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  • Sam Ersson is the goalie the Flyers ‘want to play in front of’

    Sam Ersson is the goalie the Flyers ‘want to play in front of’

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    Sam Ersson’s career so far has been trial by fire, as much as the Flyers have tried to avoid that. 

    Last season, he was the only goalie head coach John Tortorella could reliably keep calling on, because Carter Hart was gone to face sexual assault charges, and the next options behind him just couldn’t keep up. 

    But Ersson kept answering the call, trying to keep the Flyers alive in the playoff race, even when he was completely exhausted, and Tortorella knew as much. 

    And this season, he’s right back in net doing it all again, trying to backstop the Flyers through their early struggles. 

    On Tuesday night in Boston, the 25-year old netminder made 25 saves to help push the Flyers to a 2-0 shutout of the Bruins. Then on Thursday night, coming back home to South Philly and the Wells Fargo Center to face St. Louis, he stopped 20 of 21 Blues shots to get his team to two straight wins for the first time this year. 

    The Flyers have been playing with much better, more defensive-minded structure over the past couple of games in the way of tight checking and plenty of blocked shots, but Ersson has given them the extra security to try and re-establish that until they could finally start seeing some results.

    His numbers don’t look considerably pretty at face value – an .897 save percentage and a 2.72 goals-against average through seven starts – but make no mistake, he’s been huge for them. 

    “You know he’s going to show up for every game,” defenseman Nick Seeler said of Ersson after Thursday night’s 2-1 win over the Blues. “And that he’s gonna make some huge saves for us and keep us in every game. That’s a goalie you want to play in front of.”

    And a goalie that can make life just a bit easier, even when other things aren’t going right. 

    The Flyers have their issues right now. Defensive play is starting to turn around, but steady goal scoring has been tough to come by, and the backup goalie situation is an open book, with Aleksei Kolosov getting the current shot at it after Ivan Fedotov stumbled out of the gate. 

    Ersson, in his first year knowing he was going to be the No. 1 goaltender, has been one of the few consistencies so far, and maybe the most valuable one of all for the Flyers…

    Because already, Tortorella has been back to calling his number again and again. 

    And again and again, he’s been giving the Flyers at least a chance.

    “We’re gonna try to do it the right way with him here in a long season,” Tortorella said postgame Thursday, calling back to last year’s overuse of Ersson. “But I think from camp on, I think he has played really well.” 

    The upcoming schedule through November is working in the Flyers’ favor a bit in that respect. There won’t be any back-to-backs until the end of month, which will offer a few breathers, though granted, they still do need to find out about their backup situation along the way as well. 

    “But I’m not afraid to ride him,” Tortorella continued about Ersson. “It just depends on how much action he’s getting in the games. A lot of things come into play as we go from game to game.” 

    Ersson is still ready to answer the call though, and arguably better equipped to do so now than he was last year amidst the Flyers’ seemingly endless run of goaltending chaos. 

    He’ll go in, and he’ll give them a chance. 

    “I think for me, it’s kind of finding a way, knowing I gotta shut out – like, take my mind off things when I’m away from the rink to kind of rest up mentally,” Ersson said from the Flyers’ locker room after Thursday’s win of his readiness to take on more starts. “It’s a long season, you know? So I know it’s gonna have its ups and downs. It’s gonna be tough sometimes. You just kind of gotta find a way to run through it.”

    Bobby Brink scored to give the Flyers the lead back late in the third period on Thursday night, but they were hardly in the clear.

    The final seconds were ticking down. The Blues had the puck down in the Philadelphia zone. The extra attacker was out for St. Louis, and they were pressing to tie it.

    Blues defenseman Justin Faulk, with space up top, slid a pass through to Brayden Schenn, who had a clean look at the net after four Flyers got caught looking at the puck and drifted too far toward it. 

    Schenn redirected a tip straight to the net as soon as the pass hit his stick blade, but Ersson stayed square with the puck and absorbed it into his pads as skaters in either jersey piled up into the crease scrambling after it. 

    He held on long enough for the whistle, and soon after, so did the Flyers for the win. 

