Rookie goalie Samuel Ersson has gone from overlooked to ‘living a dream’ with the Flyers

Former Brynäs IF goalie coach Pecka Alcén couldn’t see 15-year-old Samuel Ersson’s mouth, which was hidden behind the metal bars of his goalie mask. Still, Alcén could tell he was smiling.

In 2015, Alcén invited Ersson to practice with Brynäs’ junior team in Gävle, Sweden as a tryout. It was a lifeline for the future of Ersson’s hockey career after every other top-tier junior club in Sweden passed on the young goaltender, unimpressed with the Falun native who had failed to make the district roster for Sweden’s premier under-15 tournament, TV-pucken. In the moment, Ersson felt he’d blown the chance, underscored by Alcén scolding him for wearing a shirt displaying the name of another goalie coach’s academy.

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But as Alcén observed him, Ersson’s eyes sent a stronger message than his technique did.

“He glows,” Alcén told The Inquirer. “He smiles with his eyes. It’s hard to explain ... but there was smiling in his eyes and everything. He loves hockey. He loves to be there. It’s hard to explain it, but what you see in his eyes is important, and the attitude.”

It took all of five minutes for Alcén to conclude that Ersson was going to play in the NHL one day. Technical imperfections aside, Alcén saw Ersson’s “fighting spirit” and a passion for hockey as integral to attaining long-term success at the position. He could see Ersson’s potential in five or six years, not in a single year like the other junior teams did. At the conclusion of practice, Alcén offered Ersson a spot on the team. Ersson accepted without hesitation.

For the next eight years, Ersson’s joy and fighting spirit persisted in the face of failure and injury, keeping him on track toward a career in North America. In a limited window as the Flyers’ temporary backup with fellow Brynäs alumnus Felix Sandström on a conditioning loan with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the potential that Alcén saw in Gävle is just beginning to take hold.

“He has fought from being [bleep] to be in the NHL,” Alcén said.

Kids who grew up in Falun typically gravitated toward soccer or hockey. Ersson played bandy — a popular sport in Sweden that combines elements from hockey, soccer, and several other sports — with his four older siblings until he committed to hockey at the age of 10. He wanted to be a goalie, just like his father, Hans, who played the position in Sweden’s former second-tier pro league.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, Ersson recalled watching Henrik Lundqvist backstop Sweden to a gold medal over Finland. Ersson was mesmerized — not necessarily by Lundqvist himself, but by the spotlight on the position.

“Usually as a goalie, you can play a big part,” Ersson said. “You’re either the hero or the guy who kind of screws it up.”

Alcén saw less Lundqvist and more Carey Price in a young Ersson. He envisioned Ersson as an athletic goalie, capable of leveraging his strong skating skills to stay on his feet and make saves.

To Ersson, Alcén took an old-school approach to teaching the position, emphasizing the importance of standing up, exhibiting patience, and having good hands — a reaction game. Modern goalie coaches tend to focus more on positioning and taking up space in the net — a percentage game.

“He always said it’s easier to make an athletic goalie be more composed than to take a composed goalie and make him more athletic,” Ersson said. “As I got older, you try to minimalize your game. You don’t want to do too much. But the ability to make something extra is something you’ve got to have.”

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Ersson began his junior career with Brynäs in 2015, the same year the Flyers drafted Sandström, also of Brynäs, in the third round, No. 70 overall. Unlike Ersson, Sandström was a highly touted prospect, participating in international tournaments since he was 15 and competing as an underage player on Sweden’s 2016 World Junior team. Sandström joined a list of Alcén’s pupils to get drafted into or play in the NHL, including Jacob Markström, Anders Lindbäck, and Eddie Läck.

When Flyers goalie development coach Brady Robinson traveled to Sweden to work with Sandström in the months that followed the draft, Alcén encouraged Robinson to watch Ersson, too.

“The goalie coach looked at Samuel and he said, ‘Wow,’” Alcén recalled. “‘Yeah, I agree,’ I said.”

Between Robinson’s observations over multiple trips and Alcén’s endorsement, a trusted one thanks to the process of scouting Sandström, Flyers director of European scouting Joakim Grundberg kept tabs on Ersson leading up to his draft year in 2018.

“I think he had that, call it the swagger, the confidence,” Grundberg said. “Not being cocky by any means, but you could tell he was really confident in himself and his ability. You kind of got the feeling that he was a person that liked to have attention on himself. Be in the spotlight. He wanted to be the guy.”

The spotlight, however, wasn’t always comfortable. On Oct. 26, 2017, Ersson made his senior team debut at 18 when he entered during the second period of the game against Färjestad BK in relief of Sandström, who fell ill.

