Man of the Week: Patrik Rybar

KHL.ru’s weekly column returns with Shanghai Dragons’ netminder Patrik Rybar. The goalie had a striking week with his team, being awarded with Best goalie honors for the fourth time in his KHL career. In the seven-day span, he posted two wins – with one shutout.

Slovak netminder Patrik Rybar just claimed his fourth career Best Goalie honor by turning last week into a great showcase. He backstopped the Dragons to two wins in three outings, staring down 117 shots — nearly forty a night — and kicking aside almost everything with a sparkling 95.73% save percentage and a 1.60 GAA. His top performance came on Monday against Sibir, where he slammed the door completely, earning his second shutout of the season in a tight 1:0 victory, with 30 saves. The Shanghai Dragons are currently the sixth seed in the Western Conference, and a postseason qualification is not out of question anymore.

Early years

Born in Skalica on Nov. 9, 1993, Rybar cut his teeth in Slovak youth hockey with HK 36 Skalica and made his first pro appearances for HC Slovan Bratislava in 2010–2011. Hockey runs in the family: his father, Pavol Rybar, was a professional goaltender too and his path took him to Belarus and Russia in the pre-KHL era. Other notable players hailing from Skalica, a historic town about 90 km north to Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, include 2002 World Champion Zigmund Palffy and the towering defenseman Michal Cajkovsky, who spent nine seasons in our league and is now under contract in Switzerland.

Moving up

After early spells in Slovakia, Rybar moved to the Czech Extraliga with Mountfield HK and truly broke out. In 2017–2018 he posted a 23–13 record and led the Czech Extraliga in GAA (1.73) and shutouts (7), finishing the season with a .932 save percentage — numbers that put him on NHL radars. Earlier, in Slovakia (2015–2016) he led the Slovak Extraliga in save percentage (.933). Those domestic accolades were the springboard to a North American opportunity. In May 2018 Rybar signed a one-year entry-level deal with the Detroit Red Wings and spent 2018–2019 in the AHL with the Grand Rapids Griffins. He collected 16 wins in 37 appearances in his only North American season. After that stint, Rybar opted to return to Europe and signed with Oulu in Finland (2019). In Liiga he continued to refine his game, mixing reflexes with calm play, and posted strong numbers across two seasons in the Finnish league’s Northmost team.

Move to the KHL

After his successful stint in Finland, Rybar was inked by Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. In the meantime, his father Pavol served as Slovan’s goalie coach in the 2018-2019 KHL campaign. Since making his KHL debut in 2021–2022 with the Bison, Rybar appeared in 24 games, posting a 2.78 GAA and 90.41% save rate. He earned a bigger role after moving to Moscow to join Spartak: in 2022–2023, he played 45 games, saving 92.4%, and logged three shutouts; the following season, in 2023–2024, he backed up 33 games, won 19, and produced a 2.49 GAA with a 91.6% save average.

In 2024–2025, after being claimed by Kunlun Red Star, he won his first two starts—including a 37-save shutout vs. CSKA, posting an exceptional 96.9% save percentage in that stretch. Now with the Shanghai Dragons, Rybar is firmly entrenched as their go-to netminder. In the current 2025–2026 campaign, the Slovak netminder has firmly established himself as the starting goalie for the Shanghai Dragons, posting a strong 2.62 GAA and a sharp .924 save percentage through 20 games. His two shutouts and 9–6–0 record highlight his reliability, giving the Dragons steady, high-level goaltending every night. And now, returning to the playoffs is not a dream anymore for the team.