It’s never peachy in between the pipes for the Philadelphia Flyers.
They are finally getting fantastic goaltending from Dan Vladař, but the trend of subpar backup goaltending has continued with Samuel Ersson struggling in 2025.
Vladař’s first half of the season has played a major role in why the Flyers are holding a playoff spot in 2026. They’ve been able to overcome Ersson’s struggles for the most part, but it’s not sustainable heading into the most gruelling months of the regular season.
Vladař was brought in this summer to act as Ersson’s 1B tandem partner. After Carter Hart’s departure, the Flyers failed to get any solid goaltending from their backups, which forced them to test the market and sign the Czechia native to a 2-year deal.
He impressed so much during training camp that he essentially tiptoed his way past Ersson and became the 1A – a position he’s held ever since with some remarkable goaltending. On the flip side, Ersson has struggled to gather confidence or momentum this season, and through 15 games he’s only held a save percentage above 90% on four occasions.
Ersson is a relatively streaky goaltender, as the position entails. There are so few elite goaltenders in the NHL that you don’t really know what you’re going to get on a year-to-year basis. Nevertheless, Ersson has shown a proclivity of bouncing back in prior seasons, but it’s something we’ve yet to see thus far.
His career started with a 6-game winning streak before ending the year with 3 losses. He then did an amazing job as Hart’s backup in 2023-24 before played the majority of the second half with few breaks due to the nature of the lack of depth at the position.
There was hope that they had figured it out with Ivan Fedotov entering the 2024-25 season, but that failed to the point they had to call up Aleksei Kolosov earlier than they would have liked. Unfortunately, he didn’t impress either and the Flyers slumped to the worst team save percentage in the salary cap era.
Ersson had highs and lows all season but has failed to find his groove in 2025-26. He’s allowed 2 goals or less only 4 times, he’s only had one back-to-back stretch where he finished the game with a save percentage above .900, and he’s had as many games with a save percentage of 80% or less as he has had 90% or above.
The Flyers have largely been able to overcome those struggles with Ersson posting a 6-5-4 record, but if they intend on keeping their playoff spot, they’re going to need him to snap back into action as soon as possible with a jam packed schedule upcoming pre and post-Olympics.
Vladař is only 5 games and 4 starts away from tying his career-highs in both categories, so it’s anyone’s guess if he’s going to lose steam if he continues to play the majority of games. As a career backup to the likes of Tuukka Rask and Jacob Markström, playing time was few and far in between, but he’s taken his opportunities in Philadelphia and ran with them.
The Flyers have 41 games left, which includes 15 games between now and the Olympic break, which starts after the 5th of February. They also have 8 sets of back-to-backs to finish the season, so barring injury, they’re going to need Ersson to play a decent amount of games down the stretch.
If things continue to deteriorate then the Flyers could recall Kolosov from the minors, but with the Phantoms in a playoff push, it seems highly unlikely. Additionally, the Flyers can’t send Ersson down unless he passes through waivers, nor should they entertain the idea of having 3 goalies on the roster again. So for all intents and purposes, Ersson will have to fight through his struggles.
What’s also going to be interesting to follow is how the Flyers approach his contract year. Due to being a restricted free agent at the end of the season, DFO’s Anthony Di Marco intimated earlier in the year that the Flyers still trust Ersson to bounce back, and it seems likely they agree on a deal.
It would be very surprising to see the Flyers not try to sign him to a bridge deal considering their depth at the position. Kolosov will be an RFA as well but has yet to prove his worth at the NHL-level, Carson Bjarnason is in his rookie season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, and Egor Zavragin does not yet seem to be on their radar to come to North America.
So unless they find another option on the open market, it seems very likely they come to terms on a short-term deal, to at least bridge the gap for the next few seasons. A short term commitment would allow them to trade him if need be, allow him to walk away in free agency in a year or two, or replace him with another goalie if it doesn’t pan out.
Vladař is signed through for one more season, and if he continues to impress, it’s very likely they keep him around for the future, as they prepare for the arrivals of Bjarnason and/or Zavragin. Ersson still has some time left to figure things out but the clock is beginning to tick with the Flyers looking to exit their rebuilding phase soon.
Kolosov is still a name to keep an eye out for as he has posted a 9-8-1 record with a .910 SV% and a 2.51 GAA across 18 games this year. Additionally, he’s posted a .929 SV% and a 1.62 GAA in his lone two appearances with the NHL club this year, which is a massive step forward from the .884 SV% he posted with the Phantoms and the .867 SV% he held with the Flyers last year.
We’ve seen Ersson stand out in previous seasons, and the Flyers believe he has the capabilities of bouncing back, so it’s high time he showcased that on the ice. While Vladař has exceeded expectations, we don’t know if his high workload is going to affect him down the stretch, which makes Ersson’s improvement imperative for this season to finish out as a success.
