Is it too Early for the Flyers to Start to Re-Evaluate Their Options in Net?

HERE WE GO AGAIN….Well, folks, I know we are only a couple of games into the season, but with the Flyers giving up a combined 16 GOALS in the last three games, it appears once again that Philadelphia may have a problem in net.

For far too long now, the Philadelphia Flyers have been without a franchise goaltender. To the point that I would say the last real one they had was Ron Hextall, and he last played for the Orange and Black in the 1998-1999 season. That’s 25 years ago! So, to say that the Flyers have struggled to find Hexy’s replacement would be an understatement, especially when you factor in that they have started a total of 33 goaltenders since that time.

Still, that’s not to say that they didn’t have at least one goalie during that time that could have turned out to be “The Guy.” I mean, they convinced Sergei Bobrovsky to come over from Russia when he was just 22 years old. But they, of course, managed to piss him off by signing Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year deal worth an unheard-of $51 million that forced Bob out of town. Where since then, he only managed to win a Stanley Cup and a couple of Vezina Trophies. Not to mention the fact that he should quickly move into the top ten in all-time wins this season, considering that he is currently sitting at 398 career victories.

But, enough about the past, let us talk about the present. Now, I don’t have a problem with the young Sam Ersson. In fact, I commend him for stepping up last season after the sudden departure of Carter Hart. And for his efforts already this season where he managed to start back right where he left off by making some huge stops, especially in the first period of the first game this season while the Flyers were still trying to get their skates under them. The question is, do you think he is the long-term answer in net? I would say NO! While I do believe he is serviceable for the time being, I’m not ready to turn the net over to him for the next ten years.

We will save that discussion for another day, though, because in my mind, the more immediate question that needs to be answered is what the team should do with the colossal netminder Ivan Fedotov. After most of us gave up on the idea that this 6’7 goalkeeper (whom the team drafted way back in 2015) would ever come over and join this team, he finally did at the end of last season. And the scary thing is that after having him start in just three games (and winning none of them) for the team last season the Flyers felt confident enough to ink him this summer to a two-year $6.5 million deal. Despite Ivan averaging a horrendous 4.95 goals against average and an abysmal .811 save percentage in those three games.

Now, before you come to his defense, let me remind you that Ivan is no kid. He is a 27-year-old man who, previous to joining the Flyers, has played in a part of seven seasons in Russia’s top professional league, the KHL. Where he won both their league championship and their version of the Vezina Trophy after being voted the league’s top-rated goaltender. And, in my defense, I’ve been advocating for some time now that it may take Fedotov some time to get use to the smaller/faster North American-style ice surface. But I have to say that he’s had a whole off-season and multiple preseason games to do that, so by now, a goaltender with his championship pedigree should have figured it out.

But instead, here we are once again talking about the Flyers having goaltending issues. This of course, is being made apparent after Ivan has now started in two games this season, and he is averaging an embarrassing 6.09 goals against average and a .818 save percentage.

I’ve played the goaltending position for over 30 years now, and I have coached the position as well. And to me, Fedotov, who previously relied heavily on his enormous size to help him in net, cannot seem to react fast enough to the speed and overall talent that he is now facing in the NHL. And because of that, he has been unable to stop simple shots coming in from the point and is having trouble controlling very manageable rebounds. I don’t know why this would come as such a surprise to some, considering the KHL is widely overrated. Case in point: last season, one of the KHL’s top five scorers was 32-year-old Jordan Weal—a guy who never amounted to much more than a call-up option during his time with the Flyers.

So, now looking back, Fedotov (despite his age and prior accomplishments) probably should have been made to prove himself in the AHL first before being given millions of dollars and being gifted a free pass to play in the NHL, all because the Flyers had a glaring hole in the blue paint with Carter Hart not returning.

Still think I’m crazy? Well, I urge you to browse both the Daily Faceoff and Bleacher Report articles provided below that rank each NHL team’s Goaltender Tandems prior to this season. You will see that they ranked the Flyers dead last in one and 31st in the other.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10138840-power-ranking-every-nhl-teams-goalie-tandem-for-2024-25

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-all-32-nhl-goalie-tandems-for-2024-25

Ready yet to admit the Flyers might have jumped the gun a little bit when they signed the three-game NHL veteran to such a lucrative deal? I thought so.

Let’s look at their other options if Fedotov continues his downward spiral. Well, you can forget about Cal Petersen and the $5 million salary cap hit he carries if he rejoins the Flyers in the NHL. They don’t have the cap space nor the need for another floundering goalie. They did sign former Shark’s netminder Eetu Makiniemi to a deal out of training camp, but let’s be honest, he was brought in just in case their 22-year-old goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov decided not to return to play in the AHL.

So, let’s talk about him for a moment. Alexei was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and since then has been making quite the name for himself playing in parts of the last four seasons in the KHL. In fact, he became a gamer, a guy the Dinamo Minsk were able to count on to log a lot of minutes in net. But I don’t think he expected Fedotov to sign as well, hence why he was so willing to openly voice his displeasure on how he thinks the organization treated him when he first came over last season before the Phantoms’ playoff run.

We’re not going to dive into all that drama, though. Instead, I’ll just state that I think Kolosov needs to play as many games as possible. He is still developing and, therefore, needs the brunt of the workload that is going to be given to him at the AHL level. However, they might not have much of a choice if Fedotov continues to struggle. If that is indeed the case I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Kolosov’s name being put on the call-up list, for he did play pretty solid in the few preseason games that he managed to show up for.

How will this all play out? Well, we will just have to wait and see. All I know is the Flyers won’t likely want to do anything too drastic, seeing the team just utilized a 2nd and a 3rd round pick on goalies Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin in 2023, and both are developing fast.