Bench him. That's the short version, and if you watched Toronto's net in Seattle on Wednesday, you didn't need a spreadsheet to get there.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 12 of 17 shots, a .706 night that ended with Brandon Montour beating him from the top of the right circle in the final minute. Toronto had just hauled itself level six-on-five on an Auston Matthews goal with a minute and a half left. Barely a minute later, the Leafs were skating off having lost 5-4. A $7 million goalie is supposed to turn a tie like that into a point. Bobrovsky turned it into a loss.
This is a pattern. Bobrovsky has allowed three or more goals in nine of his first ten starts with Toronto. Earlier this month he matched a 2009 franchise mark by surrendering three-plus in six straight games. Over ten starts he's 3-5-2 with an .885 save percentage and a 3.29 goals-against average as of this writing. Those numbers will move, but so far they've only moved one direction.
RatingThe pushback in the room is real, and it has a famous name attached. "Bob's been great. I mean, he's been great for us all year long," Matthews said, before adding that he puts the loss "more on us" as a five-man unit letting grade-A chances through. Jim Hiller went the same way: "I thought he was all right." Hockey is a team sport, and the skaters hung their goalie out to dry on some of these. But the entire reason you pay a veteran this kind of money is to steal nights your team doesn't deserve to win. He's losing the nights they do deserve.
Then there's the coaching. Hiller left Bobrovsky in and never considered pulling him. The goalie faced all 17 shots and was on the ice for the winner. When your starter is drowning and the season-long numbers are screaming, "let one go off a toe" is an excuse for inaction. Anthony Stolarz dressed as the backup and never touched the ice. On pregame radio, one analyst had already said he would have started Stolarz instead, arguing the backup had earned it and Bobrovsky could use the rest. That looked smart before puck drop. It looks smarter now.
Start Stolarz Saturday in Vancouver, and call up Artur Akhtyamov if you must, even knowing he's an unproven break-glass option. Just stop running a 38-year-old out there on faith while the standings slip away.
The heat should travel past the crease and into the general manager's office. John Chayka traded Joseph Woll to Philadelphia and, separately, moved Dennis Hildeby to Tampa Bay, clearing out both younger goalies to bet three years and $21 million on a netminder born while the Soviet Union still existed. That left Stolarz and a kid who has yet to win an NHL game as the insurance policy. Betting that a veteran won't age in real time is still a bet. Right now, Chayka is losing it.
Bench Bobrovsky. But the man who should be sweating most sits in the GM's office.
