There are surely more professional ways to state this, but it’s impossibly cool that Sergei Bobrovsky is the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bobrovsky’s aura and star power were self-evident during his introductory press conference, and his resume doesn’t necessarily need to be repeated. We’re a few days removed from the FIFA World Cup Final, The Odyssey is set to make a few billion dollars (and well worth it, go see it in IMAX70mm if you can!) and the NHL calendar is finally reaching a standstill, so you can’t fault us for staring off into space, thinking about the high end of what’s possible with the future Hall of Fame goalie.

After a summer where the Maple Leafs were the most active team in the NHL, staging a few reunions in the process, you may be forced to repurpose your memories: we won’t ask our readership to revisit Nick Paul’s contributions a few summers ago against the Leafs, for example, but it is certainly cool to go back and watch Bobrovsky’s Save of the Century two years ago against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And again, this may not work for everyone, you have to divorce yourself from the end result of a Panthers’ championship, but a save like this allows one to dream of what could be possible next summer, if he returns to his career median.

Bobrovsky made the Save of the Century two years ago: certainly, you could argue for Braden Holtby’s jaw-dropping save against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, and we wouldn’t fight back. We’re just going with the spectacular title some of our competitors have offered. During Game 2 of the first round of the 2024 Panthers-Lightning series, Bobrovsky pulled off the nearly impossible.

Lightning centre Anthony Cirelli bursts through the neutral zone, accelerating onto a loose puck, and fires a shot towards the goal that gets deflected by Panthers defenceman Brandon Montour. The puck caroms off the boards, where Lightning captain Steven Stamkos redirects it towards a crashing Matt Dumba for what should be a tap-in, as Bobrovsky already sprawled onto the ice.

Bobrovsky then makes the save of the century, turning his back to Dumba, before propelling himself into the air for a diving save, blocking the puck with his arm. It’s a sensational save, and words are perhaps a poor substitute for the picture.

“That was unbelievable,” Oliver Ekman-Larsson said post-game via NHL.com’s Bill Price. Ekman-Larsson is yet another Maple Leafs player Bobrovsky will be rejoining this fall. “Obviously we know that he can make those saves, but that was something else. That’s what we have on this team, we have big-time players when we need them the most.”

There are certainly skeptics, as Bobrovsky enters his age-38 season, coming off a year where he posted a .877 save percentage. As we’ve argued before, volatility comes with goaltending, and the risk is always worth it for a player of his calibre and postseason resume. This blog isn’t meant to suggest that Bobrovsky will replicate a feat like this for the Maple Leafs, but it’s surely cool to revisit what the new starting goaltender is capable of, when the pressure dials up.