Goalie Decisions Looming For Flyers

Felix Sandström started the 2022/23 season as the Flyers backup goalie behind Hart. He even notched his first NHL win with Samuel Ersson as his backup in early November when Hart was ill and could not play or dress for a game. However, in his 9 games played this season, it's the only NHL win he currently has to his name/resume. To go along with it, his GAA sits at 3.37 and his save percentage is .888%.

Of the three goalies to play this season, Sandström currently has the worst stats of all three. It should be noted, in his 9 appearances(8 starts) in net, by the eye test, he has not looked terrible, but his stats clearly paint the picture that he's also not been great.

Before the Christmas break, the backup goalie fell ill and was forced to sit out of the Flyers final two games prior to the break. In his absence, Samuel Ersson was called up to backup Hart. Ersson got a start against the highly talented Carolina Hurricanes and it did not go well in any aspect. He allowed five goals, got pulled, watched his relief(Hart) get run over by an opposing player thanks to a teammate's stupidity near the net, was forced back into the game due to the collision in which Hart was forced to leave the game, and somehow he was able to steady himself enough to not allow another goal the rest of the game. The Flyers wound up losing 6-5, but Ersson avoided the loss because as Hart was being run over thanks to an ill-advised play by Ristolainen, the Hurricanes were simultaneously scoring a goal while on the power play.

Following the Christmas break, Hart remained out, as he was entered into the NHL's concussion protocol by the team, so Ersson remained with the main club. After the debacle that was his first NHL game, John Tortorella wanted to give him a chance to redeem himself, and redeem himself he did. He helped the Flyers defeat the San Jose Sharks 4-3 for his first NHL victory with a 25 save performance. He only seemed to get better from there as two nights later he was given the nod again and helped the Flyers to a 4-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings with a 27 save performance. To round out the California road trip and notch his third consecutive NHL victory the net minder helped the Flyers defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 with a 28 save performance.

Upon returning back to Philadelphia after the road trip, the Flyers higher ups activated Hart off of IR, and seemingly somehow talked Sandström into agreeing to a two-week long AHL conditioning stint.(According to the CBA, given he was not out long-term, and is - as far as we know - completely healthy, Sandström had to have agreed in order for the Flyers to send him on the conditioning stint.) With Sandström temporarily out of the way for the moment, the Flyers crease is now left to Hart and Ersson.

In his return, Hart helped the Flyers defeat the Arizona Coyotes 6-2 with a 21 save performance. Neither of the goals he allowed were all that great, but a 'rusty' night was kind of to be expected after a 13 day layoff. The 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs was a little more concerning. While his performance was concerning, it's absolutely worth noting that the loss was no entirely on him. Despite the loos, he still stopped 29 shots, and his defense abandoned him on more than one occasion during the game. It was so bad after two bad turnovers that directly led to Maple Leafs goals, Tony DeAngelo found himself benched after playing only the first period, and just 00:32 of the second period; he sat for the remainder of the second and all of the third periods.

Flyers headed up to Buffalo to play a rescheduled game against the Sabres with Ersson between the pipes because it was the second half of a back-to-back situation. The net minder helped the Flyers to a 4-0 victory with a 28 save performance notching his fourth NHL victory and his first NHL shutout; which was also the Flyers first shutout of the season.

After a shutout, it'd be expected Tortorella would go back to Ersson, but that would be wrong. Hart will take back the crease against the now 100% healthy Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin. The head coach said the decision to go back to Hart was not tough, and added Ersson will get another chance or two before a backup goalie decision has to be made.

It would likely be a very good idea to let Ersson face a top tier team before the decision has to be made, and the Flyers will have that opportunity as they face both Washington(Saturday) again to complete a home and home season and Boston(Monday). If he is able to hold his own, or do even better than that, in either of those games, their decision - which needs to be made by the middle of next week - could become that much more difficult.

Ersson has accumulated a 4-0-0 record in 5 games played, with a 2.30GGA and a .924 save percentage. As stated already, Hart - whose record currently stands at 11-12-6 with a 2.97GAA and .908 save percentage - is the starting goalie for this team. But while it seems clear, by the eye test and the stats test, Ersson should be the backup goalie, he has not successfully faced a top tier team yet, but if he faces Washington or Boston, and at the very least holds his own, going all the way back to his pre-season performances, he should and will deserve to be Hart's backup; which could/should also allow them to rest Hart a bit more than they have thus far this season.

Of course, the next question is: What do you do with Sandström? In order to be sent to the Phantoms full-time, he would need to clear waivers, and chances are that won't happen. A trade is also an option, but even you have to find somebody willing to take him and realize that even starting goalies don't usually net a great return in trades, so while the return would bring back assets they wouldn't be great assets(likely late round draft picks); however, any assets acquired in a trade are obviously better than no assets acquired by going the waiver route.

For once, the Flyers have found themselves in a difficult, but good, goalie situation, and while fans don't trust Fletcher to make great decisions with this team, this decision will ultimately be his to make. So given whose decision it is, all fans can hope is that the Flyers are able to make a decision that won't hurt their future.