Expectations for were always going to be high for Sam Ersson this season: he’d shown promise as a viable tandem goaltender during the 2023-24 season as the 1B to Carter Hart’s 1A. However, with Hart’s departure, Ersson faltered when thrust into the starter’s role for the remainder of that season. There’d been enough positives to have hope that he would, after a summer off to rest and prepare, bounce back and succeed in 2024-25. As we all know, the opposite happened.
Games Played Starts Wins Losses OT Losses GAA Save Percentage Shutouts Goals Saved Above Expected 47 45 22 17 5 3.14 .883 2 -22.09
Not only was Ersson’s -22.09 goals saved above expected the worst on the Flyers, it was the worst in the NHL by nearly double the next worst goaltender: Phillip Grubauer, who had a -12.66 GSAx per Evolving Hockey. Even Ivan Fedotov, bad as he was, posted a -12.03 GSAx; third worst in the league but, unbelievably, second worst on the Flyers. For even more context: Ersson’s goals saved above expected was the sixth worst by any goaltender in the last five years–just atrocious. Opposing teams were able to score from just about anywhere on the ice when he was in net.
Yikes!
The good news is that Ersson’s abysmal performance in net is not in line with the rest of his NHL play: in the 51 games during the 2023-24 season, he had a -1.9 GSAx. That’s not ideal, but it’s certainly respectable enough for a rookie goaltender. Hopefully, the 2024-25 season is nothing more than an egregious outlier, because there’s nothing positive to take from it outside of being named to Sweden’s Four Nations team.
We’d be remiss, of course, to not mention the injury that kept Ersson out of action for about a month in November and December. Groin injuries have been an issue with Ersson before, and that is what reportedly kept him out last fall as well. At 25 years old, Ersson is still young by goaltender standards, and a path still exists for him to establish himself as top dog in a tandem arrangement. However, if recurring injuries are going to limit his ability to start consistently, it’d be dangerous for the Flyers to rely on him as their best goaltender, and would likely mean relegation to a more 1B-esque role. The 2024-25 season was an opportunity for Ersson to show the Flyers that they can depend on him–especially when considering how awful Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov were as backups–and Ersson didn’t step up in the way the team needed him to.
Three Questions
Did he live up to expectations?
Not at all. This was a disappointing season from Ersson no matter how you slice it, even when accounting for injury. Save percentages were deflated league wide last season, with .900 being the lowest since the 1995-96 season when it was .898, but Ersson’s .883 is not going to cut it. He needs to be better, and maybe a coaching change (and subsequent system change) will be to his benefit next year.
What can we expect from him next season?
Ersson had a strong showing at IIHF Worlds, winning all four of his starts and finishing with a .934 SV% 1.16 GAA, outshining veteran netminder Jacob Markstrom. Sure, maybe Ersson faced some lesser competition, but that’s still solid work for a young goalie trying to stake a spot on next year’s Swedish Olympic team. If that international performance helps Ersson build some confidence, and allows him to start the summer on a high, then that can only be a boon for him in the 2025-26 season. With one year remaining on his contract, now’s the time to prove he can handle the bulk of an NHL goalie’s workload–and we still have hopes that he can get there. We have high expectations, though admittedly a tad lower than the same time last year, and hope Rick Tocchet’s system augmentations help Ersson be a better goalie.
How do we grade his 2024-25 season?
Though we can afford some grace for Ersson, given the injuries and time missed, it’s hard to call the season anything other than a failure with some of the worst goaltending numbers in the league. A netminder with designs on being a starter (or at the very least, a 1A) has to be better than that. Sorry, Sam–here’s hoping for the turnaround next year.
Grade: F
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While we’re still waiting around for a while longer for the much anticipated drop of the NHL schedule, we now have an early opportunity to begin planning out their hockey related schedule, filling out their planners, and what have you. Everyone’s autumns are beginning to come into focus. That is, the Phantoms’ 2025-26 schedule is here!
After they wrap up their slate of preseason action in the first week of October (those game dates are yet to be announced), the Phantoms will open their season with a two-game homestand, with their opener against the Belleville Senators coming on Saturday the 11th (where we might see our old pal Olle Lycksell, if he doesn’t make Ottawa’s opening night roster), and then following that up with a Sunday matinee against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, for their first meeting since the Phantoms bounced them from the postseason in the play-in round last spring. And speaking of potential revenge game situations, the Phantoms will face the Hershey Bears for the first time since their own playoff elimination later in October, with a home-and-home series on the 25th and 26th.
