Flyers Seemingly Address Goaltending Conundrum By Signing Dan Vladař

The Philadelphia Flyers seemingly wanted to get things done as quickly as possible once the free agent window opened as they made 3 moves in the first 45 minutes that was encapsulated by their signing of goaltender Dan Vladař to a 2-year deal worth $6.7 million in total.

It should come as no surprise that the Flyers were looking to address their goaltending after yet another abysmal showing from their tandem(s) in 2024-25. Ivan Fedotov has not shaken out how the Flyers had hoped and Aleksei Kolosov brought about more problems than solutions, which left Samuel Ersson on an island all by himself.

The goaltending market was also drying up ASAP with Joel Hofer, Thatcher Demko and Jake Allen re-upping with their respective clubs before the free agency window opened. Add in John Gibson being traded to Detroit and Ville Husso being extended by the Anaheim Ducks and it didn’t leave much left over for the rest of the league.

In Vladař, the Flyers get a soon-to-be 28-year-old goaltender that was drafted in the third round by Boston back in 2015 that has 105 games of experience under his belt over the last 5 seasons. He played in 23, 27, 20, and 30 games, respectively, over the last 4 years in Calgary as a solid backup to Jakob Markström and Dustin Wolf.

Vladař carries a 49-34-16 record across 105 games and 95 starts with a .895 SV% and a 2.99 GAA. He’s carried a save percentage above .900 only once in his career, which came back in 2021-22 when he posted a 13-6-2 record with a .906 SV% and a 2.75 GAA.

This past season he was working in tandem with Wolf until the rookie took the reigns and almost led the Flames to the playoffs. Vladař finished the year with a 12-11-6 record to go alongside a .898 SV% and a 2.80 GAA with 2 shutouts. His GSAA was -1.9 this year, which was a major improvement over his -12.5 last year and -7.1 the year prior – but still not great.

It’s an interesting gamble, so to speak, by the Flyers but one worth taking for the next 2 years as they look for some sort of stability in goal – at least until their prospects are ready. Vladař at the very least posted close to .900 SV%, which is something the Flyers couldn’t say about either goaltender with Ersson taking the cake at .883 SV%.

Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco mentioned earlier in the spring that the Flyers could look to waive Fedotov and send him to the minors should he go unclaimed. A move like this would suggest that Fedotov is no longer in the picture and could be seen as a third string at best for the 2025-26 season