Following Sergei Bobrovsky’s shocking departure for Toronto, Florida’s star forward credits the veteran netminder as the essential backbone behind the franchise’s historic championship run and recent dominance.
Matthew Tkachuk was one of the most vocal Florida Panthers players last season when asked about goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
Tkachuk, like many of his Panthers teammates, were quick to go to bat for Bobrovsky when asked about the netminder’s then-pending status as an unrestricted free agent.
Back then it seemed almost like a foregone conclusion that Bob would follow along with what many of Florida’s key players had done in recent years and taken a team-friendly contract extension to keep the band together.
Obviously, as we now know, Bobrovsky had other plans. He ended up signing a three-year, $21 million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs while the Panthers moved on and will head into next season with a tandem of Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid.
Fast forward to Wednesday, when the latest episode of the Wingmen podcast was released.
Tkachuk spoke about Bobrovsky moving on to Toronto and what he meant to Florida making several Stanley Cup Final runs.
“Bobby…the backbone,” Tkachuk began. “Obviously, all our lives have changed forever since the Cups, and our lives would be the exactly same and we wouldn’t have won without him. He was the guy. The guy that you relied on, the guy that didn’t matter how good, or if you’re playing bad, you knew he was going to be great. He just kept us in so many games that we didn’t deserve to be in, and he won us a lot of games that we did not deserve to win. Just an outstanding, outstanding teammate (who) works his absolute balls off in the gym, on the ice. I’m going to miss him a ton, just an unbelievable guy. Toronto got a good one. Just one of my favorite teammates ever.”
Tkachuk played four seasons with Bobrovsky in Florida, three of which ended in Stanley Cup Final appearances.
Both were selected as All-Stars during their time together as well.
You can listen to Tkachuk’s full comments on Florida’s additions and subtractions in the video below:
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Photo caption: Dec 29, 2023; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) celebrates with Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) after defeating the New York Rangers at Amerant Bank Arena. (Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images)
