How friends Panarin, Bobrovsky changed the Rangers, Panthers - ESPN

Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky were dancing.

It was July 2019. The two had been teammates with the Columbus Blue Jackets, becoming close friends when Panarin was traded there from the Chicago Blackhawks in 2017. Their families are friends. Panarin is the godfather to Bobrovsky's daughter. They take silly photos together. They celebrate holidays and vacation together — this particular dance party was in Capri.

Their dancing was extremely spirited, with both NHL players kicking their legs over their heads toward the night sky on the deck of a boat. It's the kind of dance one expects in a moment of offseason catharsis, like when two friends sign free agent contracts worth a combined $151.5 million. The ink was still drying on Panarin's seven-year, $81.5 million deal with the New York Rangers and Bobrovsky's seven-year, $70 million contract with the Florida Panthers.

It's now May 2024. Panarin and Bobrovsky aren't speaking. There's no animosity between the close friends, but the battle lines have been drawn: The Rangers and Panthers are playing in the Eastern Conference finals. Panarin is trying to score against his best friend in hockey, and Bobrovsky is tasked with preventing it.

At stake is a chance to play for the Stanley Cup, which Bobrovsky did last season with Florida but Panarin has yet to do in his nine-year NHL career. They are rivals now. They'll be friends again when it's over.

«I like how he looks at his life, how he looks at himself. Not only about hockey, but what he's going to do after that,» Bobrovsky has said of Panarin.

«He's an unbelievable guy, a great human,» Panarin said of Bobrovsky, via NHL.com. «We can talk about everything all day and we can say anything to each other. We can talk about good