Expectations for were always going to be high for Sam Ersson this season: he’d shown promise as a viable tandem goaltender during the 2023-24 season as the 1B to Carter Hart’s 1A. However, with Hart’s departure, Ersson faltered when thrust into the starter’s role for the remainder of that season. There’d been enough positives to have hope that he would, after a summer off to rest and prepare, bounce back and succeed in 2024-25. As we all know, the opposite happened.
| Games Played | Starts | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | GAA | Save Percentage | Shutouts | Goals Saved Above Expected |
| 47 | 45 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 3.14 | .883 | 2 | -22.09 |
Not only was Ersson’s -22.09 goals saved above expected the worst on the Flyers, it was the worst in the NHL by nearly double the next worst goaltender: Phillip Grubauer, who had a -12.66 GSAx per Evolving Hockey. Even Ivan Fedotov, bad as he was, posted a -12.03 GSAx; third worst in the league but, unbelievably, second worst on the Flyers. For even more context: Ersson’s goals saved above expected was the sixth worst by any goaltender in the last five years–just atrocious. Opposing teams were able to score from just about anywhere on the ice when he was in net.
The good news is that Ersson’s abysmal performance in net is not in line with the rest of his NHL play: in the 51 games during the 2023-24 season, he had a -1.9 GSAx. That’s not ideal, but it’s certainly respectable enough for a rookie goaltender. Hopefully, the 2024-25 season is nothing more than an egregious outlier, because there’s nothing positive to take from it outside of being named to Sweden’s Four Nations team.
We’d be remiss, of course, to not mention the injury that kept Ersson out of action for about a month in November and December. Groin injuries have been an issue with Ersson before, and that is what reportedly kept him out last fall as well. At 25 years old, Ersson is still young by goaltender standards, and a path still exists for him to establish himself as top dog in a tandem arrangement. However, if recurring injuries are going to limit his ability to start consistently, it’d be dangerous for the Flyers to rely on him as their best goaltender, and would likely mean relegation to a more 1B-esque role. The 2024-25 season was an opportunity for Ersson to show the Flyers that they can depend on him–especially when considering how awful Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov were as backups–and Ersson didn’t step up in the way the team needed him to.
Three Questions
Did he live up to expectations?
Not at all. This was a disappointing season from Ersson no matter how you slice it, even when accounting for injury. Save percentages were deflated league wide last season, with .900 being the lowest since the 1995-96 season when it was .898, but Ersson’s .883 is not going to cut it. He needs to be better, and maybe a coaching change (and subsequent system change) will be to his benefit next year.
What can we expect from him next season?
Ersson had a strong showing at IIHF Worlds, winning all four of his starts and finishing with a .934 SV% 1.16 GAA, outshining veteran netminder Jacob Markstrom. Sure, maybe Ersson faced some lesser competition, but that’s still solid work for a young goalie trying to stake a spot on next year’s Swedish Olympic team. If that international performance helps Ersson build some confidence, and allows him to start the summer on a high, then that can only be a boon for him in the 2025-26 season. With one year remaining on his contract, now’s the time to prove he can handle the bulk of an NHL goalie’s workload–and we still have hopes that he can get there. We have high expectations, though admittedly a tad lower than the same time last year, and hope Rick Tocchet’s system augmentations help Ersson be a better goalie.
How do we grade his 2024-25 season?
Though we can afford some grace for Ersson, given the injuries and time missed, it’s hard to call the season anything other than a failure with some of the worst goaltending numbers in the league. A netminder with designs on being a starter (or at the very least, a 1A) has to be better than that. Sorry, Sam–here’s hoping for the turnaround next year.