For as long as anyone can remember, the Philadelphia Flyers have been trying to solve their goaltending puzzle.
It’s a tale as old as time: the Flyers are looking for stability in net, and somehow, despite their best efforts, it always seems just out of reach.
This season, the plan—at least to start the season—was to have a No. 1 and No. 2 system. Sam Ersson was expected to start the majority of the games, while Ivan Fedotov was slated to be the reliable backup that Ersson didn’t have least season.
But in reality? The system has been, at best, a mixed bag, and at worst, an ongoing source of frustration.
Ersson, in his first full season as the presumed starter, has held onto that role for much of the year, even through injuries and rough patches.
Fedotov, after an impossible-to-judge three-game stint last season, has looked stronger—but not strong enough to erase all doubts. And now, with just a handful of games left, and trying to embrace a more equal tandem approach, the Flyers still don’t have a clear answer.
A Tandem in Name, but Not in Practice
Head coach John Tortorella is about as forthright as they come, especially when it comes to what his team needs to improve on if they want to be a competitive team. The goaltending struggles have been no exception.
When asked about if Fedotov was still having to prove himself as an NHL goaltender, Tortorella simply told reporters, “S— yeah.”
Kevin Kurz (@KKurzNHL) on XAsked John Tortorella after the game if Ivan Fedotov still has to prove he belongs on the NHL roster next season.
"Oh, shit yeah. Shit yeah."
Earlier, called it a "sloppy game. Sloppy goalies." Admits he thought about putting in Ersson to start the second period.It was a blunt assessment, one that cuts to the core of the Flyers’ current predicament. They want to run a tandem, but they don’t have two goalies they fully trust.
The idea behind a tandem is balance. The modern NHL leans away from the 65-game workhorses of the past and instead relies on two goalies splitting the load. It makes sense on paper, especially for a team like the Flyers, who aren’t built around an elite No. 1 netminder.
But a true tandem means confidence in both guys. It means alternating starts without hesitation, knowing that either goalie can give you a solid game. It means allowing both to play enough to stay sharp without running one into the ground.
That’s not really what’s happening here. Ersson has shouldered the bulk of the responsibility, and for good reason. He’s had stretches of truly excellent play, and even when he’s struggled, he’s never lost his status as the de facto starter.
Fedotov, meanwhile, has been given opportunities, but there’s an underlying sense that every start is still an audition. If the team truly trusted him, Tortorella wouldn’t have made a point to say he still had something to prove.
Sam Ersson: The Starter
There’s a lot to like about Sam Ersson. He’s poised, technically sound, and has shown he can handle the mental grind of being an NHL goalie. Given that this is his first full season in a starting role—and how much he had to handle when he unexpectedly took over starting duties last season—his performance has been impressive overall.
But the reality is, he hasn’t run away with the job.
His highs have been high, but his lows have been noticeable. He’s had moments where he’s singlehandedly kept the Flyers in games and others where the puck has seemed to find the back of the net a little too easily. His numbers, while respectable, aren’t elite.
"Sam has been thrusted into a spot that I just think it has been unfair for him," Tortorella said earlier in March. “This organization was set back when things changed with our goaltending situation, especially Sam, not allowing him to develop. So he has been force-fed a little bit here."
Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) on X"He knows that he has to take it and carry the position. I just think he's so strong mentally. He'll have some dips as we play the rest of these games, but I'm just so confident how he approaches the game."
—John Tortorella on Sam Ersson's growth across the season
#LetsGoFlyersIt’s also worth noting that Ersson has dealt with injuries this season. That’s not a knock against him—it’s just a reminder that when you’re relying on a goalie who hasn’t had a full NHL workload before, durability is always a question.
And with the Flyers still in the midst of a rebuild, this year was meant to be about finding out what they had in him.
The answer?
He’s good. Considering what he’s had to deal with since last season, he’s been very good. But it’s just too soon to accurately evaluate whether or not he’s truly the franchise starting goalie the organization believes he can be.
