It doesn't matter how great your team is. If you don't have a strong goaltender, your team isn't going to go anywhere.
The Columbus Blue Jackets know this as an indisputable fact. They've ridden their goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky the past few seasons, for better and for worse. The results have led to high points in the team's history and also one of the lowest points in the team's history.
Making sure that Bobrovsky has his mind right is key entering the regular season. The team knows all too well what it was like to have Bobrovsky's mental game at less than 100 percent.
“I have zero confidence right now. It’s tough to analyze right now what’s going on. It’s just disappointing, the last four games. We have to be better," Bobrovsky told The Columbus Dispatch’s, Shawn Mitchell, during the team's dreadful 0-8-0 start in 2015.
"The best part of our game was that Bob had his best game of the preseason."– John Tortorella after Sunday's 3-0 win
That comment was only made four games into what would end up being a historically awful start, one that cost coach Todd Richards his job. It wasn't encouraging to Bobrovsky himself or the optics it gave those watching the team.
That version of Bobrovsky feels like it was centuries ago. The Russian netminder did pick up a Vezina Trophy one season after that statement. Improvement was a necessity and he made sure it was a priority. That has been Bobrovsky since the Blue Jackets acquired him: always in motion and always trying to grow.
"The best part of our game was that Bob had his best game of the preseason. Going out of this and going into the regular season, it's encouraging," said head coach John Tortorella after the Blue Jackets' 3-0 shutout win over the Penguins in their preseason finale.
Every coach knows that a goalie is the key to success in this league. When you have one of the best in the business, it can clean up any other deficiencies you have in your lineup.
Where Bobrovsky goes, so go the Blue Jackets.
