There’s never a dull moment when talking about the state of the Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltending. As the 2025 offseason approaches, one question that should be at the forefront is whether or not the front office attempts to find a solution in net?
The duo of 25-year-old Sam Ersson and 28-year-old Ivan Fedotov has had the combined worst save percentage in the NHL for the last two seasons now. The position has been in complete free fall ever since the other guy was removed from the team.
While fixing the goaltending should be atop the priority list, it’s also a catch 22. Addressing the problem with legitimacy is going to be expensive and there aren’t an overwhelming amount of great options out there this summer, and the team may not be ready to compete anyway, so it could be a steep cost for nothing.
But on the other hand, they’ll never have success if they don’t do something to improve the current Ersson/Fedotov tandem. Any other potential upgrades elsewhere don’t even matter because they’re dead in the water before they even know what hit them.
They’re stumbling into a very weak free agent class, with minimal trade candidates that seem to be jumping off the page.
Entering the 2025 offseason, there have been three notable names when it comes to the goalie rumors- Thatcher Demko, Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen and John Gibson. They’ve all got their pros and cons.
Luukkonen has the worst stats of the three, but is the youngest (26) and under contract until 2029. Plus, the theory that he could be better away from the Buffalo curse is solid as well.
Gibson, the oldest of the bunch, is about to turn 32 and only has two years left on his deal. His numbers are fine on a very bad ducks teams and (besides 2024-25) has largely remained consistent when it comes to playing 50+ games.
And Demko is the best of the three statically but has an injury history is a pending unrestricted free agent next summer.
The interest in Demko would thoroughly depend on what Vancouver would be looking for in a trade. There’s always a playoff team that is looking for a goalie, so it’s not like the Flyers could swoop in and pick this guy up cheap enough where the risk is low enough not to worry.
The big problem with giving up the farm for Demko, or any of these guys, is that if they deal Sam Ersson, which would probably have to be the case, and Demko goes on to miss a bunch of time with injury and Fedotov is left to fend for himself, their season is over before it even began.
They can’t make a huge trade or financial commitment to a guy that may not be a solution at all… But if they choose not to add an outside goalie, they’re just as screwed with Ersson and Fedotov anyway.
It also has not been made any clearer as to whether or not Aleksei Kolosov comes back. He’s under contract, so he should be here, but he’s been pretty against the whole North American thing since day one, and after his dreadful performance on the ice at both the NHL and AHL level last season, it doesn’t really matter if he’s here or not anyway.
If Kolosov for whatever reason doesn’t come back, they at least need to add a third stringer now that Cal Petersen is gone. That leaves Carson Bjarnason to take over in the AHL, but the 20-year-old won’t be ready for NHL action any time soon.
Both Ersson and Fedotov are entering the last year of their respective contracts, so the Flyers will have an opportunity to undergo a full makeover next summer if they so choose. But can Danny Briere and the front office wait that long? Harken back to Ron Hextall’s tenure as GM for a moment. His ultimate downfall from a roster perspective was running it back with the injury-riddled, sub-par duo of Michal Neuvirth and Brian Elliott that was, predictably, a disaster and it cost him his job.
Will Briere fall to the same fate if he enters the season with Ersson and Fedotov again and they remain at the bottom of the league? It may not make perfect sense, it may not be easy or cheap, but their backs are against the wall here. Screw this decision up and it could be the last mistake Briere makes before he finds himself at the unemployment line.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: Getty Images
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