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<\/p>\nVOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 Any discussion about the Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 goaltending this season has to begin with how atrocious it was last season.<\/p>\n
Thus, a brief reminder of the numbers: an .872 save percentage, dead last in the league, 22 percentage points lower than the median Edmonton Oilers (.894). At five-on-five, no better: .890, also last in the league. Analytically, the Flyers allowed 45.8 more goals than expected \u2014 a ridiculous 28 more than the next-worst Nashville Predators, according to MoneyPuck.<\/p>\n
Really, it had nowhere to go but up, particularly after the Flyers finally realized neither Aleksei Kolosov nor Ivan Fedotov could handle even spot backup duty at this stage of their careers.<\/p>\n
And while the \u201cit\u2019s still early\u201d caveat is still very much in play at this stage of the 2025-26 season, there\u2019s reason to believe the Flyers\u2019 goaltending is better. Maybe even much better.<\/p>\n
It starts with Dan Vladar.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old, who joined the Flyers on a two-year, $6.7 million deal as a free agent, finds himself fourth in the NHL in save percentage (.932) and third in goals-against average (1.81) ahead of Monday night\u2019s games. Vladar has started five of the Flyers\u2019 eight games, allowing two or fewer goals in each of them. He\u2019ll presumably be in net when the Flyers host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night in an early-season meeting between Metropolitan Division clubs off to better-than-expected starts.<\/p>\n
Coach Rick Tocchet gave Vladar the net on opening night in Florida on Oct. 9 in what was a bit of a surprise decision, particularly after both general manager Daniel Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones expressed vociferous support for Samuel Ersson in the lead up to training camp. Vladar has rewarded his coach\u2019s faith and seems to be emerging as the go-to guy, for now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just love his work ethic and his attitude,\u201d Tocchet said recently. \u201cA timeout, he\u2019s cheering the guys on. You can just tell he\u2019s come in this year dialed in. Whether he wants to prove people wrong, I don\u2019t know. \u2026 He just looks really solid, even in practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Former Flyers goaltender Martin Biron, a 16-year NHL veteran, watched the entirety of Vladar\u2019s 31-save performance in Ottawa, a 2-1 Senators win. Biron \u2014 who had Vladar behind only Jake Allen on his list of best potential free agent options over the summer \u2014 sees a guy who is in better control of his 6-foot-5, 209-pound frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooks a lot more calm in net this season,\u201d Biron said. \u201cI remember him being a little more out of control at times, but much better this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether Vladar can maintain his current level, or at least close to it, will be something to monitor in the coming weeks and months, particularly as the Flyers\u2019 schedule ramps up. Tuesday\u2019s game begins a stretch that will see the Flyers play seven games over 12 days.<\/p>\n
Remember, this is a goalie who has never started more than 29 games in a season, which he did last season for the Calgary Flames. For Vladar to emerge as a true No. 1 option, he\u2019s going to have to handle a workload that\u2019s much more significant than it has been at any other time in his career.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s confident he can do it. Vladar mentioned that watching and being around Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak in Boston when he was a young prospect with the Bruins \u2014 who drafted him in the third round in 2015 \u2014 taught him some lessons that he carries to this day, both mentally and from a recovery standpoint.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just remember their emotions after a game. They were still on the same level, it didn\u2019t matter if they lost,\u201d Vladar said. \u201cThey still came and worked. As the season goes on and you play more and more games, you\u2019re not going to stay the full hour and a half (on the ice) every single day (for practice). You can go out for 20 minutes and still get the same value as if you were there for an hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tocchet is cognizant that Vladar has never shouldered the burden of being a No. 1 goalie. In his view, there\u2019s only one way to find out if he can handle it.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan Vladdy run five or six in a row? I don\u2019t know. He\u2019s never done it before,\u201d Tocchet said. \u201cBut if you don\u2019t try, how would you know? If his play drops, that\u2019s when you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vladar settling in, if he\u2019s able, could have a welcome trickle-down effect, too. Ersson, despite his below-average numbers (3.50 GAA, .861 save percentage), reminded everyone in the Flyers\u2019 4-3 shootout win over the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon that he can still make key saves at vital times himself.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Samuel Ersson\u2019s stats this season aren\u2019t stellar, but competing with Dan Vladar could be the best fit for him. (Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
At some point, Ersson is going to have to do a better job on the midrange shots that have sometimes plagued him throughout his career. Of the 11 goals he has allowed this season, two, while not routine, were arguably stoppable. But they also came from NHL co-goals leader Mark Scheifele in the Flyers\u2019 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 16, and Simon Holmstrom, who has probably the best shot on the Islanders, on Saturday on a short-handed rush.<\/p>\n
But the Flyers don\u2019t earn the extra point in the shootout Saturday without some of Ersson\u2019s late heroics. He made a 10-bell blocker stop on Jonathan Drouin in the third period that kept it 3-3, followed by a flashy glove save on Bo Horvat in overtime in which he was able to anticipate Drouin sliding the puck to his right to Horvat off the rush.<\/p>\n
Ersson\u2019s numbers last season weren\u2019t much better than his two miserable backups (3.14 GAA, .883 save percentage). But he did manage to win as many games as he lost, posting a 22-17-5 mark for a team that finished with the fourth-worst record in the league.<\/p>\n
That continues to be the number he\u2019s focused on more than any of the others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you come down to it, that\u2019s all that matters, right? Did you win or did you lose?\u201d Ersson said Monday. \u201cI\u2019m pretty happy overall with where my game is, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Carter Hart departed the organization midway through the 2023-24 season, Ersson has been the only NHL-quality goaltender on the roster through the end of last season, as none of Kolosov, Fedotov, Cal Petersen or Felix Sandstrom is even in the league at the moment. That only increased the pressure on Ersson. It was an unfair position for a young goalie to be thrust into.<\/p>\n
Consequently, Vladar doing what he\u2019s doing so far offers Ersson a different perspective. Rather than being the guy with whom the team will sink or swim, Ersson is now going to have to keep up with his teammate if he wants to see the net on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s something he figures can help drive him \u2014 just like it did two seasons ago, when he was splitting time in a generally effective tandem with Hart.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Vladar has) been playing unbelievable, obviously,\u201d Ersson said. \u201cI think that\u2019s what you want. You want to play the hottest guy. That\u2019s the best thing for the team and for me, too. I think that kind of pushes me to try to get better every day. I love competition, so it\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VOORHEES, N.J. \u2014 Any discussion about the Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 goaltending this season has to begin with how atrocious…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":338238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,1448,2830,1311,3108,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-338237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-pa","10":"tag-pennsylvania","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115451549154649145","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}