    “I kind of picked it up at the last second there,” Ersson said. “I think the puck maybe almost went through, but [Travis Sanheim] came in there behind me, so that’s the small details to kind of give us results.”

    “I mean, we’re force-feeding him,” Tortorella said of Ersson’s overall career trajectory. “He’s not supposed to be in this position right now in his career. We were supposed to develop him, so a lot of things are coming at him pretty quickly.”

    But he keeps answering the call.

    MORE: Matvei Michkov got benched for the first time, but it’s not the end of the world

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    Nick Tricome

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  • Flyers 2024-25 Season Preview: Defense – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    Flyers 2024-25 Season Preview: Defense – Philadelphia Sports Nation

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    Apr 16, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim (6) blocks a shot attempt against the Washington Capitals during the first period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

    Previously, we determined that the Flyers have a big question mark in the net this season, albeit with a side of hope and upside.

    Let’s look at the Flyers Defensive pairings as we head towards training camp.

    The Top Billing

    The expected top pairing of Travis Sanheim and Cam York needs no introduction.

    Travis Sanheim

    Sanheim inked a long-term deal with the Flyers in 2022, and he carries a $6.25MM cap hit through the 2031 season.   In 81 games last year, Sanheim netted 10 goals and 44 points, along with a -20 plus/minus.  With Sanheim assuming the proverbial #1 Defenseman mantle last year, he had a solid jump from 23 points in 81 games the prior year.

    Sanheim’s ice time was up nearly 3 minutes per game; however, he had the same time on ice in 2021-22 when he posted 13 fewer points in 80 games.  Therefore, his additional production is not simply the added ice time.  Sanheim showed poise and character last year, playing with a chip on his shoulder but ready to prove the Flyers were right not to have traded him before his No Trade Clause kicked in.

    Cam York

    York, the Flyers’ first-round Pick (#14 overall in 2019), is entering his fourth full year. He has seen his games and point totals increase yearly with the Flyers. Last year, York netted 10 goals and 20 assists in all 82 games and had a -14 plus/minus. York, who is in the final year of his contract ($1.6MM per year), will be a restricted free agent at the end of the year.

    York averaged 23 minutes under Tortorella last year, so it’s unlikely that he will significantly increase his ice time this year. York will look to do more with his play when he is out there.

    What’s on Second?

    Jamie Drysdale & Nick Seeler

    Justin Giampietro of the Hockey Writers likes Nick Seeler and Jamie Drysdale’s numbers last year. The pair posted some good numbers in their 104 minutes of even-strength time together.

    Jamie Drysdale

    Drysdale was a somewhat shocking pick-up in January last year, having been acquired in exchange for heralded prospect Cutter Gauthier.  It was shocking that Gauthier decided he would not play for the Flyers, so they tried to find a win-win deal.

    Drysdale enters the year on the second of his three-year ELC, carrying a $2.3MM cap hit.  The former #6 overall pick by the Ducks in 2020 played in 24 games with the Flyers last year, where he posted 2 goals and 3 assists for 5 points, a -18 plus/minus to go along with 18:48 in average ice time.  Unfortunately, that’s not a stellar stat line for a #1 pick.

    Before joining the Flyers, Drysdale had a goal and 4 assists in 10 games.  Drysdale will look to continue to try and gel with the team.  I would expect Drysdale’s ice time and comfort level to pick up this year, and the production should follow.

    Nick Seeler

    Seeler signed a Four-Year Contract Extension with the Flyers back in March, carrying a $2.7MM cap hit.  In 71 games with the Flyers last year, Seeler put up 1 Goal and 12 assists and was a plus 9.  We’ll give Seeler some credit for being a plus on the ice, averaging 16.57 minutes each night on this team.  In addition, he blocked an incredible 205 shots last year, along with 161 blocked shots the previous year.  Seeler, as the ‘Who’ famously said, gets his back into his living.  Moreover, Seeler is a good teammate and gives his effort every shift.

    The 3rd & the 7th

    Rasmus Ristolainen, Egor Zamula, Erik Johnson, Adam Ginning, Emil Andre, Ronnie Attard

    Rasmus Ristolainen

    Ristolainen may be feeling the heat.  Acquired in 2021, which cost the Flyers Robert Hagg, a 2021 1st and 2023 2nd round pick to acquire, Ristolainen, at 6’4, 221 lbs., perhaps was becoming a very popular trade candidate before injury last year.  Having now played three seasons in the orange and black, he averaged 18 points with the Flyers before last year’s season, putting up only 4 points in 31 games.

    Ristolainen, a former 40-point-a-season defenseman in his earlier career with Buffalo, albeit under a different playing style and ice time.  If Ristolainen can form a shut-down third pair, it would significantly improve the Flyers’ chances overall.  With a $5.1MM cap hit in year 3 of 5 of his contract, he no longer puts up the offensive numbers to justify that cap hit.  ‘Risto’ blocked 187 shots over the last two years to go along with 218 hits over that same period.  The problem with hoping he develops into a shut-down defenseman is that ‘Risto’ has never had a season where he ended up on the positive side of the plus/minus category.

    Egor Zamula

    Zamula, an RFA to begin the summer, signed a new 2-year contract this summer.  Zamula is coming off a 66-game campaign with 5 goals and 21 points in 16 minutes of average ice time.  Zamula will get an opportunity to grow on his campaign, especially following a new contract.

    It’s expected that he’ll slot in as the #6 defenseman at the moment and be given a chance to see what he can do for his next act.

    Erik Johnson

    Acquired by the Flyers in March of last year for a 2024 4th-round pick, he posted 3 points and a -9 plus/minus in 17 games for the Flyers last year.  The former 1st overall selection, Johnson began his career with the St. Louis Blues back in 2007 and had 987 games and 343 points in his 16-year career.

    Johnson signed a 1-year contract with the Flyers when free agency opened on July 1st and is ‘open for any role.’

    “My days of 25, 26 minutes at night are behind me,” Johnson said after signing. “I know that, and I’m comfortable with it.”  Jonnson reiterated to the Flyers brass that he was committed to the team: “I told them I’d be open for any role. I’m here to help these guys on and off the ice. Whether it’s 20, 30, 40, 50 games, or whatever it is, I’m here for them, and I’m here for the Flyers, and whatever they’re going to ask of me, I’m going to do.”

    “I remember being really influenced by great veterans in St. Louis, Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight, Paul Kariya, and then in Colorado, I had Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk,” Johnson said. “All those guys were at the tail end of their careers, but they really offered a lot of things off the ice that I still carry with me today.”

    The Flyers hope his experience, attitude, and leadership will permeate the organization and help the younger kids develop. Johnson, for his part, appears to love the Flyers’ leadership team and the ‘great group.’

    Adam Ginning

    Ginning just signed a two-year extension with the Flyers in June, with an average annual value of $787.5K. In stark contrast to Erik Johnson’s experience and pedigree, Ginning has played 10 NHL games to date, 9 of which came last year. He scored a goal for his only NHL point in his early career.

    While a small sample size, Ginning is an even player in the plus/minus category in his 10 games.  In his AHL career, he averaged 17 points, and in his first pro year, he was a plus 24.  The Flyers will likely give Ginning a look in camp to show he can lock down a regular spot, but with the log jam in front of him, he’ll likely be the first emergency call-up on D.

    Emil Andrae

    Emil, 22, played four games with the Flyers last year. For the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, he scored 5 goals, 27 points, and a -10 plus/minus in the regular season.

    Andrae will likely be given one of the first call-up opportunities should any fill-ins be required at the NHL level.

    Ronnie Attard

    Attard is another prospect who will get a look during the season. He has played a total of 19 games for the Flyers over parts of three seasons. Last year in the AHL, he had 10 goals, 27 points, and a +4 plus/minus in 48 games for the Phantoms. The prior year, he posted 12 goals and 32 points in 68 games for the Phantoms.

    Summary

    The Flyers’ top 7 Defensemen seem fairly set going into the season, with Erik Johnson being on the record as being comfortable in any role that is needed.

    Sanheim and York look to lead the Flyers on the back end, a group with much to play for.

    Ristolainen finds himself in a numbers game with a big contract for declining production.  There were rumors he was a candidate to be moved last year and we’ll see if that is the case this year as well.

    Seeler is looking to make good on his new 4-year deal.

