BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – As Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky dances across his crease in the Stanley Cup Final, diving and contorting to make save after save, one of his longtime goalie coaches is watching with pride from 1,000 miles away, in a sports bar high atop the Rocky Mountains.
Hannu Nykvist is a special guest this week at a goaltending retreat in Breckenridge hosted by the Goalie Guild, a nonprofit that provides coaching education, scholarships and more. Nykvist has coached high-level goalies in Finland for decades, has worked with Bobrovsky during summers since 2016 and was smiling from ear to ear as his pupil put on a show in Game 3 against Edmonton on Thursday.
“When I see him make those saves, his entire history flashes before my eyes,” Nykvist told The Athletic. “It’s not just the one save. I see all of the hours working on techniques, all the hours invested in building that athleticism, and all the work to build that mindset. I understand why he makes those saves, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Bobrovsky’s incredible play this postseason is the consummation of the efforts of one of the most dedicated, hardest-working players in the sport. His career has been marked by dramatic swings. He hit a low point just two years ago, when he began the playoffs on the Panthers’ bench. Now, he’s now one victory away from claiming hockey’s ultimate prize — the Panthers can win the Cup if they beat the Edmonton Oilers in Game 4 on Saturday — and putting an exclamation point on a Hockey Hall of Fame-caliber resume as one of the best goalies of this generation.
Those closest to Bobrovsky believe he has weathered the ups and downs of his career thanks to an undying desire to constantly improve. All elite goalies work hard, but Bobrovsky’s love for the grind – on the practice ice and in the weight room – stands out to goalie coaches and players that have worked alongside him over his 14-year career. At the NHL level, Bobrovsky has worked closely with Panthers goalie coach Robb Tallas, who has been in that role since 2009, and the Panthers also have a great resource in Roberto Luongo, who oversees their goaltending operation as a special advisor.
Nykvist also has witnessed the grind first hand, and he pulled the curtain back for a peek at how the Russian netminder has built himself into the terminator of a goalie that has looked unbeatable at times in these playoffs.
Nykvist and Bobrovsky first met eight years ago at the Red Bull Ice Hockey Academy in Salzburg, Austria. Bobrovsky had been performing his off-ice summer training at the facility for several years, and finally wanted to do some on-ice work. Nykvist, who has coached professional goalies in Finland, Switzerland and Austria (as well as the Finnish national team) was working for Red Bull Salzburg at the time, and offered to hit the ice with Bobrovsky.
It didn’t take Nykvist long to realize he wasn’t working with a typical athlete. The two were usually scheduled to practice daily at 6 p.m., but because Bobrovsky didn’t have a key to get into the facility, he’d convince Nykvist to arrive at the rink two hours earlier so he could begin his off-ice pre-workout. Following that, as the clock ticked down on the 90 minute on-ice practice, Bobrovsky would turn to Nykvist like a child pushing for a later bedtime and say, “Let’s just do a little bit more work.”
After two hours of training off the ice and two more on it, Bobrovsky finished the sessions with a 45-minute ride on the stationary bike.
“Sometimes I was lucky to be home by 11 p.m.,” Nykvist said. “The next summer, I made sure he had his own key.”
Nykvist joked that he considered packing sandwiches for his lengthy practice sessions with Bobrovsky, but admitted he enjoys every minute of their work together. The two became close friends off the ice, enjoying drinks and dinner most nights after workouts – or as Nykvist calls it, “off-off-ice workouts.”
They were both in an unfamiliar country, and Nykvist believes that unique environment helped strengthen their bond.
“There was nothing normal around us,” he said. “There was just a lot of ice time in a great facility. There was nothing disturbing us. We were just being ourselves and there were no egos in the room. I try to leave my ego behind and just be honestly me, and what I am as a coach and as a person. I have a lot of respect for how he is as a person.”
Sergei Bobrovsky and Hannu Nykvist training in Salzburg, Austria. (Photo courtesy of Hannu Nykvist)
Nykvist is as much of a life coach as he is a goalie coach. He approaches the job with a unique, holistic approach that differs greatly from most technical coaches, with a belief that people with a strong well-being make for strong goalies. He patrols practices armed with jokes in his charming Finnish accent, and clever metaphors for life and hockey that will leave you laughing, and thinking. His personality is a perfect balance for Bobrovsky, whose focus and intensity are unrivaled.
