The Philadelphia Flyers are in a bit of an unexpected quandary at the moment. The loss of goaltender Dan Vladar has been a big old monkey wrench for the club. Vladar went down on Wednesday night against the Buffalo Sabres.
While Vladar is listed as day-to-day, his injury has rekindled the entire conversation about the Flyers’ goaltending situation. Vladar’s performance this year mostly quelled talk of a crisis in the crease in Philly. But seeing Samuel Ersson back in action has given the organization a case of the heebie-jeebies.
The potential goaltending issues in Philly prompted Daily Faceoff’s Anthony DiMarco to discuss the options for a potential solution. In a January 13 piece, DiMarco underscored how the Flyers are beginning to consider replacement options should Ersson continue to struggle.
“Though the alarm bells are not quite ringing yet, I have heard they are finally starting to consider alternative options to replace Ersson should he continue to struggle, according to a team source I spoke to Monday morning.”
DiMarco’s source hinted that Sabres goalie Alex Lyon could be an enticing possibility for the Flyers. But there could be another interesting option out there for the Flyers. That option involves a reunion with a former draft pick.
That draft pick in question is Anthony Stolarz.
Stolarz was a second-round pick of the Flyers in the 2012 NHL Draft. He played all of 19 games in Philly before bouncing around the league. He won a Stanley Cup in Florida as Sergei Bobrovsky’s understudy.
Since then, Stolarz landed with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had a fantastic season last year, but this year hasn’t been all that good. He’s been hurt most of the season. And when he played, he wasn’t nearly as effective as he was in previous seasons.
Now, Stolarz is seemingly ready to get back in the fold. However, the Leafs’ tandem of Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby has pretty much squeezed Stolarz out. The Leafs now have a situation in which they must deal a goalie, and Stolarz looks to be the odd man out.
Stolarz could be a solution for Flyers, but not without risk
On paper, the 31-year-old Stolarz looks good. He’s signed for four more years at $3.75 million. He’s a solid NHL-caliber goalie when he’s on his game. Plus, the Maple Leafs relatively desperate situation means he won’t cost an arm and a leg to acquire.
While he’s got a 16-team no-trade clause in his current deal, there’s a good chance the Flyers won’t be on that list.
However, there is some risk. Stolarz has built a reputation for being an injury-prone goalie. He’s never made more than 30 starts or so in a season, spending a fair chunk of time on the shelf throughout his career.
That situation means that Stolarz, while a good option for the Flyers, would be a tandem goalie at best in Philly. That shouldn’t preclude him from consideration. But Stolarz would be a good option as a 1B goalie, with Dan Vladar shouldering the lion’s share of the load.
With the thin goalie market at the moment, Philly would do well to kick the tires on their former draft pick.