If there is any move that we can predict that the Philadelphia Flyers are going to make this offseason is to acquire a goalie who will be a major upgrade behind Dan Vladar in the depth chart. And one way that they can do that is possibly trading with a team who seems to have a lot of talent in the crease.
Sam Ersson is a restricted free agent this summer but it is not difficult to imagine that the Flyers will not send him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent and giving him free rein to sign with any team in the NHL. Since he has been literally the NHL’s worst goalie over the last three seasons — he ranks dead last in GSAx by a whole lot — just letting him keep the same position as Vladar’s backup would feel like an insane thing to do.
Even if the Flyers do re-sign Ersson (on what should be a one-year deal), he should be viewed as a third netminder — but with them bringing Aleksei Kolosov back already, and Carson Bjarnason being with the Phantoms still, Ersson would not have a spot in Lehigh Valley, either. The best route forward is clearly to just let Ersson walk and address the backup position this summer.
Now that all the housekeeping of really setting the table as to why the Flyers are most likely going to be sending the homegrown Ersson packing and bringing in someone else, we can move to exactly how this team could be navigating this series of transactions.
And while the Flyers could scout the free agent market to possibly overpay for someone like Daniil Tarasov or bring in David Rittich for one year, or even some questionable career backup like Eric Comrie to just be better than Ersson next season; the more intriguing option is certainly to trade for a netminder with a high ceiling.
One team that just makes too much sense to make this sort of deal with is the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Flyers and Maple Leafs seem like perfect trade partners
The Leafs are blessed with a conundrum that almost every single NHL team wants to have: They have too many NHL-quality goaltenders.
With 24-year-old Dennis Hildeby establishing himself as someone who is ready for the big leagues, with a .914 save percentage in his 20 appearances for the miserable Leafs last season, something has to be done this summer. Anthony Stolarz and Joseph Woll are both under contract for at least two more seasons and are bona fide tandem netminders. And then even throw in the fact that 24-year-old Artur Akhtyamov is starting for the AHL Toronto Marlies in the playoffs right now (over Hildeby) and stealing games for them, with a .928 save percentage in the 13 playoff games — improving on his still-solid .904 save percentage in 37 games this past regular season.
At the very least, the Leafs have to move on from someone. Hildeby will need waivers to be sent down next season, so instead of losing him for nothing, they can move out someone above him in the depth chart, or maybe sell-high on some youth and get something for the less-established goalie.
Akhtyamov should start with the Marlies next season, but if they really do feel confident that at 25 years old, the Russian can be an NHL backup, then maybe they trade two goalies this offseason.
All of this is to say, that the Leafs have a whole lot of what the Flyers need. But, if they do strike a deal, then all they will need to do is make the right call on which one to nab.
Flyers will need to choose the right Leafs goalie
All reports indicate that the Leafs are open to trade any one of Stolarz, Woll, or Hildeby if their asking price is met, or the deal at least makes sense for them. All three of them pose different possibilities and have different experience levels, and therefore are worth different values.
Anthony Stolarz coming back to the Flyers would theoretically be fairly inexpensive. While he did lead the NHL in save percentage during both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons (in just 61 combined games, to be fair), he is coming off a season marred with injury where he was limited to just 26 games. And in those 26 games he posed a below-average .893 save percentage.
Oh, and to make the whole picture sort of gross and give you an uneasy feeling, Stolarz is about to start a new four-year contract next season. Now, it does just have a $3.75-million AAV so it’s not life or death, but actively acquiring a 32-year-old goaltender who had a bad season and is signed for four more years, feels like a mistake.
Add in the fact that Vladar is most likely getting a massive extension this summer, and that means your crease is locked-in for four more seasons.
Maybe Stolarz can bounce back in a more defined role as a backup. All we need from him is to put in 30-35 solid games and not be the NHL’s worst goalie, after all. But, with some past pedigree, the Flyers would still be acquiring him with a positive value and giving up any draft pick or prospect for that doesn’t feel right.
As for Dennis Hildeby, it would pose a whole lot more risk than getting one of the NHL regulars in Toronto. When Ersson was Hildeby’s age, we still had some promise in him as someone who could be in a big-league tandem. He was thrown into the starting role because of a certain goaltender leaving the team, and the Flyers didn’t want to add anyone established because they didn’t really strive to win a whole lot of games in that 2023-24 season.
Now a couple years later and we’re more than fine thinking about this team throwing him to the curb. Would it be the same for Hildeby? Well, the young Leaf is already showing more promise in his brief NHL stint compared to Ersson — the Flyers goalie managed to have just an .899 save percentage during his similarly first stint in the NHL when he played 12 games in the 2022-23 season. But, it’s still a risk.
The Leafs could look to sell high and could be asking for something like a couple third-round picks, which is fairly high in terms of goalies — since Linus Ullmark went for just a late first-rounder after winning a Vezina. That might just not make sense for the Flyers, to bet on Hildeby being more than an average goaltender.
We suppose even if he is just an average backup, Hildeby being that young and under contract for just $864,667 for the next two seasons, it is worth a couple mid-round draft picks that the Flyers could waste anyways. Heck, Arturs Silovs went to the Penguins for just a fourth-round pick last summer after the Canucks were in a similar situation. Albeit, Hildeby has shown to be a whole lot better in the NHL than Silovs did during his time in Vancouver, but maybe it’s just one third-rounder and that gets our attention.
But ultimately, the best path forward could be trading for Joseph Woll. The soon-to-be 28-year-old is under contract for two more seasons at just a $3.66-million AAV and has proven to be the backbone of Toronto’s goaltending in the past couple of seasons. In the 106 games he has appeared in through the last three seasons, Woll has earned a .904 save percentage and in the last two seasons has appeared in 42 and 39 games respectively.
While Woll won’t be winning any Vezinas anytime soon, he represents just extremely predictable and consistent goaltending in the crease. There’s nothing fancy about him but he puts in very solid performances and can start about half the games during a season if needed.
That level of on-ice performance mixed with being signed to almost the perfect length of a contract — in two years we should have a much more clear idea if someone like prospect Yegor Zavragin is going to be the Flyers’ future starter and we’ll just know more about the depth chart on the whole. If no one is playing all too well, then maybe they keep Woll around, or move off from him and look to get their next version of him or Vladar. If Zavragin is looking like he’s the Next Great Russian Goaltender, then thank you for your service Mr. Woll, but we got this guy now.
What would it cost to get Woll? He would surely cost the most out of the three goalies in Toronto, but we’re talking about something like a second-round pick considering him not reaching extreme highs or carrying such a pedigree that would warrant a first-rounder. That feels more than reasonable to go into next Flyers season with one of the best tandems this team has seen in years. Even if Vladar doesn’t live up to this past season, Woll would be able to take his place in that somewhat nightmarish scenario.
It just feels like something destined to happen — and that’s probably why the Flyers were linked to Woll last season.
While it’s hard to predict any trades perfectly, something involving one of these Leafs goalies coming to Philadelphia feels like something that is going to happen in the next couple of months.
