There is no sugar coating how bad the goaltending was last season for the Philadelphia Flyers.
There’s little a team can do from a winning or even developmental standpoint if this occurs. But simply: bad goaltending sabotages everything a team can do.
Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov were quite simply the worst statistical netminding group in the National Hockey League in 2025-26. Ersson, at least, had two significant stretches of excellent play. Correspondingly, the Flyers won frequently during those segments. However, between injuries and two prolonged slumps, Ersson didn’t come close to sustaining starter-worthy performance for the season as a whole. The other two goalie — Russian netminder Fedotov and young Belarusian counterpart Kolosov — simply weren’t good enough at any point.
Ersson finished last season with an unenviable 3.14 goals against average and an .883 save percentage in 47 games played. It was his first season as the unquestioned starting goaltender for the Flyers. It was a substantial drop in performance from the 2023-24 season where he posted a 2.82 GAA along with a .890 save percentage in 51 games played.
His struggles in the role have led to Flyers general manager Daniel Briere to open the position to competition.
“The one thing, at the end of the year when I met with our group of goalies, I told them, ‘You have to be ready at training camp,” Briere said.
“This wasn’t good enough last season. We’re probably gonna go out and bring in some reinforcements, and you’re gonna be in a battle, all of you guys.’
Enter Vladar
The reinforcement Briere decided on was Dan Vladar, the former Calgary Flame.
The 27 year old Vladar signed a two-year contract with a $3.35 million AAV cap hit on July 1. He is expected to partner with Ersson, while Fedotov will likely be ticketed to AHL Lehigh Valley.
Vladar is an interesting choice for the Flyers. His career numbers (a 3.00 goals against average and .895 save percentage) are below NHL league averages, and especially struggled last season prior to the Four Nations Face-Off tournament.
However, he played well in spelling Calder Trophy finalist Dustin Wolf down the stretch.
“He wanted to come to Philly,” Briere said. “He told us very on early on that he wanted to come and compete in Philadelphia, so we jumped on it. Our goalie coaches are excited about the package. There’s no perfect goalie that was out there, but we feel he give us a chance. He has a chance to become our number one.”
One of the biggest concerns with Vladar is workload as he has never played more than 30 games in an NHL season. It speaks to how poor the Flyers goaltending was last season that despite those numbers, he is viewed as an upgrade on Fedotov and the erstwhile Aleksei Kolosov.
Likely Phantoms: Fedotov and Bjarnason
The Flyers are currently only $370,238 under the cap. This includes goalie Ivan Fedotov’s $3.275 million cap hit (AAV). He is expected to be waived and likely sent to the AHL when (not if) he clears the next day. This would give the Flyers slightly more cap space (an added $1.1 million) for potential further maneuvers.
In all likelihood, Fedotov and rookie Carson Bjarnason will split goalie duties in Lehigh Valley next season. The playing time split is anyone’s guess over the full season.
However, this is the the probable scenario: Fedotov starts out the year as the No. 1 goalie. Bjarnason gets his feet wet as the initial backup.
Ideally, as the year progresses, it becomes more of a 1A/1B split time situation. As for Kolosov, the Flyers themselves have no idea what to expect. He’s still under entry-level contract to Philly for one more season. Will he actually report to camp? It remains to be seen.
