After being acquired from the Los Angeles Kings in the 3-team trade that saw the Philadelphia Flyers jettison Ivan Provorov to Columbus, Cal Petersen walked himself an interesting situation where he kind of drifted off into no-man’s land.
With a cap hit of $5 million and with 2 years remaining to boot, it seemed a little strange that the Flyers would acquire an expensive depth goaltender with term when they already had Carter Hart, Samuel Ersson, and Felix Sandström on the roster. Perhaps he would’ve been a buyout candidate, some thought maybe he could’ve been traded, but ultimately the Flyers decided to hold onto him and now the crease has become relatively crowded.
With the Hockey Canada investigation’s findings still not having been revealed to the public, Carter Hart’s present and future with the Flyers remains cloudy. If everything is cleared up and Hart doesn’t find himself in the crossfire, then the Flyers will continue with the status quo and have him ensconced as the starting goaltender in a very critical contract season. If things get sticky and he is found to have been involved, then surely there will be a suspension of some sort, which then allows Petersen to a clearer route to the crease with Ersson and Sandström the only 2 he has to try and beat out.
Petersen was originally drafted by the Buffalo Sabres in the 5th round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He went 21-11-1 with a .906 SV% and a 2.97 GAA in his draft year with the Waterloo Black Hawks of the USHL. He returned back to the Black Hawks for his draft+1 season where he went 27-7-4 with a much improved 2.50 GAA and a .915 SV% and then committed himself to 3 years at Notre Dame in the NCAA.
After 3 successful campaigns with Notre Dame that saw him post save percentages of .919, .927, and .926, respectively, on the 31st of May in 2017, Petersen decided to forgo his final year of college eligibility, which gave the Sabres 30 days to sign him as a free agent. They were unable to strike a deal and he ultimately became a free agent before he signed a two-deal with the Los Angeles Kings.
After a full season with the Ontario Reign in 2017-18, Petersen finally made his NHL debut on November 13th, 2018 against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a relief appearance where he made 15 saves on 16 shots. He stuck around with the Kings for the most part until his final game on the 23rd of December that saw him complete his first tour of the NHL, where he finished with 5-4-1 with a .924 SV% and a 2.61 GAA. He would spend the majority of the 2018-19 and 2019-20 season in the AHL where he put up decent numbers on some paltry Reign teams.
He made 8 starts in 2019-20 before finally getting his chance in 2020-21 where he was in goal for 35 games. He went 9-18-5 with a 2.89 GAA but carried a solid .911 SV%, which was enough to earn him a 3-year contract worth $15 million ahead of the 2021-22 season. Up until that point, in parts of 3 seasons, Petersen was 19-25-6 in 54 games with a .916 SV% and a 2.79 GAA. Unfortunately as the Kings ameliorated and got better, Petersen’s play deteriorated as he sported a below-average .895 SV% and a 2.89 GAA with a 20-14-2 record in 2021-22.
In 10 games this past season, Petersen sported a 5-3-2 record with a .868 SV% and a 3.75 GAA, which was more than enough for the Kings to send him to the minors where he remained for the rest of the season. He finished off the year going 16-20-4 with a .904 SV% in 40 games for the Ontario Reign, while the Kings on the other hand ran with the hot hand in Pheonix Copley before making a shocking trade that sent Jonathan Quick – and the eventual first round pick that the Flyers received in the Provorov trade – to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Joonas Korpisalo.
With the writing on the wall that Petersen was no longer needed in Los Angeles, they were desperately trying to find a way to trade his 2 remaining years, which is when the Flyers decided to enter the chat. Looking to acquire capital in a loaded draft, newly-minted General Manager, Daniel Brière, orchestrated a three-team traded that involved the Columbus Blue Jackets as well.
Philadelphia received: Sean Walker, Cal Petersen, Helge Grans, a 2023 1st round pick (from CBJ), a 2024 2nd round pick (from LAK), and a conditional 2024 2nd round pick (from CBJ)
Columbus received: Ivan Provorov
Los Angeles received: Hayden Hodgson, Kevin Connauton, and retained 30% of Provorov’s contract
In essence, the Flyers got much needed draft capital in order to take on bad contracts, the Blue Jackets received the prize of the trade in Provorov to address their defense, and the Kings got out of 2 contracts that previously prevented them from re-signing Vladislav Gavrikov. Win-win-win.
