Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers are terrified of making trades, especially making trades that could potentially be a net-positive to the current main roster product. The front office stayed painfully quiet during most of 2024, and are unsurprisingly dealing with some of the same issues that plagued them in the past. Maybe none bigger than their goaltending.
They ran it back with 25-year-old Sam Ersson and 28-year-old rookie Ivan Fedotov, then added 22-year-old rookie Aleksei Kolosov to the mix after he held out making the jump to North America seeking NHL ice time. The three of them combined have the NHL’s worst team save percentage and have left the organization in a hot-potato situation scrambling for anyone to step up and take the reins as the night-to-night starter.
But could this whole situation have been avoided? If the Flyers were a bit more proactive could they have had an ace up their sleeve if they so chose? The answer is yes.
In late August 22-year-old goalie Yaroslav Askarov, the former 11th overall pick in 2020, was dealt from Nashville to San Jose along with a third round pick and ECHL prospect Nolan Burke in exchange for 24-year-old goalie Magnus Chrona, former 32nd overall pick in 2023 David Edstrom, and a 2025 first round pick originally belonging to the Golden Knights.
Edstrom has signed his entry-level contract but has not made the jump to North America yet, and the Golden Knights currently have the third most points in the league around the half-way point of the season. Chrona did play nine games with the Sharks in 2023-24, but hasn’t had much success outside the ECHL level.
So why didn’t the Flyers toss their hat in the ring for the Askarov sweepstakes during the 2024 offseason?
Now, looking at things without hindsight, Askarov had only played in three NHL games, his AHL numbers were fairly pedestrian, and the Flyers had three goalies of their own in a similar unknown ceiling boat. Adding a fourth guy who’d need minutes and may not pan out was a frivolous move and would’ve made an overcrowded situation worse.
But it’s not like the Flyers’ goalie problems were a secret either. Ersson and Fedotov (along with Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom) had the worst team save percentage in the NHL after Carter Hart left the team last January. Then there was all the drama around whether or not Kolosov would even make it to North America, let alone if he was capable of playing at the high level of the NHL out of the gate as a 22-year-old if he did.
Today, the Flyers’ trio has been even worse than expected and deployed in a poorly managed trio while Askarov has found success at both the AHL and NHL level this year on a basement-dwelling San Jose Sharks team, currently sitting with a .917 save percentage through eight contests at the NHL level. Nobody on the Flyers has a save percentage above .887.
Now, whether or not the Flyers were justified in staying away from Askarov boils down to what their main reasoning was. Because, even though it was a risk to not address the goaltending, there was at least enough benefit of the doubt between the unknown ceiling of Fedotov and Kolosov and the flashes of upside Sam Ersson has displayed in the past to think that at least one of the three of them was capable of rising to the occasion. Sure, their sample sizes weren’t great, but what are the odds all three are bad at the same time… right?
Whereas if it was a case of Briere being scared to, once again, give up assets for potential upgrades even with the questions at the position, it’s yet another black mark on the current front office regime as their ability to lead the team comes more under the microscope. The return of a first round pick, a mid-tier prospect and a random throw in wasn’t outrageous and something the Flyers could’ve easily matched if they wanted.
Should the Flyers have been in on Askarov? Yeah, probably. The Flyers goalie trio just was not stable enough to turn their nose up at other options. The only thing that saves the Flyers here is that, at the time, Askarov didn’t present a bonafide upgrade either. If his AHL numbers were a bit more solid, or had a slightly larger NHL sample size, it would’ve been straight up malpractice.
Now, the Flyers head into 2025 in the market for a starting NHL-caliber goalie, which isn’t going to be an easy thing to scope out, or a cheap position to address. Or, you know, Briere can just continue to avoid addressing any faults with his roster because tracking one down is too difficult, because how often is it that appealing goaltending options become available via trade, right?
Making trades is hard, after all. A lesson Briere learned from his former BFF Chuck Fletcher.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 