Rosie DiManno: Gymnastics, cardio and a conditioning guru: Inside Sergei Bobrovsky’s bid to carry the Maple Leafs - Toronto Star

Front office raves about Bobrovsky’s fierce commitment to training, and that he's younger than his chronological age.

The Leafs are betting on veteran goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to return to his stellar form. 

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno.

Twenty-two goalies have donned the mask for the Maple Leafs in the past decade.

Many will go down as scarcely a footnote in franchise annals, three of them just one-and-done. Some played crucial roles in Toronto’s fortunes, from record-breaking regular season success to gut-punch playoff failure. Several were acclaimed as saviour stoppers in an organization that hasn’t put forward a marquee netminder since the days of Curtis Joseph and Ed Belfour.

And one was unceremoniously banished from the main dressing room, sent to Coventry — cubicle removed to a wayside location down the hall — after committing the apparently unforgivable sin of publicly questioning his teammates’ emotional barometer after a loss. 

But none has been as heralded as Sergei Bobrovsky: twice Vezina-plated, two-time Stanley Cup champion. A generational goalie, but Gen Y.

If the just-turned-38-year-old Russian is past his prime, coming off a career-worst .877 save percentage as a Florida Panther, the risk — that he might not have much lead left in his pencil — wasn’t dissuasive for Leafs general manager John Chayka, admiring of Bobrovsky’s pedigree. Signed, sealed and delivered to Toronto for three years and $21 million (U.S.). The same guy who punted the Leafs from the 2023 and 2025 playoffs is now tasked with leading them back to the post-season. If you can’t beat him, snatch him in free agency.

Hall of Famer Ed Belfour was 37 when he signed with the Leafs and won 93 games for Toronto over three years. That gamble worked out rather well.

Further, should Bobrovsky not live up to his billing, it won’t be because his body is on the verge of decrepitude. The man is a conditioning freak, reunited now with fitness guru Andy O’Brien, who was hired by Chayka as vice-president of sports performance. (Reunited as well with Anthony Stolarz, the tandem that raised a Cup together two years ago.)

O’Brien has raved about Bobrovsky’s fierce commitment to training, while asserting that the warhorse is younger than his chronological age.

“His knowledge and his experience,” vouched Bobrovsky of O’Brien. “It’s amazing to have that high-end resource that you can rely on, ask questions about recovery and preparation. He’s the best person who knows all sports, the anatomy of the human body.”

Bobrovsky was explaining his rigorous regimen to reporters the other day. “It’s a lot of things. Off-ice tools like cardio, stretching, strength building, weightlifting. Hockey is a combination of everything. You have to track the puck, you need to have good agility, flexibility, strength. There are so many things to cover, you can’t cover them all. You have to choose some here and there, what works for you. Take what helps and throw away what doesn’t.”

This past summer, he even incorporated gymnastics. Which had this reporter picturing Bobrovsky pirouetting on a balance beam. “No, no, the basics: stretching, core strength, spine, all the speed and balance.”

Watching Bobrovsky train on and off ice in recent weeks has awed his teammates. “He’s the hardest worker out there,” exclaims D-man Darren Raddysh. “He’s been doing that his whole career.” Sharpening his body and his mind. “Just the mental side of being a goalie and how hard that can be. To do it every day takes dedication. Seeing that every day has been impressive to me.”

(Raddysh’s blistering point shot is very much on Bobrovsky’s radar at practice: “You’ve got to be focused. It’s a good test for your reaction.”)

As with everything else in sports, the art of goaltending has been extensively refined and intensively advanced, with goalie coaches brought aboard.

“The head coaches also start to think about what helps goalies, how we can help to develop the goalies,” says Bobrovsky, appreciatively. “Because most of the time, it’s completely opposite from the 20 players who are trying to score and the three guys trying to stop the puck.

“It’s kind of like an individual sport inside of a team sport.”

Incoming coach Jim Hiller was struck by that astute insight from his masked messiah when the comment was repeated to him.

“He’s not wrong. He’s out there by himself. Everybody else gets to come to the bench, sit down, talk to your coaches, talk to teammates. It’s unique. You get a chance after the period’s over to sit with your guys, but you don’t get a break. I can’t imagine. You have to have some good self-talk, calm yourself down. You don’t have your teammates there to support you. In fact, the less time you see your teammates is probably better for a goalie, right? Because they’re on the other end.” So is the puck, hopefully.

“The biggest thing for me is stopping the puck. I will do my best to give the guys a chance to win every night.”

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Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details

Rosie DiManno is a Toronto-based columnist covering sports and current affairs for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno.