You hate to say that one season is super critical for a player. However, that's the nature of sports as a business. When your contract is up, you need to perform if you want to get re-signed by your team or latch on to another. When another person comes in who can threaten your employment status, you have to perform far better than they do, so you can keep your job. Unfortunately for Flyers' goaltender Sam Ersson, this is the position he is in right now.
Ersson, now 25, has played in parts of three seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers. He will be an RFA at season's end. With the Flyers committed to Dan Vladar through the end of next season and Carson Bjarnsson, a highly touted goalie prospect, getting a chance to start in the AHL, it is possible that this could be Ersson's last season in Philadelphia. Or, this could be the beginning of the Ersson Era.
Climbing the Ranks
It's funny, but after two and a half seasons, Ersson has appeared in 110 games for the Flyers. That's good for 18th all-time. Between now and season's end, if he appears in 40 games, he'd be just outside the top ten. Then again, when the Flyers change goalies as often as they do head coaches, this also happens.
Ersson's 51 wins are good for 19th. He's just 26 wins away from cracking the top ten there. Steve Mason won 26 games in 2016-17, so it could happen. Ersson also has seven career shutouts. That ties him for tenth with Pelle Lindbergh, Martin Biron, Robert Esche, Ilya Bryzgalov, and Tommy Soderstrom. One more would tie him with Brian Boucher and two with John Vanbiesbrouck. That's not bad company to be in for him.
With a new head coach, the Flyers are moving in a new direction. The team's admin have claimed the first phase of the rebuild is over. Now it is about growing as a team, nurturing the prospects, and building a foundation. This is where Ersson comes in.
If Ersson can have a solid season, say a GAA under 3.00 and a save percentage of at least .900, he might be able to keep his job in Philadelphia. He's grown a lot under some rough circumstances.
He's had to fill in when Carter Hart was often injured and then gone. He was burned out and overworked when the Flyers desperately tried to get back to the playoffs and could not trust that Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom would win any critical games. Ersson also has had to work with a revolving door of defenders in front of him as the good ones are either traded away or injured.
Ersson hasn't spent a lot of time in Philadelphia. There still is a glimmer of hope that he could be a solid starter or, at worst, a respectable backup. The worst thing the Flyers could do is give up on him, and he becomes a Sergei Bobrovsky 2.0.
For Ersson, he needs to make his case now. He needs to step in between the pipes and take hold of this position. Granted, Vladar is going to be doing the same thing. Perhaps a good goalie competition might be good for the Flyers. If both men want it, they should be giving it their all.
Either way, this season is critical for Ersson's status as a Flyers' goalie. We'll see this spring where it is leading. It all starts with game one of the new season.