The Philadelphia Flyers opening night lineup is out and features a very interesting development- they opted to carry three goaltenders to start the season. Carter Hart, Felix Sandstrom and Sam Ersson all made the team for opening night. It’s a bit of a surprising development, and there are some interesting theories as to why they made the choice.
26-year-old Felix Sandstrom served as the Flyers backup last season. It didn’t go great, posting an .880 save percentage and just three wins in 20 games, while being planted firmly in Tortorella’s doghouse for most of the season. He’s in the second year of his two-year $775,000 contract and is no longer waiver exempt, a big reason why he’s still on the roster.
Sam Ersson, who is just a few days away from his 24th birthday, was named the backup goaltender by John Tortorella before the end of training camp. He’s in the last year if his entry-level deal despite signing a two-year extension last summer. It’s not much of a surprise they want him to see NHL minutes, he seems earmarked to be the long-term challenger to Hart’s starting job and the best way to push the competition is having them both on the roster, but given he’s still waiver exempt and they, for whatever reason, don’t want to send down Felix Sandstrom, demoting Ersson is the easiest solution to their problems.
Even though it’s a positive sign that Ersson is working his way up the ranks, does it make sense for him to see limited NHL minutes, or to play a lion’s share of the starts in the AHL? It’s the ultimate problem when it comes to the backup goaltender position is simple- it doesn’t matter who the backup goalie is as long as Carter Hart is healthy, not in prison, and playing every night. Even if Ersson makes the team, there’s a chance he’s only playing once every few weeks. Even a best case scenario he and Hart split the starts 50-50, which seems highly unlikely unless Hart struggles severely and Ersson looks bulletproof.
The easy answer here is that Carter Hart is sick. He missed practice on Friday, October 7 with an illness. They were unsure as to whether or not he’d be good to go for opening night and thus have to keep both Ersson and Sandstrom on the roster just in case. The problem with this theory is that it means the front office would still want Sandstrom around. If they put Felix on waivers, lost him, and Hart wasn’t ready to go on opening night, they could always recall Petersen on an emergency basis to serve as the backup. Keeping Sandstrom means they must still have some kind of attachment to the guy.
It opens the theory that John Tortorella maybe went off script when he named Ersson the backup, a move that caught Danny Briere off guard, and now they’re stuck with Ersson on the roster in an attempt to show a unified front. The easy answer was to just demote Ersson and ride with Hart and Sandstrom. If the latter struggled, they could demote him later when his value was lower and pass him through waivers easier. But because Tortorella called game and coronated Ersson, it wouldn’t be the best look if Briere demoted him just a couple days later.
Then there’s just the question as to whether or not Sandstrom would clear waivers in the first place. Regardless of anybody’s opinion on Sandstrom and his ability to be an NHL goaltender, the Flyers clearly feel as though if he was placed on waivers he would get claimed by another team. Tampa Bay is still looking for a goaltender to hold down the fort in Andrei Vasilevskiy’s absence, and Colorado is still looking at all options, even after claiming Coyotes goalie Ivan Prosvetov, to replace Pavel Francouz, who isn’t ready to go after an offseason surgery.
His mechanics as a goaltender weren’t that bad, which could ultimately entice a team like Tampa to take a risk on the guy to hope he can even out on a significantly better team than the 2022-23 Flyers were. But on the flip side, there have been many better options that have cleared waivers the last few days and Tampa didn’t bite on any of them. Are they passing up everyone else just waiting for the chance that the Flyers demote Sandstrom? Because, as noted, the Flyers could just send down Ersson and avoid the waivers all together.
If they lose Sandstrom to waivers, they’re down to just three goalies under contract. Hart, Ersson and Petersen. And while Hart and Ersson is a solid tandem at the NHL level, if an injury struck, they’d have to recall Petersen. If two injuries struck they’d be in trouble. Keeping Sandstrom as the backup and Ersson as the third stringer makes the most sense in that scenario, and it also, theoretically, gives Ersson top minutes in the AHL… unless of course they carry three goalies in the NHL and both Sandstrom and Ersson don’t get playing time.
Whatever the reason is for the Flyers carrying three goalies, it’s a slightly baffling move on a roster that is overcrowded with talent throughout in the lineup. The team caught a break with Rasmus Ristolainen ending up on IR to start the season so the triplet goalies didn’t interfere with a roster cut elsewhere. But if Ristolainen’s injury isn’t severe, he’s only committed to IR for seven days minimum. So the front office will have to make a call sooner or later. Maybe there’s some clarity to be delivered at some point in the coming days, but there just doesn’t appear to be a logical reason for the unnecessary goaltending carousel developing in Philly.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
brotherlypuck.com 