For the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sergei Bobrovsky is the kind of move that can either solve a long-running problem or become the next cautionary tale.
The club has spent years searching for a true No. 1 goalie, someone they could trust night after night to give them steady work in the crease. That void is a big part of why the “Core Four” era in Toronto never got where it needed to go. John Chayka tried to address it quickly, making one of his first decisions at the start of free agency by signing Bobrovsky to a three-year deal.
It’s an understandable swing. It’s also a dangerous one.
Bobrovsky is coming off one of the roughest seasons of his career. In 54 games, he posted a 3.07 goals-against average and a .877 save percentage, the worst save percentage he has ever put up.
And yet he was still part of a Panthers team that captured back-to-back Stanley Cups, which is why the Leafs are banking on a rebound. They need the version of Bobrovsky who lived around a .905 save percentage and kept his goals-against under three.
That’s the bet. The problem is that there’s no promise he gets back there.
Players do bounce back from bad seasons all the time, but that usually doesn’t carry the same optimism when the goalie in question is 38 years old. At that point, a dip can be more than a dip. It can be the first clear sign that the decline has started and that the old level is gone for good.
If this goes sideways, it will land in the same conversation as some of the Leafs’ worst gambles. David Clarkson is the obvious example.
Toronto signed him to a seven-year deal in 2013 after he had put up 46 points in 2012-13, hoping he could build on that season. Instead, the move collapsed.
He played only 118 games for the Leafs and managed just 26 points.
The team has also taken this kind of swing in net before. In 2007, they traded for Vesa Toskala with the hope that he could rediscover the form he had before the 2004-05 lockout.
That never happened. Over two and a half seasons in Toronto, Toskala struggled to the tune of a 3.08 goals-against average and a .894 save percentage in 145 games.
The Leafs know exactly what kind of risk they’re taking here. Bobrovsky could fix their biggest problem. Or he could become the move that defines Chayka’s tenure for all the wrong reasons and pushes the franchise back years.
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Maple Leafs Fans Should Watch This Marlies Shakeup Closely
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For Leafs fans, the significance goes beyond the AHL bench. The Marlies are often the first stop for prospects who could eventually help in Toronto, so changes in that room can ripple upward in a hurry. And as the hockey media landscape keeps shifting, with more games moving to streaming platforms in North America, the attention on development systems like the Marlies only figures to grow as the next season approaches. [Read more 🡒]