    Zamula is looking to return the Flyers’ faith in his new deal.

    Drysdale will likely be happy for some stability, having joined the team in the middle of last year and looking to prove that the Flyers made the right call.

    The group is all there from #1-7.
    The big question is, can they fit the pieces together to get a little more out of the whole?

    PHOTO: Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports

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    JR Martin

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  • Flyers thoughts: Danny Brière kept the trade deadline focus on the future

    Flyers thoughts: Danny Brière kept the trade deadline focus on the future

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    The Flyers are still fully focused on the future, and while the trade deadline did yield some solid assets for tomorrow, they did go and make a couple of relatively low-cost moves that could still stand to help the team that is in a playoff position currently.

    That the Flyers are even in this current spot to begin with is a good sign and well beyond the expectations that general manager Danny Brière had for them going in. 

    Still, what’s happening now is a far way from where they really want to be: An annual Stanley Cup contender, not just an inconsistent group that’s on the playoff bubble one year and out of it the next.

    “It’s all coming together,” Brière said Friday after the 3 p.m. ET trade deadline passed. “But it doesn’t change at the end of the day what we’re trying to do and having an outlook toward the future. Making sure that it’s sustainable for years to come and not just one year.”

    So here’s a look at the Flyers’ final deadline haul:

    Flyers Get Flyers Send 
      To Colorado: 
    2025 1st-rounder  D Sean Walker 
    F Ryan Johansen  2026 5th-rounder 
      To Vegas: 
    2024 5th-rounder  D Noah Hanifin
    (via CGY) 
      To Nashville: 
    F Denis Gurianov  F Wade Allison 
      To Buffalo: 
    D Erik Johnson  2024 4th-rounder 

    And some analysis going deal by deal…

    D Sean Walker

    Traded to Colorado with a 2026 5th for 2025 1st and F Ryan Johansen

    One of this season’s biggest, and pleasant, surprises was how Walker went from a salary dump the Flyers were taking on in the summer as part of the three-team deal to get Ivan Provorov out of Philadelphia to one of their best defensemen. 

    He formed an incredibly solid middle-pairing with Nick Seeler, which at one point was one of the most dependable in the league, but it always seemed inevitable that at some point the Flyers were going to have to pick between one or the other, with Walker always seeming the most likely to go. 

    And that’s exactly what happened. 

    Bringing a consistent two-way game but on an expiring contract, there was a match for Walker with the Cup-contending Avalanche, who were willing to put a first-rounder – albeit for a year from now – on the table. And Brière, head coach John Tortorella, and the whole Flyers front office have consistently maintained that this is still very much a rebuild despite the team’s current playoff standing. They had to take that. 

    Now, they did have to take that while absorbing Ryan Johansen, too, who just doesn’t seem to be in the plans at all. 

    He was put on waivers and sent to the Phantoms down in the AHL as soon as he cleared. Brière said on Thursday that the Flyers were looking for an opening to send him elsewhere, but nothing came of it. 

    So for now, he’s been asked to report to Lehigh Valley. 

    “Things change fast in hockey,” Brière said Friday, adding that there were a few teams interested, and with the Flyers willing to retain on his $4 million salary, but not enough to make a deal. 

    “You never know,” the Flyers GM continued. “Hopefully for him, he can get it going in Lehigh Valley and we’ll see where it goes. I really don’t know what the next step will be for him.”

    Which is an odd spot for a center who a key part to some good Nashville teams not all that long ago to be in, for the Flyers to some extent too.

    Granted, the first-rounder was the real prize for the Flyers here and they got it. Johansen’s situation can be figured out later.

    D Nick Seeler

    Signed to a four-year, $10.8 million contract extension

    And as Walker was on his way out, the Flyers came to terms with Seeler, which had been brewing in the background for a bit. 

    Seeler got to Philadelphia for the 2021-22 season, but his game only really started taking off last year under Tortorella and associate coach Brad Shaw, then soared to a career-best output this season at a plus-15 rating and an average of 16:58 of ice time. His 12 points on the year (1 goal, 11 assists) are also just two more shy of matching his current career-high from last season. 

