The Philadelphia Flyers have a good problem in net. There are not only two very productive goaltenders on the team, there are a few more in the organization. Some organizations struggle to even find two. While Carter Hart was already established for the Flyers, there has been this inner competition between others like Samuel Ersson, Felix Sandstrom, and the assumption that Ivan Fedotov will come overseas and fight for a spot.
This season has not only shown that Ersson is being groomed as the future in Philadelphia, he has already taken nearly half the starts from Hart. This should make it easier for the Flyers to make a decision on Hart moving forward. While the team wasn’t good last season, that is a completely different story this season as they are in second place in their division past the halfway point in the season. The Flyers work hard for John Tortorella, which helps the goaltenders, but both have been strong, especially the rookie Ersson.
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The Flyers are proving they are for real, even if they get worse over the course of the rest of the season. This might change their rebuilding plans that Danny Briere had for them, but might not change the fact that Hart’s name will still be out there in trade talks this summer at the very least.
Ersson Proving Himself
Hart is in the last year of his contract, but he is a RFA. His cap hit is surely going to rise on his next deal from $3.979 million AAV no matter what. While the Flyers can arguably run with the same tandem next season, there is also this thought that this season is a flash in the pan. The team works hard, there’s no denying that, but they aren’t the most talented group. That will take some time and for some young players to develop and help them get there.
No matter how it went this season, nobody expected Ersson to play as big of a role as he has. While Hart has started 24 games, Ersson has started 19. Hart was the starter going into the season, so for Ersson to nearly catch up in games means he’s doing something right and the Flyers want to see more to properly evaluate their options in the future.
Ersson has allowed just three goals in the past three games, but has played 11 of the team’s past 18 games. He has seven wins and two shutouts in that span. Hart has just three wins in eight games over the team’s past 18 games, even though he came in to finish off a win against the Vancouver Canucks. This isn’t to say that Hart should be taken over, but it is leading to that point. With Hart being an RFA with other options to play behind Ersson moving forward after this season, the Flyers could get a nice return. I don’t see a long-term deal being struck between the Flyers and Hart, so it’s either move forward with Ersson or agree on a short-term contract with Hart to see how far the combo can take the team.