For those looking to see some new teams in the mix this season — as we did last season with Grand Rapids, Rockford, and Milwaukee coming to town throughout the course of the year, and the Phantoms visiting their barns out West, in turn — we’re out of luck. The out of conference trips seem to rotate from year to year, and the Phantoms are out of that rotation for this season — it’ll just be Eastern Conference teams that they face off against throughout this regular season. For the folks that can’t be bothered to do all of that counting themselves, here’s the breakdown: the Phantoms will face Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a whopping 12 times, Hershey 10 times, and then eight times for Bridgeport and Charlotte, six times for Hartford and Springfield, four times for Cleveland, Providence, and Syracuse, and finally, two times for each of Belleville, Laval, Toronto, Rochester, and Utica (got all that?). If it’s familiarity that breeds contempt, there’s ample room for that this season.
Also notable is the trend away from the three-in-three weekends. Once a real staple of the league, they’re becoming fewer and somewhat farther in between, and for the second year in a row, the Phantoms will only see five of them across the whole of the season.
We’re still a ways away from the season kicking off, but the anticipation is already building — the Phantoms certainly left some unfinished business in their early playoff exit (relative to expectations), and with the further influx of young talent, it’s bound to be a season worth tuning in for.
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The Philadelphia Flyers announced their 82-game regular season schedule Wednesday afternoon, and it is jampacked.
It’ll be the last 82-game slate for a while now that the league has approved 84 games for the 2026-27 season. But much like last year when the league stopped for the 4 Nations Face-Off, most teams will still see some bunched-up stretches now that the league is on hold for the 2026 Winter Olympics. The season will start off with a hard matchup as the Flyers face the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs Florida Panthers on Thursday, Oct. 9.
THE 2025-26 SCHEDULE IS HERE!
We’ll see you on Broad Street.#LetsGoFlyers | @Ticketmaster https://t.co/Qu8HKASCLt
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 16, 2025
Following the seven-game exhibition season, the Flyers get down to business but not on the West Coast. Unlike last year, Philadelphia opens the season a little closer to home. Meanwhile the Flyers will see their home opener Oct. 13 also against the Panthers. Carolina is the first Metropolitan division opponent Philadelphia will face, playing the Canes on the road Oct. 11 while also facing the Islanders and the Penguins at home in October.
The demands of the schedule will also be a true test of the team’s stamina as Philadelphia will play four games in six nights 24 times during the regular season. The Flyers will play three games in four nights a total of 19 times while having 14 back-to-back tilts from October through April. They’ll also have a six-game homestand in December before venturing out to the West Coast after Christmas as is customary for a four-game trek, one of three road trips during the year where they’ll play four games away from home.
Regarding February, the team is off for almost three weeks, playing their last game before the Olympic break on Feb. 5 at home against the Senators. They Flyers will resume action after the Olympics on Feb. 25 with a back-to-back road trip against Washington and the Rangers. And unlike last year where they had the end of their season ridiculously spaced out, Philadelphia will play eight games from April 2 through to April 14 when they close out the regular season at home against Montreal.
The most amount of games the Flyers will play any month is 15, happening in December, January and March. Basically, for two consecutive months they’ll be playing every other night, with December a little more condensed given the Christmas break. March is another 15-game month but given the three-week break for the Olympics, the team should be a bit more well-rested, allowing some players who might be injured time to heal up or recuperate.
As for games that should be circled on the calendar, the Flyers with former Anaheim forward Trevor Zegras will face his former team on Jan. 6 in Philadelphia. Meanwhile on Nov. 4 Matvei Michkov (barring injury or being a healthy scratch) will face Calder Trophy winner Lane Hutson and the Montreal Canadiens. And the Flyers will face Connor McDavid and the two-time Western Conference champions Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 12 at home. Finally, for late owls, the latest start time for a Flyers game is against Los Angeles with a 10:30 p.m. Eastern start time on March 19, one night after the team plays in Anaheim (that’s a 10 p.m Eastern start).
Obviously it’s still a few months away until the games count, but seeing the schedule released makes it another step closer until the puck is dropped and the 2025-26 version of the Flyers no longer is just a team on paper.
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As the dust from free agency settles, and development camp wraps up, there aren’t many things about the Flyers that are up in the air heading into preparation for the 2025-26 season.