Now he comes into Philadelphia where mum is the word on Hart’s availability for the start of the season, Samuel Ersson has just signed a 2-year deal that will keep him locked up through 2026, and no one is really talking about Felix Sandström – the backup goaltender who edged out Troy Grosenick heading into the season opener last year.
Sandström is still young and inexperienced, but the clock is ticking on the 26-year-old because of the emergence of Ersson, Hart still possibly the future in goal, and prospects in Alexei Kolosov and the recently-drafted Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin waiting in the wings. Sandström’s career record of 3-16-4 doesn’t tell the whole story, but Ersson’s first stint with the Flyers last year was all that was needed to put a wrinkle of doubt in his future.
Tortorella expressed his admiration for Ersson and explained that Sandström would struggle to make the big save to keep the team in the game – something Ersson did with relative ease but in a smaller sample size:
On Ersson:
“Erss certainly isn’t going down because of his play, obviously. He’s 5-0, he has a .918 save percentage. But there’s always different things that happen with rosters.
“It’s part of the business. And it’s not just waivers, (Ersson) needs to get some minutes. He missed a lot last year with his injury. (The AHL is) a great league — goaltender right on through — as far as getting minutes. It’s part of the process for him.
“The thing I’ve always said about him is — in the short time I’ve known him — I think he carries himself the right way, too. I think he has the right type of swagger. And when he’s on the ice, I think he brings a calm presence to our team, too.”
On Sandström:
“I don’t know anything about the position. I want him to make a save. He needs to make more saves.
”I think Felix has put in some really good minutes. We need another save. That’s the next step for him. Now, I’m not sure if that happens. He’s gonna get the opportunity, but he needs to make the next save. I think you’ll see him in the win column more (if he does).
“You have the answer. You’re asking me questions you have the answers to.”
So with that in mind, entering the 2023-24 season, the Flyers have to go down 1 of 4 routes (in no particular order):
1) Carter Hart doesn’t get suspended and is the starting goaltender with Samuel Ersson as the backup goaltender, and Cal Petersen and Felix Sandström with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms
2) Carter Hart doesn’t get suspended and is the starting goaltender with Cal Petersen as the backup goaltender, and Samuel Ersson and Felix Sandström starting the year with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms
2) Carter Hart is not around, which opens up a spot for a tandem of Samuel Ersson and Cal Petersen with the Flyers opting to go with a veteran instead of the younger Sandström
3) Carter Hart is not around but instead of going with Cal Petersen, the Flyers opt for the younger tandem of Samuel Ersson and Felix Sandström
The Flyers have a few options, either which way the dice is rolled with Hart, but it seems highly unlikely that they opt for an inexperienced tandem of Ersson and Sandström. Tortorella and the rest of the Flyers coaching staff and management group seem extremely hesitant on the idea of throwing the younger players to the wolves, so to speak, and Petersen brings about a veteran presence with NHL experience.
Troy Grosenick was in a somewhat similar situation last year when he was signed on the first day of free agency, however he was strictly for depth and for the minors. There was always the outside chance that he performed so well in training camp that he would finally get a real NHL opportunity, but he fell short in the face of adversity against both Sandström and Ersson. He also only ended up playing in 6 games for the Phantoms, sporting a 3-2-0 record with an .892 SV% and a 3.32 GAA.
Petersen has 101 games of NHL experience to Grosenick’s 4, he is 5 years younger, and has actually decent-to-good numbers in a short sample size from a few years back.
If it were an expiring contract, it would make that much more sense to run down the clock and trade him ahead of the deadline but the 2 years remaining on his deal make things a little more complicated. He can still be a reliable veteran at the AHL-level but a lot of the goaltending decisions – if not all of them – will rely on Carter Hart and the investigation headed by Hockey Canada.
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