Sergei Bobrovsky is officially a Toronto Maple Leaf, and it's hard not to get excited about a real starting goaltender walking into that crease.
Bobrovsky and Darren Raddysh were Toronto's two headline offseason signings, and both were reportedly at the very top of the wish list all summer.
Toronto scooped him up from Florida right as it became apparent the Panthers were ready to move on.
Leafs fans have watched Bobrovsky steal series after series in the playoffs against them, so this addition carries some real irony along with the upside.
Having a goalie you can trust for 50-plus games is something Toronto hasn't truly had in years, not since the Frederik Andersen era.
Bobrovsky signed for $7,000,000 annually over three seasons, a real commitment for a goaltender who turns 37 this season.
At 52 games last season in Florida, he posted a .876 save percentage, numbers that raised real questions about whether his best years are behind him.
Can Bobrovsky bounce back from a rough final Florida year?
Florida struggled as a team last season too, which muddies how much of that decline actually belonged to Bobrovsky personally versus the group around him.
Paying an aging goaltender coming off a down year as a priority target this offseason was always going to draw skepticism, and it did.
Toronto is clearly betting last season in Florida was an anomaly rather than the start of a real decline.
There's a personality angle worth watching here too. Bobrovsky has a reputation as a genuinely interesting character, and how that plays with Toronto's media market is its own storyline.
He's reportedly well aware of what he's stepping into, which at least suggests he isn't walking in blind to the market pressure.
Head coach Jim Hiller inherits a goaltender who's capable of literally stealing a playoff series when he's right, something this franchise hasn't had reliably in a long time.
Whether Bobrovsky delivers that version of himself or the declining one from last season is the entire swing factor on this signing.
Leafs fans have every reason to be intrigued watching this play out, given how much they've personally seen Bobrovsky do damage from the other side of the crease.
Will Sergei Bobrovsky bounce back into a true No. 1 goaltender for the Leafs?
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