What had been rumoured for weeks has finally come to fruition as the Philadelphia Flyers have officially announced that goaltender Dan Vladař had agreed to a 5-year contract extension.
Insiders were quick to point out that both parties were working tirelessly on getting an extension done shortly after they were eliminated from the playoffs. Vladař, who signed a 2-year contract last summer, was not eligible to sign an extension until July 1st.
The Czechia native had his best season of his 6-year NHL career in 2025-26, where he posted a 29-14-7 record in 52 games (51 starts) with a 2.42 GAA and a .906 SV%. He had the third best GAA in the NHL, was top-10 in wins, and was tied with Andrei Vasilevskiy with the most games with 2 goals or less allowed.
He turned it up a notch during the playoffs, where he posted a .922 SV% and a 2.18 GAA with 2 shutouts in 10 games. Vladař was instrumental in the Flyers winning their first playoff series since the 2020 bubble, which they earned on the back of his 42-save shutout performance in their series clinching win over Pittsburgh.
For his regular season efforts, Vladař, finished 6th in Vezina Trophy voting, 18th in Hart Trophy voting, and 7th in All-Star voting at his position.
It is a bit of a risky venture for the Flyers to extend Vladař after just one season, considering his track record is a bit unknown. Prior to the 2025-26 season, Vladař posted a 49-34-16 record with a .895 SV% and a 2.99 GAA in 105 games with Boston and Calgary, primarily as a backup.
He hadn’t played in more than 30 games until the 2024-25 season before he ultimately lost the starting gig completely to rookie Dustin Wolf. More of the same was expected after he signed in Philadelphia, but he quickly beat out Samuel Ersson for the 1A role.
The prevailing opinion is that based off his performance this past season, the $5.5 million AAV is extremely reasonable and will continue to get better as the salary cap continues to rise. However, that is under the guise of Vladař being able to replicate the same level of play that earned him the extension in the first place.
What should help is the arrival of Joseph Woll, who is expected to alleviate Vladař a little more often than Ersson was able to. Woll was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a trade that also involved Simon Benoit coming over to Philadelphia. He is signed through for 2 seasons and should complement Vladař very well after his time spent with the Maple Leafs.
The $5.5 million dollar cap hit rivals fellow goaltenders like Jacob Markström ($6 million), Jordan Binnington ($6 million), Logan Thompson ($5.85 million), Spencer Knight ($5.833 million), and Elvis Merzļikins ($5.4 million) among many others.
With the salary cap jumping nearly $10 million dollars per season over the next few years, Vladař’s contract could become one of the best value deals in the NHL, but he has to certainly keep playing at a high level.
With Vladař now in the fold for the foreseeable future, look for general manager Daniel Briere to add to his roster, while also extending RFAs Jamie Drysdale, Nikita Grebenkin, and Trevor Zegras in the near future.
