15 most important people in Philadelphia Flyers organization: 13. Samuel Ersson

With the off-ice departure of Carter Hart, the Philadelphia Flyers were forced to look elsewhere for starting goaltending.

They used backup Samuel Ersson as the main starter for the rest of the season. They also brought in Ivan Fedotov from Russia as the new backup. This tandem is going to need to perform well for the Flyers to have a chance this year.

Right now, Ersson is the 13th most important person in the Philadelphia Flyers organization. He comes into a new year as the starting goalie which is not something he would have thought entering last year.

Ersson finished the season with a 23-19-7 record, a 2.82 goals against average, and a .890 save percentage. He was the 10th-place vote-getter in the Calder Trophy voting for his season.

The Philadelphia Flyers are relying on Sam Ersson to be good this year

The numbers dipped a little bit down the stretch as the team started to fall apart in front of him but he still can say he had a good year all things considered.

To go from being the backup of a team over-performing in front of him to the starter on a team loaded with drama was a lot. He handled it well.

Coming into this year, they can only hope that he comes into it with a positive attitude and a belief that he can get the job done. Coaching and upper management can help him get to that mindset.

It won't be easy to find any sort of upgrade so Ersson has to be their guy right now. They need to give him everything that he needs to be good in this role.

The Flyers have made some additions this off-season that will make them a more well-rounded team but there is still a lot of work to be done. If the vibes around the team are good, the team should be able to play better in front of him.

This organization wants to compete again this year and they'd like to actually hold onto their playoff spot this time around. If that were to happen, you'd assume that Ersson lives up to being one of the most important people in the organization.