With the current state of the Philadelphia Flyers and their goaltending, did they bungle their opportunity in acquiring Yaroslav Askarov when they had the chance?
Not since Steve Mason’s tenure have the Flyers had stability in goal for more than a couple of seasons. Carter Hart had a great start to his career but struggled just as often as he succeeded, which gave way to a lot of disappointment for who was supposed to be the saviour in goal.
Michal Neuvirth and Brian Elliott had their fun under the sun but never for a consistent period of time. However, their play in net seems like a godsend compared to what we have seen over the last season-plus with Samuel Ersson, Aleksei Kolosov, and Ivan Fedotov.
Yes, they are all inexperienced in their own ways and that certainly plays a factor. However, all three goaltenders sitting in the bottom-10 of nearly every statistical category is a recipe for disaster regardless of whether you’re rebuilding, retooling, or contending.
The ironic part about the Flyers’ situation is that they’re not as bad as people make them out to be. They certainly are far and away from teams like the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers but they’ve held their own against a lot of strong teams and were a few clutch saves away from turning the tides and becoming a team in a playoff spot.
Regardless of their rebuild, the Flyers have made it quite clear that they intend to contend during the process. Their philosophy is against everything that a traditional rebuild is all about and they’re seemingly content with picking in the 9-14 range of upcoming drafts.
So, if that is your stance and you want to contend while still giving way to your youth, should Askarov have been a primary target? Goaltending has been the problem year-in and year-out and initiating a three-headed monster was probably more harmful than anything else.
Ersson has slipped into oblivion recently on top of his injury history, Kolosov was rushed to the NHL due to his contentious stance on how the Flyers were attempting to develop his game, and Fedotov got the wrong end of the stick and was barely even getting practice reps during his one-month exile in the press box.
All this has culminated in the Flyers possessing a league-worst save percentage at .867, a mark below their league-worst save percentage from last season when they finished the year at .884. Unsurprisingly, they were 12th-worst in 2022-23, 8th-worst in 2021-22, and dead last in 2020-21.
The fact that they’ve been in last place three times over the last five seasons now is mind-boggling and it makes it worse that they haven’t really tried to address the situation ether.
Prospects certainly take time to develop but when a marquee netminder is available for trade because he is disgruntled and wants out, you have to be aggressive and make the move. Goaltending is probably the hardest position to solidify through trade and free agency, so if a young stud can be had, you make it happen.
The trade itself wasn’t even that far-fetched as the Sharks acquired Askarov, a prospect, and a third round pick in 2025 in exchange for David Edstrom – who was drafted in the first round in 2023 – a conditional first round pick in 2025, and a young goaltender.
Comparatively, that would be the Flyers trading a first round pick – of which they have three in 2025 – any one of their goaltenders, and a forward like Samu Tuoomala, Massimo Rizzo, Jack Berglund, or even Alex Bump – Edstrom was ranked near the bottom of or just outside of the top-10 of Sharks prospects in some rankings.
Askarov holds a 3-2-2 record for the 31st-ranked Sharks with a .923 SV% and a 2.30 GAA. Comparatively, Vitek Vaněček was 3-8-1 with a .885 SV% and a 3.84 GAA, and Alexander Georgiev is 1-5-0 with a .881 SV% and a 3.91 GAA since being acquired from Colorado.
In the AHL, Askarov has also put on a show to the tune of a 9-4-1 record, .938 SV% and a 2.00 GAA for the San Jose Barracuda. That’s coming off successive seasons with the Milwaukee Admirals where he combined for a 56-29-6 record, a .911 SV%, and a 2.50 GAA across 92 games.
Going back even further, Askarov played in three seasons for SKA St. Petersburg where his first two seasons were cut short due to COVID-19. Nevertheless, he went 8-5-2 with a save percentages ranging from .913 to .920 to .951 all the while allowing 21 goals across 16 games.
The former first round pick towers over anything the Flyers have within their system whether it’s in the NHL, AHL, or ECHL. Cal Petersen owns a 3.29 GAA and a .882 SV% in 21 games, Eetu Mäkiniemi had a 3.03 GAA and a .899 SV% in 5 games before his injury, Parker Gahagen is 3-1-1 despite a 3.38 GAA and a .881 SV%, and Kolosov was sitting with a 3.29 GAA and a .875 SV% before his call-up.
At the NHL-level, Ersson owns a 9-7-2 record despite putting up a 3.02 GAA and a .883 SV%, Kolosov is 4-8-1 with a 3.45 GAA and a .870 SV% in 15 games, while Fedotov is 4-4-2 in 11 contests with a 3.42 GAA and a .877 SV%.
All these numbers coupled with their abysmal team save percentage year-in and year-out should scream for change. While there’s plenty of hope in prospects Egor Zavragin and Carson Bjarnason, they’re at least 2-3 years away, leaving a relatively large void at the NHL-level.
It remains to be seen what the Flyers do the rest of the season with no plans on the horizon of sending Kolosov down. Ersson remains the de-facto number one and Fedotov would require waivers to be sent down, which leaves the three-headed experiment on-going unless drastic changes are made.
However, it seems like the Flyers let a prime opportunity slip out of their hands with a disgruntled 22-year-old looking for greener pastures having been on the market.
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