WaitingForThatCab
#1 Nick Cousins Fan Account
- Mar 11, 2017
- 16,055
- 26,665
Well,
1. Bob was bad for his first three years here. It was not just 'team defense.' Up until the 2022 playoffs, Bob repeatedly lost his net to guys like Spencer Knight and Chris Driedger. Those guys played behind the same defense, but got better results. Those are just facts.
2. Bob has consistently been good since the Panthers adjusted to and started actually playing Paul Maurice's defensive system. Most teams do not have consistently good goaltending. I think Bob has been the best overall goaltender (RS/PS) in the NHL since calendar year 2023 began.
3. Bob takes his health very seriously, and it shows. I think he will continue to age very gracefully due the work he puts in on that front. But... he is now at the age where you have to start worrying about decline, and for goaltenders that comes quite rapidly.
With the flattened cap, and considering how he played his first three years here, the contract is awful. There's no way around that, at all. That's not a reflection on Bobrovsky the player or the person. I like Bob a lot for helping out arena workers during the COVID bullshit, and as I said, I think he's the best starting goaltender in the NHL right now. But the contract was inescapably destined to be bad.
The best thing I can say about the contract is that he is playing so well right now that the Panthers will probably be able to trade him without retaining any salary. Is that something that I personally want to see happen? No, no it's not. But I think it remains a likely scenario due to the unfortunate realities of the salary cap.
The Panthers, playing the best team defense in the league with this roster and coaching staff, don't need elite goaltending, but they do need clutch playoff scoring. This is a dilemma that is going to break some hearts.
I stand by all of this, but the Panthers just won the Cup and Bob was great in 4 games in the Finals, so I'm gonna go ahead and say, I feel pretty good about the contract.