“We made so many jokes together and had so much fun,” Nykvist said of the first summer he met Bobrovsky. “He has a hell of a sense of humor. I think for me, those funny moments where we joked about something he did, or something I did, were so valuable for me and I think he enjoyed them, too.”
Nykvist preaches balance in all aspects of life, and while he’s done plenty of technical work with Bobrovsky over the years, helping him find that balance may have been his biggest contribution. He studied Bobrovsky’s values, motivations and life experiences as much as he did his goaltending techniques, and helped him find the right place for hockey in his life.
Bobrovsky is enjoying hockey now, but that wasn’t always the case.
When the two met, Bobrovsky was coming off an injury-riddled 2015-16 season in Columbus, one in which he played only 37 games and didn’t look like the Vezina Trophy-winning goalie from three years prior.
“I think when you have a history of injuries and you’re not exactly sure where your career is going, then obviously things are not that enjoyable,” Nykvist said. “If you can eliminate those stress factors, you start to feel good about your training habits, you start to feel progress and feel healthy, and then you trust your body again and don’t have to question it anymore. The result of all of that is, ‘Wow, this is starting to be fun again!’ and the athleticism finds another level.”
Working with Nykvist on the ice, and movement coach Sami Karjalainen off it, Bobrovsky strengthened his body during the offseason and put the injury troubles behind him before returning to work. He turned things around quickly, winning his second Vezina Trophy in 2017 after starting 63 games and posting a career high .931 save percentage. In that moment, he was back on top of the goaltending world. He received Vezina votes in each of the next three seasons, and eventually signed a massive seven-year, $70 million contract with the Florida Panthers in 2019, and that’s where his career hit another sharp decline.
The first two seasons in Florida marked a letdown. Bobrovsky posted the worst save percentages of his career (in seasons with at least 30 starts) and many wondered if he’d ever live up to the contract. Not only was he facing the stress of underperforming for his team, but pundits and executives pointed to his contract as an example of why NHL teams shouldn’t invest heavily in the goalie position as a whole.
“I assume that there was some kind of weight from that,” Nykvist said. “Now you are expected to be the rainmaker and turn everything around here, but I think he handled it perfectly. We are all human beings with emotion, so no one can block anything out 100 percent.
“I think he managed that really well, and has been much better at managing that after all of these years. His identity is so strong with what kind of person he is, and what kind of goalie he is.”
Bobrovsky was briefly usurped as the starter by first-round draft pick Spencer Knight in 2020-21, and then again by Alex Lyon in 2022-23. He deleted his Instagram account in the summer of 2021 to lessen the outside noise, but through it all, he never lost his confidence, or his legendary work ethic.
“I have a hell of a lot of respect for Bobby, and how he grinded through those years,” Nykvist said. “How he survived through that and still kept working on his skills. I think a lot of other goalies may have given up, but he made it through and that shows his mental strength.”
Bobrovsky fought his way through the lengthy slump and came out on the other side a stronger goalie and person. He’s back to enjoying hockey, and it shows on the ice.
Last season he was brilliant in the postseason, leading all goalies with 19.44 goals saved above expected to lead Florida to the Cup Final. This postseason, he’s been even better. He has a .916 save percentage and has allowed two or fewer goals in 12 of the last 14 games.
Bobrovsky practically single-handedly won Game 1 of the Cup Final with a spectacular 32-save shutout. He slammed the door shut on the Oilers in Game 2 with a late breakaway save on Connor McDavid, then put the Panthers on his back in the first period of Game 3 with multiple highlight-reel saves that allowed his team to find their game and eventually build an early lead.
“They’re a very skillful team and they’re going to make plays, and it doesn’t matter what’s the score they’re going to come at you,” Bobrovsky said after Game 3. “You just stay focused and sharp. They bring a great challenge, and it’s fun to play against those guys.”
Many goalies shudder at the thought of facing McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Oilers’ high-powered attack. Bobrovsky is relishing every moment of it.
“They are a very skillful offensive team,” he said. “They’re smart guys, and they’re going to make plays. You just focus on each and every one and it’s a fun challenge. It’s a fun challenge to play against them because they bring the best and they make smart plays.”