    He’s also been a shot-blocking machine, which is a gift in that it takes away a lot of opponents’ open lanes but at the same time a curse in that those shots do hurt, and the one he took against St. Louis Monday night will have him sidelined for a bit. 

    Still, he’s come a long way on the ice and has been huge in helping establish a new culture for the Flyers off of it.

    He’s 30 going on 31, sure, but the term is relatively reasonable and the Flyers believe there’s a lot more he can do in shaping the direction of the team. 

    “Nick really was adamant that he wanted to stay, didn’t want to go anywhere else,” Brière said Thursday. “I think it’s a deal both sides are happy and excited about. He’s the type of player we say he’s a Flyer. He’s really a Flyer.”

    D Noah Hanifin

    Transfer team to trade Hanifin from Calgary for a 2024 5th

    The Flyers snuck their way into this one and nabbed an extra fifth-rounder. 

    Vegas got their guy, Calgary got their return, and the Flyers were able to walk away with one more to give themselves 9-10 draft picks this summer. 

    They’re going to be busy in June, for sure.

    The Flyers also traded the rights to Mikhail Vorobyev to the Flames, but the last time he suited up for them was more than four years ago. 

    He’s been playing in Russia ever since. He was not in the cards.

    F Wade Allison

    Traded to Nashville for F Denis Gurianov

    ‘Interesting’ seemed the immediate term to describe this deal, and Brière felt the same.

    The 26-year old was a former first-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2015, made a splash in the 2019-2020 season when he came up and put up 20 goals through 64 games, and then in the COVID bubble, fired home the overtime winner against Vegas that sent the Stars to the Stanley Cup Final. 

    He came storming out of the gate but gradually fell off in the years that followed, which went on to see him get lost in the shuffle in Dallas, move on to Montreal, then go on to Nashville for this season where he spent most of his playing time in the AHL. 

    That skill is still there, as he did put up 12 goals and 30 points through 27 games for the Milwaukee Admirals, and the Flyers were willing to take a…well, flyer on him to see if he could recapture it again in the NHL. 

    “I know it’s been a little tougher for him the last couple years,” Brière said Friday. “But if he catches fire again, we’re a little thin on the left side and he brings us speed and size, so who knows where that goes.” 

    They’ll at least find out relatively quickly as they’re bringing him right on to the NHL roster ahead of Saturday’s game down in Tampa, though Tortorella will get the final say on the lineup there. 

    Still, he stands to bring at least a little depth to bottom-six and at the low-cost expense of Allison, who had intrigue within the organization for a while, but through injuries, stalled out stretches of play, and younger prospects like Tyson Foerster and Bobby Brink leap-frogging him in development, just rapidly fell out of the long-term picture.

    Both players are on expiring deals and Brière believed it was time for a change of scenery for Allison. 

    Gurianov could very well just need one, too.

    D Erik Johnson

    Acquired from Buffalo for a 2024 4th

    The Flyers’ final move before the deadline was one to bring in some veteran depth on the back end and Stanley Cup-winning experience. 

    Johnson, 35, was a fixture on the Colorado Avalanche’s blue line for years, overlapping with Brière’s final season playing in the NHL during a rebuilding process under Joe Sakic that he said influenced his post-career front office aspirations and culminated in the Avs winning it all seven years later in 2022. 

    Johnson signed a one-year deal with the Sabres in the summer and has had a rocky year for another lost season in Buffalo – posting just three assists and a minus-5 rating through 50 games and 13:48 of average ice time – and is close to the end. But whatever he has left will go toward trying to push the Flyers that are in the here and now into the playoffs while aiding the younger defensemen on the team the rest of the way. 

    He’s not going to be Sean Walker, but at the same time, the Flyers aren’t looking for him to be.

    “What we’re looking for from Erik is to bring his experience and the fact that he’s played for a long time, the fact that he’s played a lot of playoff games, the fact that he’s won a Stanley Cup, hopefully he can share a little bit of that with our young group, especially on defense right now with all the injuries,” Brière said. “It’s a pretty young group, so we’re hoping that he can share a little bit of his experience with our team.”

    The cost of a fourth might seem a bit high, granted, but remember, too, that the Flyers did quietly load up for this year’s draft.

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    Nick Tricome

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