The Philadelphia Flyers are not emblems of prospect development nor goalie development, but they are positioned to turn the page on that chapter.
For my returning readers, especially over the years, welcome back to what is effectively a daily column.
You know, the "Bailey's Daily" kind of thing. Conversational, relevant, informative, all of that stuff.
It can be hard to reliably produce content this late in the summer, but we here at The Hockey News are putting a bigger focus on community-building, so I thought it might be a good time for a daily "wrap" of sorts.
Let's see how it goes!
You can't talk Flyers this summer without talking Flyers prospects, which was at least somewhat to be expected.
GM Danny Briere and Co. haven't gone out and made too many big additions, bar Trevor Zegras, so it would seem that this regime is putting most of their eggs in the baskets of player development.
I didn't love every pick they made in the 2025 NHL Draft, but they ultimately came away with more talent than most other teams.
But, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Prospect rankings can be highly subjective at times.
Top Flyers goalie prospect Egor Zavragin barely made a recent top-20 list of NHL-drafted goalie prospects, so, like always, the only thing that matters is what happens on the ice.
Speaking of goalies and prospects, the Anaheim Ducks (I know, I know) might be one place to look to see how it's done.
De facto starting goalie Lukas Dostal, 25, just signed a five-year, $32.5 million ($6.5 million AAV) contract with the Ducks, but it didn't just happen for him overnight.
Let's analyze his path:
In 2020-21, Dostal played 35 games combined between Ilves in Liiga and the AHL San Diego Gulls.
The following year, Dostal played 40 games for the Gulls as the full-time starter and snuck his way into four NHL games for the Ducks.
In 2022-23, the Czech netminder played 19 NHL games and 34 AHL games. By 2023-24, Dostal was a full-time NHLer, and this year, Dostal played 54 games and permanently usurped the starting goalie position from the now-traded John Gibson.
So, when you look at the Flyers and Sam Ersson, who's also 25, you have a 2021-22 season when he played five games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Ersson played 12 games for the Flyers in 2022-23 but otherwise played 42 AHL games down in Allentown.
Then, with the loss of Carter Hart and the failure to address the backup goalie position, Ersson played 98 NHL games in the last two seasons combined.
This dish didn't spend a lot of time in the oven, and the Flyers are now actively deciding whether to re-fire it or throw it away and start anew.
The Flyers somehow haven't drafted a goalie in either of the last two drafts, leaving them with Ersson, Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, and Zavragin as the four young-ish goalie prospects with conceivable NHL upside.
-1749270323-q80.webp "Browns Superstar Key To Unlocking Mason Graham")
:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/74141842/2193622348.0.jpg "Steve Spott hired to fill the Bruins’ final assistant coaching position")