Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Philadelphia Flyers have a goaltending problem.
Coming into the season, the plan was for incumbent starter Samuel Ersson and free-agent signing Daniel Vladar to compete for starts and split time in the crease. It seemed like a fine plan at the time.
Ersson had shown flashes of potential to be a solid NHL goalie, most notably from his 14-8-2 stretch with a .917 save percentage from November 2023 to February 2024, before fatigue set in and he, like the Flyers, faltered down the stretch.
That’s quite possibly the high point of Ersson’s career thus far. He finished that season with an .890 SV%, which dropped down to .883 last season. Bringing in a veteran like Vladar should have been able to help Ersson get the workload he needs to be successful, but the Swedish netminder has folded.
Through 16 starts this season, Ersson has a career-low .858 save percentage and career-high 3.33 goals-against average. That’s the lowest save percentage among 75 goalies with at least five games played this season.
On the other hand, Vladar has held up his end of the bargain and then some.
How long can Dan Vladar hold this up for the Flyers?
Despite not having started more than 29 games in a season during his NHL career, a mark he hit last year, he’s already tended the goal in 27 of the Flyers’ first 44 games. He’s done well with a starter’s workload thus far, but it’s unusual for a goalie with his experience to suddenly become a guy who can start 40 or 50 games. It can happen, and hopefully, Vladar is able to buck the trend, but the upcoming Olympics and subsequent condensed schedule will test his limits.
The Flyers have a back-to-back this week in Buffalo in Pittsburgh and another one in Columbus and Boston at the end of the month. They’re playing 10 games in 18 days. Even if they give Vladar an extra night off here or there — and there’s not exactly an easy opponent to do that against — that’s a lot of hockey for a goalie that hasn’t had a heavy workload in his career.
Things went from bad to worse for the Flyers’ goalie situation on Saturday night as the Lightning poured in seven goals on 23 shots against Ersson, who is clearly lacking confidence right now. So now the goalie who was given a vote of confidence from the organization time and time again could be on the outs, at least according to a report by Daily Faceoff’s Anthony DiMarco.
And unfortunately for Ersson, that’s exactly what the Flyers need to do.
Flyers need every point if they’re thinking playoffs
Danny Briere & Co. signaled their belief in this year’s team when they signed Christian Dvorak to a five-year contract extension last week. Dvorak was a pending free agent having a career year who they likely could’ve traded for a nice package at the deadline. Instead, he’s entrenched as one of the team’s top centers for the next five years, and they need to operate as such.
Not only is Dvorak now extended, but the Eastern Conference, and particularly the Metropolitan Division, is wide open.
The Carolina Hurricanes are going to take one of the three playoff spots in the division, but then you have the Islanders, Flyers, Capitals, and Penguins all within four points of each other. The Devils have fallen to barely over .500, and the Rangers are in the basement.
If the Flyers can stay healthy and add a piece here or there without giving up much in terms of future assets, it’s silly not to. Nobody is claiming that this team will be able to win the Stanley Cup or even come close, but playoff experience is truly invaluable in this league. A rebuilding team that is on the cusp of turning that corner needs to get a taste or two of the postseason before it can be considered a true contender.
If this were a year or two ago, perhaps the Flyers could afford to wait it out and see if Ersson can reset in the coming weeks with the Olympic break — and maybe they still choose that route. But they saw two years ago how goaltending cost them a playoff spot with the likes of Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom losing costly points in a tight race.
The Flyers can no longer wait it out in the crease with Ersson. He’s shown the Flyers what he is, and although he still has the skills to be an NHL goalie, he’s not playing at that level right now. Maybe he’s able to bounce back in a new environment, but it’d make a ton of sense for the Flyers to swap him in a deal for a more proven veteran to split time with Vladar in the crease.