"I think with Sam, as we move forward, we're hoping it's going to be a tandem," Tortorella continued. "We're not going to ask Sam to play 55, 60 games if he's the guy. I think it's going to be a tandem. We're still evaluating. He has been inconsistent. Sometimes you watch him play and you think he has got it but then he falls off. It happens to a lot of goalies.”
Ivan Fedotov: The Wild Card
It’s hard to know exactly what the Flyers have in Ivan Fedotov.
His first real NHL season has been a mixed bag. There have been flashes of potential, moments where he’s looked calm, structured, and reliable. There have also been games where the cracks have shown—moments where his positioning looks off, or where the pace of play seems just a little too much.
The organization has acknowledged the unimaginable journey Fedotov has taken to get to North America, and they’ve never shied away from being transparent about his needing to adjust to the NHL, especially in the more limited backup role.
"I think it's a hell of a story for [Fedotov],” Tortorella said back in January. “On a personal note, in my heart, I'm happy for the guy. He went through some stuff just to get here, and he's battled. You guys don't even know what happened last year in a couple of situations that I came down on a certain time...He's been a really good pro."
Fedotov’s situation got even more complicated when 22-year-old netminder Aleksei Kolosov had an extended stay with the Flyers before being loaned back out to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms—demoting Fedotov to the No. 3 spot.
"He got kicked to the curb at number three, shut his mouth—I remember I had one conversation with him; I said, 'I don't know where it goes,'" Tortorella said. "And he spent I don't know how many weeks just skating up and down the boards, hoping to get in the net if one of the other goalies needed a spell during practice...He ate it and continued to work at his game."
Siobhan Nolan (@SGNolan) on X“It’s unorthodox, but the damn guy has stopped the puck. That’s why he’s number two. It’s a hell of a story. On a personal note, in my heart, I’m happy for the guy. He’s been a really good pro.”
—John Tortorella on Ivan Fedotov’s resurgence in net
#LetsGoFlyersBut a goalie can’t prove himself sitting on the bench. And while that’s an unavoidable downside of a tandem setup, it’s particularly frustrating in Fedotov’s case because he needs games. He needs to show that he can be more than just an occasional backup.
But in a season where he once went an entire month without a game because of a bad performance against the Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers, one has to wonder just how long the leash is for the 28-year-old if he’s not standing on his head in every start he gets.
It’s not a great way to build confidence—for him or for the team.
So… What Now?
If the Flyers don’t fully trust either guy to carry the load, and they don’t want to run a three-goalie system (for good reason), the natural question is: What’s next?
The problem is, there’s no clear answer waiting in the wings.
Aleksei Kolosov? Not ready. He needs time in the AHL.
Yegor Zavragin? Don’t even think about it—he’s not coming over from the KHL any time soon.
Carson Bjarnason? Maybe the most intriguing long-term option, but he’s still developing in the WHL and will need AHL seasoning before he’s thrown into the fire.
There’s no magic solution. No clear-cut top prospect waiting to come in and save the day.
That means the Flyers have a decision to make.
Do they give this tandem another go next season, hoping for growth from both goalies? Do they bring in a veteran to stabilize things, even if it means taking starts away from Ersson? Or do they just accept that this is how things are for now—far from perfect, but not catastrophic?
The Big Picture: A Problem That’s Nothing New
The Flyers have been here before.
Goaltending has been the franchise’s Achilles’ heel for decades, cycling through a revolving door of “the next guy” only to find out, time and time again, that he wasn’t the answer.
And it’s not that Ersson or Fedotov are failures—far from it. But when you’re starting your NHL careers as the last line of defense on a team still in the early stages of a rebuild, people can conveniently forget to contextualize the growing pains that come with that.
And that’s frustrating, because the rest of the Flyers’ rebuild is starting to take shape. The young core is promising. The team plays with structure. There’s a clear identity forming. But if they can’t solidify their goaltending situation, none of that will matter as much as it should.
This tandem was supposed to work. And maybe, in a different world, with different circumstances, it could have. But right now, it’s a system that exists more out of necessity than out of choice.
The Flyers need to figure out where they go from here. Because as they push forward in their rebuild, the one thing they can’t afford is to be stuck in the same goaltending limbo they’ve been trapped in for years.
