The Philadelphia Flyers still have a solid crop of goaltending talent in their prospect pipeline.
Rounding out my Top Five prospects at their respective positions are none other than the net-minders. While Carter Hart graduated from the farm and is now gearing up to be the starting goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2019-20 season, the team still possesses a few names that should have bright futures ahead of them as long as they develop correctly.
The Flyers currently have six goaltending prospects in the system, give or take one or two of them depending on if you think Alex Lyon is still considered a prospect and what your thoughts on Matej Tomek’s situation are. I’ve personally decided to leave both of them off of this list, but in Tomek’s case, it’s more of an indictment on his overall skill set since I don’t believe he’ll become an NHL goaltender. As far as Lyon goes, he’s played 13 career games with the Flyers and, as I stated above, I’m one of the people who don’t see him as a young talent anymore, especially since he’s about to turn 27 in December. My criteria of putting ceiling over floor remains in effect for these rankings, so putting that aside, let’s get right into number five.
The fifth-best goalie in the Flyers farm, in my opinion, is the new kid on the block in Roddy Ross. Ross was selected in the sixth round of the 2019 NHL Draft in June and found success with the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL last season. He posted a 2.76 Goals Against Average (GAA) with a .919 save percentage (SVS%) in 25 games, helping the team get to the playoffs. Ross did struggle a bit during postseason play against the Everett Silvertips, but that shouldn’t be too surprising as he was a rookie going up against a more talented squad.
This next season will be huge in deciding just how good Ross is as a prospect. He’ll have the chance to start a full year with the T-Birds after joining them this past January and gaining experience in any league can go a long way for a young player. Ross has the potential to turn into something with a quality blend of size and athleticism and could unlock it with the right amount of coaching.