Dan Vladar could cause Flyers to alter their goaltending plans

Goaltending was an unmitigated disaster for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2024-25 season, and they absolutely had to do something about it last offseason. In an uninspiring market for netminders, they decided to extend a two-year offer to Dan Vladar in hopes that he could steady the position and form a reliable tandem with Sam Ersson. Many shrugged at the move or even outright panned it, but the early returns have far exceeded expectations.

We've just passed the quarter-pole of the 2025-26 NHL season, and so far Vladar is looking great for the Orange and Black. He's started 13 of the Flyers' 21 games to this point, and he sports an 8-4-1 record along with a .912 save percentage. Among goalies who have played at least 10 NHL games this season, Vladar's save percentage and his 2.42 goals against average each rank in the top six. He has pulled away from Sam Ersson on the goaltending depth chart, and he's quite literally given the team everything they could reasonably ask for to this point.

Dan Vladar's early success could cause the Flyers to rethink their long-term goaltending plans

This is all good news, but it has the potential to disrupt the team's long-term vision in the crease. The Flyers were viewing 2025-26 as largely a Vladar/Ersson split, with Aleksei Kolosov possibly earning some starts/stepping up in the event of injury. Ersson will become a restricted free agent after this season, and the Flyers should have enough information to make a call on his future with the team by then.

Following this, the club will want to get some NHL exposure for Carson Bjarnason during the 2026-27 season as well as bringing the franchise's prize goaltending prospect Yegor Zavragin over to North America in the hopes that he can be 'the guy' in the crease as early as 2027-28 and from that point forward. You'll notice that Vladar's contract ends in 2027, which lines up with the Flyers' reasoning of signing him as a stopgap until some combination of the younger goalies are ready to take over. Now, however, you have to wonder about the future.

It's a good problem to have — something that's not often the case with Flyers goaltending — but you have to wonder how costly it could end up being for the Flyers. Vladar isn't even 15 percent of the way through his contract with the team, but if he keeps up this kind of play, he will justifiably want a multi-year commitment and a substantial raise.

Of course, it will all depend on how this season plays out and how the team performs next year, as well. We can all envision a scenario where he is still playing well but the team is out of the playoff picture and ends up dealing him at the 2027 trade deadline. But how long can you keep trading for mid-level future assets? If Vladar cements himself as a No. 1, doesn't the franchise owe it to their players and their fans to keep that guy around?

If Vladar gets pushed by the likes of Bjarnason and Zavragin, that's another good problem to have. Having to peddle goalies you don't have room for beats the years-long Flyers alternative of not having anyone you're confident in. Plus, we all know that the Flyers should have plenty of money to retain their own players since NHL free agency is apparently now a thing of the past.

There's still a lot of runway left in this season, but the Flyers appear to at least be in a good spot with Vladar even as Ersson might be playing himself out of town. The situation may dictate that Kolosov gets some extended NHL time later this year as an audition to see if he can partner with Vladar in 2026-27. Beyond that, there are a number of ways this can play out. The Flyers just need to make sure that when the goalie carousel stops, they have at least one viable horse to ride.