Hockey

Sergei Bobrovsky and the Goalie Position Itself are Underappreciated, claims Former NHL Goalie Jamie McLennan

Published: Sep 13, 2024, 6:20 AM
1 min read
Updated: Jul 25, 2025, 12:13 PM
Fact checked by:
Sergey Demidov
Sergei Bobrovsky

Sergei Bobrovsky (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

 

The new NHL season is right around the corner, and it is shocking that Sergei Bobrovsky, a former Vezina Trophy winner, is not getting the respect he deserves.

The latest odds are out on which goalie will win the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL for the upcoming season, and the Florida Panthers’ goalie has the ninth-best odds of winning the award this forthcoming season.

For a guy who just won the Stanley Cup and could have won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Playoffs most valuable player, it feels like he is underappreciated and being taken for granted.

Former NHL goalie Jame McLennan spoke with RG about why Bobrovsky is listed so low on the oddsmakers' boards. A lot of it has to do with his inconsistency in play.

"I would say underappreciating a guy who's won two Vezinas, but what it is his highs are so high and lows are so low, that what I think causes people to pause because you're like 'Okay this guy we forget he's got two Vezina's and now he's got the Stanley Cup on top of that, and he should be looked on as an absolute Rockstar right?"

The numbers back up Bobrovsky's claim that he is one of the best goalies in the NHL. Last season, he had a great year, finishing as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy with a 36-17-4 record, a 2.37 goals against average, and a .915 save percentage in 58 starts in the regular season for the Panthers.

In the playoffs, Bobrovsky finished with a 16-8 record, a 2.32 GAA and a .906 save percentage as he guided the Panthers to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. Again, at one point, Bobrovsky was in the Conn Smythe conversation. However, he was out of running once the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers went to seven games.

However, Bobrovsky has not always been this spectacular in Florida. After he signed that seven-year contract on July 1, 2019, which carried a $10 million AAV, it felt at times that despite him putting up decent numbers, the talk about how bad his contract was.

"But there was a time there when you could argue again, I don't know this for a fact, but I'm just saying from the outside, where people were saying, "This is a bad contract from Florida," McLennan said. "He basically moved to Florida and collected a check."

There were struggles in Bobrovsky's game. He lost time to his backups. Chris Driedger, and especially Alex Lyon, in the 2022-23 season when Lyon got the Panthers into the playoffs. So those inconsistencies led many to wonder if he just wanted to get a paycheck down in South Florida or if he wanted to win.  

Well, it was the latter. Over the last calendar year's performance, from the 2023 playoffs through the 2023-24 regular season and the 2024 playoff run to the Stanley Cup, as McLennan stated, Bobrovsky is in that category of eight goalies who are elite in the NHL and needs to get more respect on his name than he does.

However, the position as a whole needs to be respected more. While McLennan is a member of the goalie union, the position does not get the respect it should, especially in today's world.

"And I say this all the time, and I'm a goalie hugger, though that position is so under respective, McLennan said. "It just, if you don't have goaltending, you know about it, and there are only eight goalies in this league who are bonafide number ones. Everybody else is a tandem goal."

Without a starting goalie, your team will be in trouble. While the skeptics will point to some that goalies win the Stanley Cups, only a handful of guys can carry the load for their teams.

"I look at it, and I think he [Bobrovsky] is underappreciated, but I think the whole position is still under-like and not respected. People will say, ‘Okay, well, Colorado won with Darcy Kuemper,’” McLennan continued. "Well, they forget that Darcy Kuemper played 16 games in the playoffs that year, and I believe 55 or more that year for Colorado. So he was 70 games. Stuart Skinner played 82 games last year, including playoffs, regular season, and playoffs.

"There are only a few guys who can handle that type of workload nowadays. So, I guess my point is that I agree with you, but I go back to the overarching thing is I think that position is not respected because people go, well, Vegas won with Adin Hill, and Adin Hill was technically their fourth on the depth chart at one point. If you look, they had Robin Lehner, and then you had Logan Thompson for a brew. They had traded for Jonathan Quick.

