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Flyers Sign Felix Sandström To One-Year Contract

By Jacob Modugno

MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 02: Felix Sandstrom #1 of Team Sweden watches the puck during the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship quarterfinal game against Team Slovakia at the Bell Centre on January 2, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Sweden defeated Team Slovakia 8-3. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - JANUARY 02: Felix Sandstrom #1 of Team Sweden watches the puck during the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship quarterfinal game against Team Slovakia at the Bell Centre on January 2, 2017 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Team Sweden defeated Team Slovakia 8-3. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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On Tuesday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers signed goaltending prospect Felix Sandström to a one-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $750,000, according to Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher.

Sandström, a 24 year-old left-handed catching netminder from Gävle, Sweden, was a third-round draft pick of the Flyers back in the 2015 NHL Draft under Ron Hextall.

The surprising news comes just one day after Sandström signed a one-year deal with Finnish club TPS Turku of SM-Liiga, but according to Flyers vice president and assistant general manager Brent Flahr, Sandström will start the 2021-22 season in the American Hockey League with the Flyers’ affiliate in Allentown, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Sandström spent 11 games with the Phantoms last season, sporting a 5-3-3 record along with a .903 save percentage and 3.19 goals against average. Sandström also spent time on the Flyers’ taxi squad throughout the season as well.

The signing also gives the Flyers their one required goaltender to expose in the Seattle Kraken’s expansion draft in July. Carter Hart is the obvious choice for protection, and Brian Elliott and Alex Lyon are pending free agents that don’t fit the criteria, leaving Sandström now as the lone exposed goalie to fulfill Philadelphia’s duty there.

Fletcher did express in a press conference yesterday that he intended to qualify Sandström, as he was a pending restricted free agent, but the one-year contract immediately after he was slated to play overseas comes at a bit of a shock.

Sandström’s signing now creates an interesting situation in goal for Lehigh Valley. Fellow Swede Samuel Ersson signed his entry-level contact with the Flyers last Thursday, and Kirill Ustimenko will be returning after he missed the entire 2020-21 AHL season with a torn labrum that required surgery.

Newly christened Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere will have a slew of young goalies to use, and Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers’ brass will have some decisions to make regarding the future of the net behind Carter Hart going forward with three talented European netminders now in North America fighting for playing time.

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