The goaltending rotation looks set, with Samuel Ersson set to return as the tentative starter, and Dan Vladar arriving to hopefully serve as a more consistent understudy. Five spots on defense are all but secure, with Travis Sanheim, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nick Seeler, Jamie Drysdale, and a newly signed Cam York all virtually locked into the top five spots. The sixth spot will more than likely see a few different names enter the fold, whether it be one of the new guys in Noah Juulsen and Dennis Gilbert, or homegrown options in Emil Andrae and Professional Friend/Power Play quarterback Egor Zamula. Regardless, unless Andrae finally takes that crucial step forward, there really won’t be that much expected out of the final defensive spot.
The story is largely the same on forward, where the acquisitions of Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak have largely filled up the more important vacancies in the middle of the lineup, with only two spots that will realistically be up for grabs:
Nic Deslauriers and Rodrigo Abols won’t play every night, but they will likely be on the active roster, and bringing up someone earlier on in development like Jett Luchanko to play 4LW and get 12 minutes a night seems a waste, so names like Karsen Dorwart or Alex Bump seem more likely to take up that mantle when the time comes. This is largely dependent on performance when training camp comes around, so trying to project who will slide in is pretty futile, but either way, the roster as currently constructed really only leaves peripheral positions open. The only variable that may change that fact, is if Tyson Foerster’s elbow injury keeps him out for the start of the regular season.
Despite that, there are still a host of players that are going to be looking to bang down the door and make a case to become full-time Flyers as early as they can. The aforementioned Bump is seemingly in pole position after his great NCAA career, but the former Michigan State Spartan in Dorwart is obviously there too, along with even more names who are orbiting the discussion.
Alexis Gendron was a surprise bright spot throughout his first year in Lehigh Valley while scoring 20 goals, Nikita Grebenkin played NHL games last season with the Maple Leafs, and had a really impactful stretch late on in the season with the Phantoms, as well. And that is without mentioning the younger, more marquee names like Jett Luchanko and Porter Martone, who likely fancy their chances at making the breakthrough as well.
Even once those battles are settled and the roster is set, the Flyers will still have a farm team in Lehigh Valley that skews on the exceptionally young side. Let’s look at a rough template of what their lines could look like, assuming Bump sticks in the NHL, with each player’s age tagged appropriately:
Grebenkin (22) — Dorwart (22) — Gendron (21)
Barkey (20) — Gaucher (24) — Tuomaala (22)
Richard (28) — Rizzo (24) — Pederson (27)
Avon (22) — Eklind (26) — Kaplan (21)
Average age: 23.25
Andrae (23) — Grans (23)
McDonald (23) — Bonk (20)
Ginning (25) — Samson (21)
Murchison (22)
Average Age: 22.4
On both forward and defence, the Phantoms will be the youngest they’ve been in a very long time. They have a chance to ice a top six forward group where every member is under the age of 24, and a top four on D that lacks anyone over 23. Anthony “Tony Dick” Richard stands to be the oldest Phantoms skater at the decrepit, ancient age of 28, and even if the Flyers were to hand out a couple more AHL deals before the season starts, they’re still going to be relying on a very youthful outfit as a farm team.
This is where the importance of development comes into play. New Phantoms head coach John Snowden, along with his newly minted assistants in Nick Schultz and Terrence Wallin, are being brought in for one reason, and that is to develop NHL talent. Schultz, a 15-year NHL veteran, is entering his first coaching position after serving in a player development role with the Flyers for the last six seasons. Wallin comes to the Phantoms from the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, where he was the head coach and general manager. It remains to be seen how these three will fare, but it is an acknowledgement that the past system wasn’t working. The youth movement is beginning from the ground up, and it only exacerbates the importance of the upcoming 2-4 year window. The Flyers’ brass obviously believes that they can build the nucleus of a winning team from within, and then supplement things with big moves down the line.
The foundation of that future is being built in front of our eyes, let’s see if it works out.
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The Flyers’ 2024-25 season is well and truly wrapped up, but before we shift all of our focus to the next one, we’ll take some time to relive some of the highlights of a long and strange last season.
The Flyers scored 232 goals all season. Some of them were empty net goals, some of them bounced off shin pads, skates or other padding. A few bounced off the opposing goaltenders and in. Yet some of them were the result of just nifty passing and fantastic finishing. Here are five of the better goals the Flyers scored throughout the 2024-25 season. Here’s hoping there’s much more to choose from in 2025-26.
