Photo Credit: Eric Hartline/USA Today
The Flyers have some tough decisions ahead of them as Training Camp is finally on the horizon. One tough decision is who will be the backup to Carter Hart? Will it be Samuel Ersson, Cal Peterson, or Felix Sandström. They recalled Sandström last season, but inadvertently sent down a successful backup netminder in Samuel Ersson to Lehigh, which ended speculation of Sandström being waived with the intent of sending him to Lehigh. Moreover, at one point last season it appeared Flyers Head Coach John Tortorella favored Ersson over Sandström, whoch could lead to even more pressure for Sandström to put forth an excellent camp. Yes, Sandström has to have an excellent to possibly stay afloat in the organization that finally has depth at the Goaltending position.
The former HV71 product appeared to be confident, and one could see the jubilation on his face in the locker room last year while playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2021-22, especially towards the latter part of the season. I once again derived a quote he said to me at Flyers Developmental Camp back in 2019, “I’m confident in my abilities,” Sandström said to me back in 2019. “I am ready for the journey ahead, and I do not think I will have a hard time adjusting to the size of the rink. Carter Hart is a good Goaltender. I’m coming in to kill it, should be no different from Sweden. I’m going to work my butt off.”
Fast forward to the 2021-22 season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. For about the first quarter of the season it was anything but blissful, as the Phantoms were navigating through covid concerns, and injuries. Moreover, Sandström is also no stranger to Taxi Squads as he was recalled to the Taxi Squad earlier in the season. He compiled a 15-18-5 record, 2.96 GAA, and a .900 Save Percentage with the Phantoms during the 2021-22 season. However, Sandström played well in the past four to five games, while becoming a brick wall for a young Phantoms club before this recent recall.
Sandström plays well as he sees more playing time. Some goalies need to play to keep their game fresh, especially for confidence purposes, and Sandström is one of those netminders. Felix finally made his NHL Debut during the 2021-22 season, and he played rather well with backstopping 43 saves on 46 shots faced for a whopping .935 Save Percentage in the 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on December 30, 2021. He became the 715th former ECHL player to make his NHL Debut.
Felix just wants to prove that he is a Goaltender that the Flyers can rely on in the future to back up Carter Hart. Unfrotunately, Sandström hasn’t made “That” save, like Hart has primarily all season long. At some point, Sandström has to make “That” save or saves for that matter, or he will risk losing his backup job to Ersson, whom is waiting in the wings for a shot. This includes winning some games that the orange and black have no right in winning. That is what Sandström has to do in order to win the backup spot this coming season.
Even though the Flyers have lost with Sandström, more often than not, in net for his NHL career thus far (3-16-4 record, 3.66 GAA, .887 Save Percentage), the team still has his back “I gotta get the puck out and that gave them a freebie there and left Felix out to dry,” James van Riemsdyk said following a game last season. “I think there was definitely some things we could have executed better.”
Tony DeAngelo placed blame on the team for the four goals against the Seattle Kraken, not Sandström “Trying to think of a couple of the other goals. Not really, first goal two-on-one wide open net, second goal wide open in the slot, third goal wide open in the slot, and fourth goal a little off the slot, so we didn’t give Sandström much help. He made some really good saves for us to, so I’d say not as much today.”
