A whole lot has been made of the Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltending situation over the last few seasons. And while the team have been trying to develop a young Sam Ersson into someone capable of handling an NHL crease in any way possible, the evidence is truly growing to the conclusion that he’s not up to snuff. Potentially ruining the Flyers’ entire season might play a big part in it.
The Flyers gave Ersson, what feels like now, a final chance this summer. They signed the older and more experienced Dan Vladar, who has exceeded every single expectation from when pen was initially put to paper. The 28-year-old Czech netminder took the crease and has solidified himself as the No. 1 option for this team and one of the major reasons why the Flyers can even tell themselves that they are in the playoff hunt.
Vladar has been outstanding and could even be considered the Flyers’ own MVP despite Travis Konecny having another productive season and Trevor Zegras bringing some much-needed offensive creativity to this lineup. The Flyers now having someone capable of just being an above-average goalie has turned them from a complete disaster and looking into draft lottery odds, to banging on the door of the wild card.
Sam Ersson has washed away everything Dan Vladar has done for the Flyers
The question was asked last season: What if the Flyers just had league-average goaltending? The answer was that they would probably be in the playoffs, or at least where they are right now. It has basically been confirmed and unfortunately, the goalie that was in the crease last year that caused us to throw our hands up and ask that question, is still employed by the team.
And what is maybe the most painful thing about Sam Ersson still being in the Flyers crease, is that his effect on games has been so detrimental to the team that even a team MVP-esque season from Vladar hasn’t been able to cover it up.
According to MoneyPuck, Vladar has been one of the best goalies in the NHL. With a wonderful 13.9 Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), he sits ninth in the entire league as he’s been stopping more than a dozen cumulative goals that typically go in the back of the net. On the other side of the Flyers tandem, Ersson has been one of the worst goalies in the entire NHL.
| Name | Games played | Goals against | Expected goals against | Goals Saved Above Expected | Goals Saved Above Expected per 60 |
| Dan Vladar | 43 | 100 | 113.86 | 13.9 | 0.335 |
| Aleksei Kolosov | 4 | 8 | 3.97 | -4.0 | -2.0 |
| Sam Ersson | 28 | 87 | 71.57 | -15.4 | -0.581 |
It’s not pretty. For all that Vladar has done to be one of the better netminders in the entire NHL, with a better season so far than the likes of Filip Gustavsson, Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Brandon Bussi, Lukas Dostal, and other starters for playoff teams or Hall of Fame-destined talents, it has been washed away from the overall impact of the tandem because of who else he is sharing the crease with.
Kolosov doesn’t help, of course, but the 28 games that the Flyers have had to put Ersson in between the pipes and for him to come up with a minus-15.4 GSAx, has been enough to completely wash away every single bit of good that Vladar has done this season.
It is honestly impressive to have such a two-faced tandem like the Flyers have. For this kind of year and the amount of praise that Vladar has (rightfully) earned, to then still come out with goaltending still being a team-wide issue and a negative on the season, is wild.
One doesn’t even need to dive into the advanced metrics to see it. Vladar has earned a .908 save percentage in his 43 games played and a 23-11-7 record (.646 points percentage), meanwhile Ersson has an abysmal .867 save percentage and 11-10-5 record (.519 points percentage) on the season.
If anything, it confirms that Ersson should no longer be in the Flyers’ future plans. The 26-year-old netminder is still young and if he just stuck in the AHL or in a pure backup role for this entire time until now, we would still be holding to the concept that he can develop into something more, but to be thrown into the NHL as a starter, and then lose that job as soon as someone capable of stopping most pucks, should spell it all out.
Is it a little cruel to point our fingers at Ersson and blame him for the Flyers potentially missing the playoffs? Maybe. But, just given the fact that if the Flyers had a backup netminder capable of saving what is expected and nothing more, then roughly 15 goals would be wiped away (if we want to do some crude hockey analysis) and the Flyers would be a positive goal differential team overall and would have roughly two or three more wins under their belt and could even be currently in the playoffs. And that’s just someone being able to come out as a net-neutral goalie, not anyone good or anything.
It’s an unfortunate conclusion to what is likely Ersson’s final season in Philadelphia. He is a restricted free agent this summer but it truly feels that the Flyers will just not send him a qualifying offer and let him reach unrestricted free agency a summer early. We already know that the Flyers are looking for additional help to prevent this problem next summer, with some recent trade rumors of very good netminders coming up, and if over 130 games in the NHL isn’t enough evidence that Ersson shouldn’t get another chance, then it would be a massive mistake.
