The Flyers have a major goalie problem (again) and there’s no ready-made fix out there in free agency

The Flyers don’t have the pieces required to be a genuine Stanley Cup contender and are probably best served not making the playoffs at this stage in their rebuild.

The Flyers would have been a playoff team last year and would have been in and around the playoff bubble again this season with better goaltending.

Both statements point to the elephant in the room: The Flyers’ biggest problem isn’t landing a No. 1 center. At least in the short term, it’s the absence of anyone resembling a No. 1 goalie.

Sure, the Flyers need a top-line pivot to pair with budding superstar Matvei Michkov — and likely will snag one with this year’s top draft pick — but first and foremost, they need someone to stop the puck at the other end of the ice.

» READ MORE: Flyers prospect Alex Bump has become a star at Western Michigan. The former fifth-rounder might prove to be ‘an absolute steal.’

Don’t believe me? The Flyers rank dead last among the NHL’s 32 teams in team save percentage (.878) this season and were second-to-last in 2023-24 at .889. Average goaltending last season (a .903 save percentage) would have seen them comfortably in the playoffs, and before the sell-off at the trade deadline, a lot closer to the cut line this season.

Over the last two seasons, John Tortorella wore himself hoarse with sayings like “we need a save” or “enough is enough with the goaltending.”

Here’s a look at where the Flyers stand between the pipes and how they could potentially address the problem position going forward.

Goalie problems are nothing new for an organization that has specialized in them and can boast only a handful of really good ones since Bernie Parent backstopped the Orange and Black to back-to-back Stanley Cups 50 years ago.

There was Pelle Lindbergh, who died in a car accident at 26 just as he was hitting his prime. Then Ron Hextall, who was really good for a large part of the ‘80s and ‘90s but never quite fulfilled the expectations set by his hardware-filled rookie season in 1987. Add some fleeting moments of brilliance from Roman Čechmánek at the turn of the century, and again from Steve Mason from 2013-17, and that’s about the extent of the list.

How “humongous big” have the Flyers’ goalie travails been? They haven’t had a goalie make an All-Star team or finish in the top five of Vezina Trophy voting since Čechmánek in 2001. It doesn’t look as if that streak is nearing its end, either. Did I mention the Flyers once fumbled away two-time Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky?

» READ MORE: Flyers goaltender Aleksei Kolosov starts Wednesday vs. Rangers

Drafting Carter Hart in 2016 was supposed to signal the end of years of ineptitude in the Flyers’ crease. But after six mostly promising seasons on the ice, Hart was one of five professional hockey players charged with sexual assault in February 2024 in connection to an alleged 2018 sexual assault in London, Ontario.

With Hart out of the picture, the Flyers have had to turn to Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov over the last 14 months. The results, as evidenced by the team’s .867 save percentage since Hart’s departure, have been largely disastrous.

Ersson (.881), Fedotov (.881), and Kolosov (.867) own three of the four worst save percentages in the league among the 65 goalies to play at least 15 games this season. Kolosov, who surrendered five goals on 29 shots Wednesday in a win over the New York Rangers, ranks last in the league in save percentage.

The under-the-hood numbers aren’t any better as Ersson, Fedotov, and Kolosov have combined for the league’s worst five-on-five save percentage above expected on unblocked shots (-1.51%), as well as the lowest goals saved above expected mark (-38.5 goals), according to MoneyPuck. Among goalies who have played at least 15 games, Ersson ranks last in this metric (-21.8 goals), while Fedotov ranks 61st (-11.1), and Kolosov 51st (-5.6).

The Flyers rank third in the NHL in surrendering low-danger goals with 57, according to Natural Stat Trick. Think back to the countless times this season when one of the goalies has allowed a squeaker at the most inopportune time. Those types of goals are so often backbreakers, especially for teams like the Flyers who already have such a fine margin for error.

Although all three netminders are under contract with the Flyers for next season and the team has two solid prospects coming down the line in Carson Bjarnason and Egor Zavragin, changes seem inevitable.

Ersson’s numbers are bad overall, but in his defense, he has had multiple stretches when he has shown he can be a solid NHL goalie. The issue is that it seems the best-case scenario for him might be as a No. 2 in a tandem. Tortorella, usually one of the Swede’s biggest backers, acknowledged as much in March.

“We’re not going to ask Sam to play 55, 60 games if he’s the guy,” the former Flyers coach said. “I think it’s going to be a tandem. We’re still evaluating. He’s been inconsistent.”

