The Flyers will let goalie Sam Ersson figure it out at the NHL level, and that’s best for his development
“That’s part of the growth for him as a young man, how you can get into a rhythm in the games when you don’t play a whole bunch of them,” John Tortorella said.
Two games does not make a suitable sample size to pass judgment on a player in any sport, especially not a hockey goalie, and especially not a developing backup NHL goalie. It’s worth mentioning that first, because it should be the overarching takeaway when it comes to evaluating Sam Ersson’s first two games of the season, and when framing what the Flyers should do to get him going.
Now let’s get the hard truth out of the way: Ersson has not been good enough in his first two starts in spelling Carter Hart. Ersson put the Flyers in a hole last weekend in Dallas before they eventually lost in overtime. And Saturday at home against Anaheim, he allowed seven goals on 25 shots in a 7-4 loss.
It’s fair to say the Flyers were the better team for larger portions of both of those games and might have won each if Hart had started. Ducks coach Greg Cronin even admitted after Saturday’s game at the Wells Fargo Center that the Flyers had more of the dangerous scoring chances. The difference on the scoreboard was that Anaheim got a few more saves from Lukáš Dostál (27 saves on 31 shots) than the Flyers did from Ersson.
After the game, Ersson had the same response Saturday that he did the previous weekend in Dallas: “This is just not up to my standard,” he said. “I’m just really disappointed.”
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It was easy to feel for the 24-year-old Swede in the moment. It’s difficult, especially for a young pro, to face the cameras and recorders in the locker room after playing a game like that, embarrassed and upset. But Ersson handled himself like a veteran. In some ways, it was easy to see where Flyers coach John Tortorella was drawing the confidence from when he said after that game: “I’m going to forecast, I think he’s going to bounce back. I think he has that type of mentality.”
This is a new experience for Ersson, who won the backup goalie job with his strong play in preseason games and in practice. He turned pro in 2018 and has mostly been a reliable starter in every stop he’s made on the way to the NHL. When healthy, he’s played in at least 35 games in every season. Last year, after missing most of the 2021-22 season following groin surgery, he played 42 games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2.96 goals-against average) and 12 with the Flyers (3.07 GAA) — his first 12 NHL games.
As Hart’s backup, Ersson isn’t going to come anywhere close to playing 54 games this season. That’s in part because the Flyers aren’t going to handle him the same way they handle, say, Emil Andrae, the 21-year-old defenseman who last week was sent to Lehigh Valley to get more minutes and acclimate to professional hockey in North America.
The Flyers view Ersson as Hart’s backup, and they want him to stay right here, even though they currently have three goalies on the 23-man roster with Felix Sandström still around.
“That’s where he is right now,” Tortorella said of Ersson’s position in the organizational depth chart. “I don’t see Sam supplanting Hartsy as our No. 1 guy. So he’s got to figure it out this way.”
Figuring it out this way means learning what it means to be a backup, and how to stay sharp and focused to perform when the Flyers need him to. He’ll likely get his next chance this week. The Flyers play home games Monday (Carolina Hurricanes) and Wednesday (Buffalo Sabres) and then play Friday in Buffalo before turning around and hosting the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Pencil in Ersson to start one of those back-to-backs.
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Ersson, a fifth-round pick in 2018, refused to make any excuses when asked if he was struggling with staying sharp early in his first run at being a backup goalie in the NHL.
“I’ve got to take care of every single practice and the mental part of things here,” he said. “I’ve got to be able to find a better way to keep myself sharp so I’m ready when I play.”
Tortorella sounded confident that it would happen.
The sometimes fiery coach was given every chance Saturday to crush Ersson, who couldn’t find a key save when the Flyers needed it. Tortorella even interrupted the first question of the session before it was finished.
“Stop right there,” he said. “Don’t blame Sam for this. He’s part of it, but it’s easy to look at the goaltender and throw it all at him. Not a chance. That’s a team effort tonight.”
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Whether he truly meant it was immaterial. There was no reason for Tortorella to bury Ersson. It would have served no purpose other than expressing frustration after a loss that also had plenty of positives.
Tortorella was happy to spin it all forward, to talk about Ersson’s next steps and how he figures it all out. The Flyers are rebuilding, and part of that is trying to figure out how to help the players in the organization take the next steps. For Ersson, that means staying here and learning how to be a backup in the NHL.
“That’s part of the growth for him as a young man, how you can get into a rhythm in the games when you don’t play a whole bunch of them,” Tortorella said. “I’ve got a pretty good goalie in Carter Hart, who’s in great shape. Carter is our No. 1 guy, and I think I’ve got one of the better goaltending coaches in the league. That’s something they have to work through to try to figure out how to stay in some sort of rhythm with your practice habits to get ready.”