Twenty-one seconds later, Ersson allowed a goal on the first shot he faced as Brynäs went down, 3-0.

“It’s not like it hasn’t happened after that as well,” Ersson said, referring to the same occurrence in his NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 23. “It’s tough. But you’ve got to kind of deal with it.”

While Brynäs lost, 4-1, Grundberg came away impressed with Ersson’s attitude after the initial gut-punch goal.

“A lot of times, [if] that happens to a young goalie, they’re always nervous, obviously, their first game, but I thought he was able to get through that adversity and finish the game,” Grundberg said. “Looked like it didn’t really affect him much.”

Going into the draft, Grundberg said that former Flyers general manager Ron Hextall highlighted Ersson as a target. However, the team wanted to situate Ersson appropriately on the draft board to avoid reaching for a player who lacked interest around the league.

At the time, Ersson told Grundberg that he had been in contact with the Flyers and just one other NHL team, leading Grundberg to believe they had a good shot at landing him.

“There was never any hype on him or anything like that,” Grundberg said. “And performance-wise, he was OK his draft year. But I think maybe we dug a little deeper than some other teams and saw things we liked.”

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The Flyers selected Ersson in the fifth round, No. 143 overall in 2018. But Ersson wouldn’t fly under the radar for much longer. The following season, Brynäs offered Ersson another junior contract instead of a senior one. Alcén encouraged Ersson to leave Brynäs for the Allsvenskan, the second-tier league in Sweden, to get senior-level experience and put him in a position to make Sweden’s 2019 World Junior team.

As the starter for Västerås IK for the 2018-19 season, Ersson had a self-described “breakthrough” year. Playing against grown men for the first time, Ersson posted a .933 save percentage (second in the league) and a 1.95 goals-against average in 36 games. Finally, he earned a look on the international stage.

“He became the starter of the Swedish World Junior team without having basically [any] previous experience at the international level, which is really rare,” Grundberg said. “That tells you how much of a step he took from his draft year to the next year.”

Ersson returned to Brynäs the following season and started for the senior team as a 20-year-old. But Brynäs, a historic organization in the Swedish Hockey League with a stature akin to the Montreal Canadiens, was in the midst of a down period. It finished 12th and 13th, respectively, in the 14-team league over the next two seasons.

When Ersson frequented the grocery store in the small town of Gävle, disgruntled Brynäs fans gave him an earful. The team’s shortcomings stung Ersson just as badly.

“I played for the team a long time and with the history I had, I wouldn’t be a professional hockey player if that team wouldn’t have given me a chance,” Ersson said. “So you really want them to succeed. It hurts when it’s not working.”

But the experience helped Ersson learn how to deal with pressure and raise his game. At the conclusion of the 2020-21 season. Brynäs faced relegation to the second tier. But Ersson posted a .949 save percentage and a 1.30 goals-against average in the relegation series to defeat HV71, 4-1, and help keep his team in the SHL.

“Being a goalie is awfully mental,” Ersson said. “So any time you can go through mental challenges, it tends to help you become better.”

Those challenges helped Ersson stay grounded through more disappointment at the start of his North American career, as he was limited to just five games with the Phantoms last season, his first with the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, due to a groin injury. From dinners at former Brynäs and Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom’s Philadelphia apartment to long-distance phone calls to Alcén, Ersson leaned on his support system as he dealt with the frustration of two failed comeback attempts.

When Ersson returned to Gävle last offseason, determined to show up to Flyers rookie camp healthy, Alcén worked with him to get back on the ice three times per week. In addition to developing his game, Alcén built up the human being, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the happiness that he saw in the 15-year-old Ersson.

“You can’t as a coach take away the joy when you go on the ice,” Alcén said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a moonshine [outdoor] rink in Sandvikens [a town in Sweden] or in Madison Square Garden. You have to have this passion. And he has this passion. You can’t forget this passion, what’s taken him there.”

That passion powered Ersson to an impressive preseason with the Flyers and a 5-0-0 start to his NHL career (.918 SV%, 2.37 GAA) in place of Sandström, whose conditioning stint with the Phantoms is slated to end Thursday and would require waivers if the Flyers opt to keep him there indefinitely. But the 23-year-old Ersson isn’t too fixated on his immediate future with the Flyers, focusing on getting ice time and regaining trust in his body after an injury-riddled 2022 season.

Still, Ersson’s play hasn’t made the impending decision any easier for Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher. In the Flyers locker room after his fifth straight victory on Tuesday night, a 5-2 defeat of the Anaheim Ducks, Ersson’s eyes glowed as he reflected on his journey.

“When I am here, it’s surreal,” Ersson said. “You’ve got to pinch yourself in the arm a little bit. It’s like living a dream.”

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