Bobrovsky’s fundamentals have been exquisite, which no doubt is a credit to Tallas, Nykvist and everyone who has worked with him. The preciseness of his edge work, posture and positioning allow him to make tough saves look easy, like this stop on McDavid’s net drive in Game 1.
With the fastest player on the planet barreling toward him, Bobrovsky had the patience and poise to hold his edges, rather than dropping down early. When McDavid cut to the front of the net, he pushed out to take space away, rather than sliding flat along his goal line. Finally, Bobrovsky had great stick position and pulled his left leg tight incredibly quickly to shut down any chance of a puck slipping underneath him. In the end, the save looked routine, but it’s a situation in which McDavid regularly exposes lesser goalies.
When the opposition does pull him out of position, Bobrovsky has the lateral explosion and creativity to make the difficult saves as well. The diving, spinning, no-look, backhand save he made in the first round against Tampa Bay will be etched on the memories of hockey fans for a long time. Some may see pure luck when watching this save. Nykvist sees the result of years of work, with a dash of good karma.
“He has the mindset that until the puck is in the net, I will fight,” Nykvist said. “That mentality got the reward in that situation. If there’s a hockey god, they know you deserve this moment. They’ve been watching you sweat all of these years, so they give that save to you.”
Bobrovsky also had the vision and awareness amid the chaos to identify Matt Dumba cutting to the front of the net, which is why he threw his glove behind his back in the first place. He’s an acrobat on the ice, but Bobrovsky can only put his athleticism to use because of his situational awareness and exceptional puck-tracking skills. His ability to maintain visual attachment with the puck through traffic has been on full display in these playoffs. Not even a shot straight to the mask could shake his concentration.
This is far from a highlight-reel clip, but even in a turbulent situation, Bobrovsky never lost sight of the puck. He was likely shaking the ice shavings off his face and the smell of burned rubber from his nostrils as he fell backward, but notice how he followed the puck with his eyes all the way behind the net after Zach Hyman recovered his own rebound.
Bobrovsky’s most important save to this point in the season happened late in the third period of Game 3, and was yet another example of his elite puck-tracking, combined with freakish athleticism.
Bobrovsky challenged McDavid’s initial rush aggressively, and McDavid nearly made him pay for it by sliding the puck at his skates from behind the goal line. Bobrovsky tracked the puck underneath him, and narrowly avoided knocking it into his own net with a quick flick of his left skate. He then followed the puck onto the stick of Ryan McLeod, and dropped his pads to seal the ice for a huge stop to seal the victory.
“I see him enjoying the game,” Nykvist said. “I see him enjoying the challenge.”
Bobrovsky has stopped 19 of 20 shots from the inner slot in the Cup Final for an incredible .950 save percentage, according to Stathletes. The league average on those shots is .770.
It wasn’t long ago it looked like Bobrovsky’s best days were behind him. Now he’s playing the best hockey of his life in the biggest moment. His years of experience have sharpened his mind, but they haven’t dulled his athleticism, thanks to hours upon hours of grinding in the gym and on the ice. The result is the best Bobrovsky we’ve ever seen, and one of the best Cup Final performances in recent memory.
Bobrovsky knows the job is far from finished.
“We keep staying with the moment,” he said after Game 3. “Obviously, it’s a great move for us, and we enjoy it tonight and get ready for the next one.”
With one more victory, he would join Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Ed Belfour and Tim Thomas as the only goalies with two Vezina Trophies and a Stanley Cup over the last 40 years. If he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy, he’d join Roy, Thomas, Ken Dryden, Glen Hall and Bernie Parent as the only goalies to win that trophy along with multiple Vezinas.
It would be the crowning achievement for one of the best goalies of the last two decades.
Nykvist considers himself incredibly lucky to have worked with Bobrovsky and to have played a small role in his journey. On Saturday night, he will be cheering him on from afar.
“If he wins the Cup, I will be the happiest guy on behalf of him,” Nykvist said. “In my mind, if anyone deserves it, it’s him. He’s 35 years old but still has such great passion for his game and enjoys the game. He’s a very exceptional individual.”
(Top photo of Hannu Bykvist and Sergei Bobrovsky in Salzburg, Austria, courtesy of Hannu Nykvist.)