In his introductory press conference, new Flyers goaltender Dan Vladar talked about the reasons he came to Philadelphia. Among the reasons, is the opportunity he'll have to start here. But that's not all.
He also talked to a bunch of former Flyers' alumni about playing in Philadelphia. Among those players are: Jakub Voracek, Jaromir Jagr, Radko Gudas, Michal Neuvirth and Petr Mrazek. One thing they have in common? They are all Czech.
In their history, the Flyers have had 26 forwards and three (now four) goaltenders who came from Czechia. That makes Czechs among the most non-Canadian and non-American ethnicities to play for the Flyers. Some have played a season or two, but some like Gudas or Petr Svoboda, played for a while. Voracek, a fan favorite, starred in 10 years.
With Vladar getting ready to take the reins over in net, let's take a look at the other three Czechs who've appeared in net for the Flyers.
Roman Cechmanek
The first goalie from Czechia to play for the Flyers was Roman Cechmanek. He was Domink Hasek's former backup in international play and the Flyers gave him a chance to play. He only appeared in four seasons in the NHL, three of them with Philadelphia.
He had the ability of Bernie Parent in net with the insanity of Ilya Brygalov. In his three seasons, he averaged a goals against of 1.96 and a save percentage of .923. Those stats are still at the top of the Flyers' leaderboards and will likely never come off. His 20 shutouts place him in second place behind Parent's 50. His level of play is what made the Flyers trade Brian Boucher.
However, a 9-14 record in the playoffs and publicly blaming his teammates for poor play in the playoffs got him booted. He played one season for the Kings before returning home. He passed away a few years ago. He's one of the great "What ifs" in Flyers history. If he could've played better in the postseason, or kept his mouth shut, would the Flyers have won a Stanley Cup 20 years ago?
Michal Neuvirth
Several years later, Neuvirth became the Flyers goalie. Starting in 2015, he was supposed to be the backup for Steve Mason. Neuvirth arrived at a time when whomever the Flyers had in net was almost certain to be injured. This includes his final season, where he played in just four games.
The sad thing is, when he played, Neuvirth played well. He held a record of 39-30-9 with a goals against average of 2.66 and a respectable .908 save percentage. To be honest, those are numbers fans wish the goalies had now. Time just caught up to him.
Petr Mrazek
Then there is Mrazek. Wow. He was acquired by Ron Hextall, showing that he was about as good at trades as he was in draft picks, for a third and fourth round draft pick. He was acquired at the trade deadline because of health concerns for Neurvirth. Mrazek previously had some strong seasons in Detroit, but had begun to put up two stinker seasons in a row. Maybe he could turn it aroun in Philly.
He didn't. He went 6-6-3, posted a 3.22 goals against average with a save percentage of .891. It was his only season on the Flyers. Eight years later, he still finds a job, somehow, as a backup and/or starter with four other teams. His one half of a season here was very forgettable and regrettable.