“But that is not the case because teams need a number one goalie to win. Yes, it is a right-time, right-place situation for some guys; however, that goalie must stop the puck for that team to win. Bobrovsky made those key stops and got his team to the final. Not every goalie can do that.  

"And so the argument is that, yes, some Canadian goaltenders or just goaltenders have won Cups, but oh, they're not superstar players who just happen to be on a good team at the right time," McLennan added. "And so I think that's where it comes back to the overarching lack of respect to the position period, and somehow he's fallen into that narrative."

Some people say it is easy to find goaltenders in the NHL. Everyone says they are like running backs you can find everywhere. If that were the case, every goaltender on a roster would be seen as a bonafide number, and that is not the case. Thus, the best comparison is the quarterback. Both receive the same criticism and praise, as McLennan points out.  

"Well, here's my argument. I think the goalie position should be compared to the quarterback position and should be compared to a pitcher because name me a team that wins without pitching or a team that wins without a quarterback. And the argument from the analytics people is, well, you can win with just an average goaltender.

“Well, then you better have a damn good team that wants to win 6-5 every night, or limit your chances to 15 shots at night. So, I mean, that's where I look at it, as I think goalies are comparable to quarterbacks and to pitchers, where that's, that's the kind of what I look at it is the position is very unique, and those people are unique, so they're kind of on an island. That's the way I, I look at it. Yeah, that's my feel about it."

"I am preparing for the main camp. I saw the list of players for the rookie camp, and I am not on this list. The main goal is to make the first team. I fully understand the type of hockey and the requirements here. I know what to prepare for. In Denver, we play at 1 mile above sea level. You can feel it during training. It is a little more difficult to train here, but because of this, you feel better in other states. It turns out that we have a small advantage."

Reporter
Having 10 years of experience (SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, Rod Pedersen Show, Raw Mike Richards Show, and more) covering the Devils, the NHL along with College Football, the NFL, and the tennis circuit Jim Biringer has wealth of sports knowledge. As one of Jim's hockey coaches put it he is a "student of the game." During his time as a sports reporter, Biringer has covered some of the biggest events including most recently the 2024 Stanley Cup Final along with several NHL Drafts. He is also the host of the Full Press Hockey Podcast and Final Word on Hockey plus Around Campus - The College Football Podcast.
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James Murphy
James Murphy
NHL Reporter

James Murphy is a veteran sports journalist covering the NHL, NCAA and CHL hockey for RG.

With 25 years of experience covering the Bruins, the NHL, NCAA, CHL and more, Murphy has seen it all when it comes to hockey. His hockey black book is filled with Hall of Famers, current players, coaches, management, scouts and a diverse array of hockey media personalities who have lived and worked in and around the game. Murphy also currently co-hosts The Eye Test podcast with Pierre McGuire and, along with McGuire, interviews NHL owners and executives, as well as NHL and NCAA head coaches and players daily.

The Arlington, Massachusetts, native began his writing career in hockey in 2001, when the Boston Bruins raised one of his childhood idols, Ray Bourque’s No. 77, to the rafters before their 2001–02 season opener. For 22 of his 25 years as a hockey reporter, Murphy covered the Bruins daily, including their victorious 2011 Stanley Cup run and their runs to the 2013 and 2019 Finals, multiple NHL drafts and countless Stanley Cup playoffs. He did all that for the Boston Metro, NHL.com, NESN.com and ESPN Boston.

In addition to his print work covering the Bruins, Murphy also made regular TV appearances on NESN, Fox 25 Boston, ESPN and NHL Network. From 2008 to 2012, Murphy hosted The Hockey Primetime Show on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and made numerous appearances on national and international radio shows.

Ironically, his three years not covering the Bruins were spent covering their archrivals, the Montreal Canadiens. From 2012 to 2015, Murphy was based in Montreal and covered the Canadiens for NHL.com and TSN.ca. He also appeared regularly on TSN 690 radio and CTV.

Murphy returned to Boston in 2015 and left the media business to work in sales and marketing for LiveBarn, a Montreal-based sports streaming company, for four years. In 2019, Murphy once again became a Bruins beat reporter, this time writing for Boston Hockey Now. He spent four seasons working for BHN before arriving at RG in 2024 and also dedicated more time to The Eye Test podcast.

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