Sergei Bobrovsky, Other Former Flyers Win Stanley Cup

With a nail-biting 2-1 Game 7 win over Conn Smythe Trophy winner Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, former Philadelphia Flyers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and his Florida Panthers have secured the first Stanley Cup victory in franchise history.

Bobrovsky, 35, played two seasons with the Flyers from 2010 to 2012, and was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2012 as the Flyers sought to lean on big ticket free agent signing Ilya Bryzgalov. The 2012 second-round pick the Flyers acquired in the Bobrovsky trade was used on goalie Anthony Stolarz, who also won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Panthers whilst serving as Bobrovsky’s understudy.

After 14 seasons, Sergei Bobrovsky gets his Stanley Cup moment 😤 pic.twitter.com/eZ3Fof47yU

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 25, 2024

Stolarz, incidentally, was a backup during his time in Philadelphia, too. In two seasons, the 30-year-old played in 19 games with the Flyers, posting a 6-4-4 record, a 2.86 GAA, a .911 save percentage, and two shutouts. In a further twist of irony, Stolarz was traded to the Oilers in 2019 in exchange for Cam Talbot. Now he defeats them in order to win the Stanley Cup.

Bobrovsky finished the 2024 postseason with a 16-8-0 record, a 2.32 GAA, a .906 save percentage, and two shutouts. Had he and the Panthers not gotten blown up by the Oilers in Games 4, 5, and 6, it’s likely that Bobrovsky would have captured the Conn Smythe Trophy. That honor instead went to McDavid, who amassed eight goals, 34 assists, and 42 points in 25 playoff games as he appeared in the first Stanley Cup Final of his career.

Also featuring on Florida’s Stanley Cup-winning side was former Flyers forward Nick Cousins, who’s reached the Final in each of the last two seasons in Florida.

Cousins, now 31, was briefly teammates with Stolarz in the 2016-17 season. After leaving the Flyers in 2017 via a trade with the Arizona Coyotes, Cousins bounced around quite a bit before landing with the Panthers and making deep playoff runs in each of the last two seasons.

With the Panthers winning the Stanley Cup, the Flyers will hold the 32nd overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.