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and running back Jeremiyah Love (Notre Dame) to take home the trophy during a ceremony in New York.
Mendoza, who played two seasons at California before joining the Hoosiers this season, completed 71.5% of his pass attempts for 2,980 yards with 39 total touchdowns.
He was only the second Heisman Trophy finalist from Indiana. Running back Anthony Thompson was runner-up to Houston quarterback Andre Ware in one of the closest votes in 1989.
With Mendoza, Pavia and Love expected to move on to the NFL after this season, who are the top returning Heisman Trophy candidates for 2026?
In compiling the list of potential candidates, I projected that quarterbacks John Mateer (Oklahoma), Ty Simpson (Alabama) and Dante Moore (Oregon); receivers Carnell Tate (Ohio State), Zachariah Branch (Georgia) and Makai Lemon (USC); and running back Emmett Johnson (Nebraska) will turn pro (along with the aforementioned finalists from this year).
Here is a look at some of the top potential contenders (in no particular order):
2025 stats: 80 catches, 1,086 receiving yards, 12 total touchdowns
Smith’s highlight reel of acrobatic, one-handed catches continues to grow, and he arguably has been the best player in college football this season. He was the fastest Buckeyes player to reach career marks of 2,000 receiving yards (24 games), 100 catches (20) and 25 touchdown receptions (25).
2025 stats: 78.4% completion pct, 3,323 passing yards, 31 touchdowns, 6 interceptions
Sayin might have captured the Heisman Trophy this season if Ohio State’s offense hadn’t flopped in its 13-10 loss to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game. In his first season as a starter, Sayin is on pace to break the NCAA single-season pass completion record of 77.4%, set by Oregon’s Bo Nix in 2023.
2025 stats: 70.7% completion pct, 2,691 passing yards, 442 rushing yards, 31 total touchdowns
In his first full season as Georgia’s starting quarterback, Stockton helped guide the Bulldogs to a 12-1 record and SEC title. His legs and right arm were a big reason the Bulldogs averaged 31.9 points, despite enduring myriad injuries on the offensive line. Stockton was at his best when the game was on the line — he completed 86% of his passes with 11 touchdowns and one interception in the fourth quarter against ranked opponents.
2025 stats: 84 receptions, 970 receiving yards, 7 receiving touchdowns
Toney’s teammates call him “Baby Jesus,” and the true freshman delivered in a big way in his first season with the No. 10 Hurricanes. He ranks sixth in the FBS with 84 catches and had 1,328 all-purpose yards. Toney even threw for two scores. Not bad for an 18-year-old who would be a senior in high school if he hadn’t reclassified to the class of 2025.
2025 stats: 61.4% completion pct, 2,942 passing yards, 32 total touchdowns
Even after all the hand-wringing about Manning being overrated at the start of the season, the former five-star recruit ended up putting together a good campaign, throwing for 2,942 yards with 24 touchdowns. The No. 13 Longhorns need to find some offensive linemen (he was sacked 23 times) and receivers to help him in 2026.
2025 stats: 65.5% completion pct, 3,016 passing yards, 24 total touchdowns
Ole Miss officials have submitted a waiver to the NCAA on Chambliss’ behalf for another season of eligibility. He played his first three seasons at Division II Ferris State before transferring to Ole Miss this year. He was named SEC Newcomer of the Year after taking over the starting job in the third game of the season.
2025 stats: 1,560 rushing yards, 16 touchdowns
A transfer from Louisiana-Monroe, Hardy led the FBS with 130 rushing yards per game and was No. 2 with 1,560 total rushing yards. He had eight 100-yard games for the Tigers, including a whopping 300-yard effort with three touchdowns in a 49-27 victory against Mississippi State on Nov. 15.
2025 stats: 61.8% completion pct, 2,932 passing yards, 466 rushing yards, 31 total touchdowns
Reed announced this week that he plans to stay at Texas A&M next season, which is great news for the No. 7 Aggies. He was a threat with the ball in his hands, throwing for 2,932 yards with 25 touchdowns and running for 466 yards with six scores. His decision-making needs to continue to improve, so he can cut down on his 10 interceptions.
2025 stats: 63.6% completion pct, 3,117 passing yards, 20 total touchdowns
There’s a reason new Bears coach Tosh Lupoi took a late-night flight to Hawai’i to make sure Sagapolutele was staying at Cal. He was only the second true freshman in FBS history to pass for 200 yards or more in each of his first 11 starts. In the Bears’ late-season upsets of then-No. 21 SMU and No. 15 Louisville, Sagapolutele passed for a combined 653 yards with six touchdowns and no picks.
2025 stats: 1,279 rushing yards, 20 touchdowns
After transferring from Missouri, Lacy helped the No. 6 Rebels win 11 games in the regular season for the first time. He ranks No. 2 in the FBS with 20 rushing touchdowns and piled up 1,279 yards on the ground. Will he follow former coach Lane Kiffin to LSU or remain with the Rebels in 2026?
2025 stats: 66.2% completion pct, 3,431 passing yards, 29 total touchdowns
If Maiava returns to the No. 16 Trojans for another season, he’ll probably flourish in Lincoln Riley’s offense. This year, he threw for 3,431 yards with 23 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He ranks No. 1 with a 91.2 total QBR. According to Pro Football Focus, he was second in the FBS with 26 big-time throws. (A big-time throw is defined as a high-difficulty, high-value pass.)
2025 stats: 1,035 rushing yards, 6 total touchdowns
Jackson became the fifth true freshman in OSU history to produce a 1,000-yard season, joining Robert Smith (1990), Maurice Clarett (2002), JK Dobbins (2017) and TreVeyon Henderson (2021). That’s good company. And, of course, he’d be the second Bo Jackson to collect a stiff-armed trophy.
2025 stats: 70.2% completion pct, 4,129 passing yards, 36 total touchdowns
Mestemaker is one of the best stories in college football. He didn’t start a single game in high school, then joined North Texas as a walk-on. This season, he led the FBS with 4,129 passing yards, helping him capture the Burlsworth Trophy as the top walk-on in the country. Will he join former Mean Green coach Eric Morris at Oklahoma State in 2026?
CJ Carr, QB, Notre Dame
2025 starts: 66.6% completion pct, 2,741 passing yards, 24 touchdowns
Fighting Irish coach Marcus Freeman entrusted Carr to lead his offense after a heated battle in preseason camp. The decision paid off, as Carr put together one of the best performances by a first-time starter in Notre Dame history. He threw for at least one touchdown in each of his first 12 starts, becoming the first Irish player to do that since Everett Golson in 2012-14. Carr’s 24 passing touchdowns are tied for the most in the first 12 starts by a Notre Dame player since 1966.
2025 stats: 70% completion pct, 2,850 passing yards, 595 rushing yards, 27 total touchdowns
Williams is one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the FBS, and his ability to run and throw was on display in the Huskies’ 38-19 victory against Rutgers on Oct. 10. He became the first player in school history to pass for at least 400 yards (400) and run for at least 100 (136) in the same game. Williams was second on the team with 595 rushing yards.
Others to watch: Sam Leavitt, QB, TBA; Cam Coleman, WR, Auburn; Brendan Sorsby, QB, Cincinnati; Josh Hoover, QB, TCU; Darian Mensah, QB, Duke; Nate Frazier, RB, Georgia; LJ Martin, RB, BYU; Bear Bachmeier, QB, BYU; LaNorris Sellers, QB, South Carolina; Bryce Underwood, QB, Michigan
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