The Philadelphia Flyers are getting a helping hand from the AHL during the Olympic break, in the form of a young netminder who has been having a solid rookie season.
Announced by the team Tuesday afternoon, the Flyers have officially recalled 20-year-old netminder Carson Bjarnason up from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. While it is more of just something they officially have to do on-paper, it is still nice to see a guy getting a chance to be amongst the NHL squad.
Transaction: We have recalled goaltender Carson Bjarnason from the @LVPhantoms (AHL). pic.twitter.com/m2veyIOmBx
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 17, 2026
Flyers call up Carson Bjarnason to fill in for Dan Vladar while at Olympics
The Flyers returned to practice Tuesday morning after taking almost two weeks off with the Olympic break happening after their Feb. 5 game against the Ottawa Senators (which feels like eons ago). And seen on the ice was none other than Bjarnason. This was before his official recall, but it was obvious that the 20-year-old was here to just be the Flyers’ second goaltender while Dan Vladar is still over in Italy competing with Czechia as they try to get into the medal round this week.
With (obviously) no NHL games happening and the Phantoms not playing until this Friday, the Flyers made the move to get a young netminder who has been performing adequately in his rookie professional season, up and to get a taste of a real big-league practice in Voorhees.
Bjarnason and his Phantoms are back in action from their own All-Star break for a back-to-back in Hershey against the Bears this Friday and Saturday, but the Flyers don’t play again until next Wednesday. But, Vladar and Czechia are facing Canada in the quarterfinals Wednesday, so in theory if they lose he could make his way back and be at Flyers practice before Bjarnason is needed by the Phantoms. It’s all up in the air and we’re not sure what the plans are, of course.
But, Bjarnason definitely deserves a little bit of credit for being the goalie that the Flyers call up. In his first ever taste of professional hockey, the 6-foot-4 goalie from Carberry, Manitoba has earned an .889 save percentage and a 3.08 goals against average. It’s not the best stat line in the world but considering he is the only Under-21 netminder in the entire AHL who has played more than seven games, it’s a solid sign. Heck, there are netminders who had even worse rookie AHL numbers who have carved out roles in the NHL, such as Filip Gustavsson, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
It’s something we like to see as the Flyers focus more and more of their resources on development for the guys playing in Allentown and really look to seeing how they can carve out the next core out of there. We’re already seeing it from Denver Barkey, and now we’re getting a slight taste of Carson Bjarnason up with the Flyers mid-season. He won’t be playing in any games, but it’s at least nice to see him being thought of during this break.
