Sergei Bobrovsky has earned the right to be atop the league's rankings as the best goaltender this season.
A year ago the then 27-year-old Blue Jacket posted the lowest save percentage of his NHL career (.908) and played just 37 games. But after the 2015-16 season concluded, Bobrovsky not only rediscovered his game, he propelled himself to achieve some of the best performances not just in Blue Jackets history, but in the entire league this year.
And he did it through hard work.
"I'm so proud of (his performance this year after last season)." Jackets captain Nick Foligno said. "He's meant everything to our team. It's very important that your goaltending is very solid. It's been that. He's a rock back there for us and has allowed us to win games. We've played better because of him."
In 63 games this year, Bobrovsky posted a record of 41-17-5 and had seven shutouts. That set franchise records for wins by a goaltender, and tied the team's best for losses by a goaltender in a full season (2014-15). He set a new career high for shutouts, and did all this all while facing the fourth-most shots against of any NHL goaltender (1854) and making the second highest number of saves in his Jackets career (1498).
Bobrovsky's disciplined routine scripts 2017 success
Sergei Bobrovsky's offseason work generates record-setting success