This is the second straight season in which Ersson, 25, has crumbled under a heavy workload necessitated by the lack of a steady backup. But the Flyers remain high on his makeup and he’ll likely be back as one of the team’s two primary goalies next season.

» READ MORE: John Tortorella changes tune on goalie Sam Ersson: ‘As we move forward, we’re hoping it’s going to be a tandem’

“Yes, we believe in him. We think there’s something there,” general manager Danny Brière said of Ersson in January. “He’s a gamer. ... He doesn’t get affected by a bad goal or a bad game. He comes back strong. I love that trait, that character that he has, that chip on his shoulder.”

Fedotov and Kolosov’s futures are far less certain. The former, who is signed for one more year at a $3.275 million salary-cap hit, has not done enough yet to show he can be a serviceable NHL backup. Meanwhile, Kolosov has all but refused to play in the minors and believes he should be handed a full-time NHL gig.

The Flyers figure to try and bring in a proven veteran to pair with Ersson, which likely will spell the end for one or even both of the Kontinental Hockey League-trained goalies. Given that Fedotov won’t have many NHL takers with his contract, there’s a good chance he could be dropped to No. 3 in the pecking order and stashed with Lehigh Valley like Cal Petersen has been.

Unless things change dramatically, Kolosov seems most likely to go, as he doesn’t want to play in the minors and seems hell-bent on returning to Belarus. His act has grown tired, and based on Brière’s “it’s not ideal” comments in March, all signs point to him being sent home or traded, even if his value is minuscule at this point. The Flyers can’t afford to let another Cutter Gauthier-type situation linger, either, especially given the precedent they are setting by seemingly letting Kolosov dictate where he plays.

The bad news is that the free-agent market is extremely thin when it comes to goaltenders this year. Carolina’s Frederik Andersen is the most accomplished unrestricted free agent netminder available, but the 35-year-old has barely played the last three seasons due to a litany of injuries. That would all but rule him out for the Flyers given their concerns about Ersson managing a heavy workload. That leaves a potential reclamation project in Ilya Samsonov, and career backups Jake Allen, Vitek Vaněček, and former Flyer Alex Lyon as the best of the rest.

In terms of restricted free agents, 24-year-old Lukáš Dostál (.903 career SV%), would be an intriguing albeit costly offer sheet candidate — Anaheim would almost certainly match anyway given that John Gibson isn’t part of its future. St. Louis’ Joel Hofer (.908 career SV%), who turns 25 this summer, would be an easier offer sheet to stomach as the draft compensation would likely be only a second-rounder. Buffalo’s Devon Levi, 23, is another restricted free agent with pedigree, but the Flyers would probably prefer someone with more NHL experience.

Speaking of trade candidates, Gibson, who has two years remaining at a $6.4 million cap hit, would represent a massive upgrade for the Flyers and serve as a good bridge option until Bjarnason and Zavragin are ready. The soon-to-be 32-year-old is having a great season (.912 SV%) but comes with his own durability concerns. Gibson also wants out of Anaheim to compete for a Cup, so the rebuilding project in Philadelphia would seem an unlikely fit.

Thatcher Demko, 29, is the other big name to watch. The Vezina Trophy runner-up last season, Demko has missed most of this season with a chronic lower-body injury that has plagued him since before the 2024 playoffs. Presumably concerned with Demko’s long-term availability, Vancouver recently signed Kevin Lankinen to a five-year, $22.5 million contract. A top goalie when healthy, Demko would come with some risk, but with one year left at a manageable $5 million, he’d be the kind of trade candidate the Flyers could gamble on if all the medicals check out.

I’ll throw Sam Montembeault in as a wild card given that the Canadians have two talented young goaltenders rising in Jakub Dobeš and Jacob Fowler. Montembeault, who will turn 29 early next season, has consistently flirted around .900 in terms of save percentage, but look a little closer and there is a lot to like.

Canada’s third goalie at the 4 Nations Face-Off, Montembeault ranks fifth in the NHL in goals saved above expected (20.5) and wins above replacement (3.41), trailing only Vezina candidates Connor Hellebuyck, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Logan Thompson, and Darcy Kuemper. He’s been excellent lately during Montreal’s playoff push and the odds are he stays put this offseason.

Elvis Merzļikins, Joonas Korpisalo, Connor Ingram, and Petr Mrázek are other cheaper trade options that fall lower down on the totem pole.

While the options are limited, the Flyers have to do something this offseason to address their goaltending. If not, Michkov and the young players’ progress won’t matter if the Flyers are constantly digging the puck out of their net.