Sergei Bobrovsky

Born in Novokuznetsk, Russia, on September 20, 1988, Sergei Bobrovsky arrived in the NHL without the benefit of North American junior or college hockey, making his path to the league distinctly his own. He broke into the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers, appearing in 54 games during the 2010–11 season and posting 28 wins with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. In his second year with Philadelphia he appeared in 29 games, but his tenure with the Flyers came to an end after that 2011–12 campaign.

The move to the Columbus Blue Jackets proved to be the defining chapter of his career's first act. In the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, Bobrovsky went 21–11 across 38 games, finished with a 2.00 goals-against average, a .932 save percentage, and four shutouts — numbers that earned him the Vezina Trophy as the NHL's top goaltender. He followed that with a 32–20 mark over 58 games in 2013–14, posting a 2.38 GAA and a .923 save percentage along with five shutouts. The 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons brought 30 wins and 15 wins respectively, before Bobrovsky reached a statistical career high in 2016–17: 41 wins in 63 games, a 2.06 GAA, a .931 save percentage, and seven shutouts — a performance that earned him a second Vezina Trophy. His final two seasons in Columbus, 2017–18 and 2018–19, saw him appear in 65 and 62 games, win 37 each year, and record five and nine shutouts respectively, the latter representing the most single-season shutouts of his career.

In the summer of 2019, Bobrovsky signed with the Florida Panthers, beginning a new chapter in South Florida. His first two seasons there were more modest by his own historical standards — 23 wins in 50 games in 2019–20 and 19 wins in 31 games during the pandemic-shortened 2020–21 campaign. The 2021–22 season brought a resurgence: 39 wins in 54 games with a 2.67 GAA and a .913 save percentage. In 2022–23 he went 24–20 in 50 games. Then, in 2023–24, Bobrovsky had one of the strongest seasons of his Panthers tenure — 36 wins in 58 games with a 2.37 GAA, a .915 save percentage, and six shutouts. The following 2024–25 season produced 33 wins in 54 games, a 2.44 GAA, a .906 save percentage, and five shutouts. Through the 2025–26 season he has appeared in 52 games for Florida. Across his NHL career to date, Bobrovsky has accumulated 806 appearances, 456 wins, 53 shutouts, a 2.61 career GAA, and a .912 career save percentage.

The details of how Bobrovsky has maintained and refined his craft over those years have surfaced across a handful of InGoal Magazine pieces. InGoal Magazine has covered Sergei Bobrovsky in one podcast appearance, one drill breakdown, and one InGoal article.

The drill breakdown ^[1] captured Bobrovsky working with Florida Panthers goalie coach Rob Tallas after a game-day skate, fine-tuning his movements into, around, and off the posts using reverse-VH. In that session, Bobrovsky explained his edge usage in plain terms: "You basically use the whole blade but you push more with the heel or toe depending on the direction. When you go out the way out, it's the heel and on the way back, it's the toe." The piece also documents that Bobrovsky learned the reverse-VH technique during his time in Columbus, introduced to him by then–Blue Jackets goalie coach Ian Clark with the help of Oskar Dansk, who had direct exposure to the technique's origins in Sweden. Bobrovsky also noted in that session that his in-game use of the position was evolving: "Now it's less and less in our game. It's more stand up, a little bit of a change and you have to be more precise with when to use the reverse." ^[1]

The relationship between Bobrovsky and Clark surfaces again in Episode 4 of The Last Line, an InGoal Magazine podcast hosted by Kevin Woodley ^[2]. Clark recounts that shortly after Bobrovsky won his first Vezina Trophy, Bobrovsky called him with a question about what they could do to improve — and proposed studying five of the best goaltenders in the world to find one thing worth adopting from each. That conversation and the research project that followed are central to what the episode explores about goaltending mindset and continuous development. The episode is available via InGoal Magazine ^[2].

Bobrovsky also appeared on the InGoal Radio podcast in 2019, covered in episode 10 alongside discussion of Clint Malarchuk and the Vaughn SLR2 ^[3].