5) Matvei Michkov versus Boston (December 7, 2024)
Matvei Michkov stuck in the craw of the Boston Bruins more than a few times this season. From some Bruins arguing he was diving when they’d knock him over to simply stinging them with his goal scoring, Michkov showed he could be a thorn in the side of a lot of teams moving forward. Late in the first period, after already scoring earlier in the frame to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead, the Flyers got the puck deep into Boston’s end. A clearing attempt appeared to hit off a referee and slowed it down for a rushing Travis Sanheim. Sanheim made a fantastic cross ice pass between a few Bruins that landed perfectly on Michkov’s stick. And Michkov made no mistake putting it home.
It was the type of goal that might not have been available to the Flyers before Michkov arrived. The fact it was not just possible but doable now is a good thing for Philadelphia.
4) Owen Tippett versus Detroit (December 18, 2024)
It wasn’t as classic as his spinarama move against Dallas, but it wasn’t bad either. With the Flyers down a goal in the third, Jamie Drysdale left the puck for Scott Laughton to pick up behind his own net. The former Flyer made a crisp pass to Tippett around center ice. Tippett did the rest of the work, innocently skating into the zone before making Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry look rather old and foolish (we know he’s one of those) with a quick move that Petry couldn’t handle.
Tippett wasn’t done yet. While beating Petry, the winger managed to stickhandle his way around Red Wings goaltender (and former Flyer) Alex Lyon, moving the puck backwards away from his stick to bury the puck behind him shortly thereafter. The goal with its nifty toe drag was pretty, although it didn’t help the Flyers as they eventually lost to Detroit 6-4.
3) Nick Seeler versus San Jose (December 31, 2024)
If Nick Seeler promised himself to start the calendar year of 2024 that he would score a pretty goal he certainly waited til the last minute. During Philadelphia’s routine post-Christmas West Coast swing, the Flyers closed out 2024 with a game in San Jose. About six minutes in, the Flyers were winning puck battles in the Sharks zone. A pass around the boards found Nick Seeler.
Nearly everyone not named Nick Seeler didn’t expect what happened next. Seeler came in and left forward Barclay Goodrow flat-footed. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, Seeler beat the Sharks goalie high with a fantastic wrist shot that found the back of the net. Seeler’s grin said it all while a few Flyers, including Sean Couturier, looked around thinking the puck was still in play. The only thing that would’ve made it more amazing is if Seeler took the shot, then blocked his own shot, then scored. But as it stood it was a great goal from a player not known much for offensive greatness.
The bank's still open for Seels.#PHIvsSJS | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/gIesKL56Do
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 1, 2025
2) Garnet Hathaway versus St. Louis (October 18, 2024)
This is one of those goals where 90 per cent of the work was done by the guy who got the primary assist. But let’s not give all the credit to former Flyer Ryan Poehling. Just over halfway through the first period of a scoreless game against the Blues, Garnet Hathaway fed a short pass to Poehling. Poehling then took the puck and essentially skated through and around four opposing Blues skaters. He then made a great pass across to Hathaway who buried it behind Jordan Binnington to open the scoring.
Yes, Poehling was the star of the goal. Even Hathaway reacted as if it was Poehling’s goal, shocked possibly that his fourth line teammate could work such magic. However, after making the pass to Poehling, Hathaway and Poehling are both at one of their own faceoff circles in their own end. Poehling wasn’t exactly a snail when it came to speed, meaning Hathaway had to motor just as quickly as Poehling did to be there when it mattered the most. It was one of the more memorable goals of the year, even if it was the first goal of a rather run-of-the-mill regular season tilt.
1) Travis Konecny versus Buffalo (November 16, 2024)
The Flyers rarely had laughers after 40 minutes, but this was one of them. Up 3-0 late in the second period, Philadelphia ended up with a two-man breakaway as the teams played 4-on-4. A blocked shot by the Flyers resulted in quick transition, with Travis Konecny and Matvei Michkov heading towards the poor, helpless Sabres goalie.
Michkov took the puck around center ice and slowed up a bit so Konecny could catch up. The Mad Russian went away from the slot and looked as if he was about to shoot. Instead he fed a perfect pass to Konecny on the other side for a great goal. The Sabres’ Zach Benson decided to try some head-hunting after the play on a passing Michkov but he missed. Konecny and the other Flyers quickly zeroed in on Benson and took the liberty of washing his face with their gloves. One of the better goals all season from two of the most dynamic players the Flyers have.
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