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What another impressive day at Flyers camp today. Another day, and yet another positional battle was won as John Tortorella confirmed today that Samuel Ersson will be Carter Hart’s backup to start the 2023-24 season. Ersson made 12 saves on 13 shots faced against the New York Islanders, and impressively may have opened some eyes yet again. He was pretty impressive with his rebound control and not only that, Ersson made timely saves, but made some really good saves in the same token. Ersson moves laterally from post to post well, and has a new goalie mask in the same token.
The former Vasteras IK product in Ersson appears to a confident one after his first 12 stints in the NHL. He was 6-3, with a 3.07 GAA, and a .899 Save Percentage to start his NHL career last season. Ersson is agile, and really moved well laterally from post to post. He has a good glove hand, as he snares pucks out of mid air. For his efforts, Ersson earned a 2.00 GAA, and a .930 Save Percentage in his last three starts, and he led the Flyers to a sweep of the California road trip for the first time in franchise history.
This was an unlikely role given to him, with the sickness to Sandström, but he seemed to relish his new role with the Flyers. Ersson really turned some heads in a good way for the Flyers proud faithful, and took this backup goaltending spot by the bullhorns for a short period of time. However, John Tortorella seemed to favor Ersson over Sandström when Felix came back from injury.
“Overall, it was fun being back out there. I’m out here trying to prove that I can help this team win games.” – Samuel Ersson
Winning games is on Tortorella’s mind, as Ersson enjoyed a good brief stint with the Flyers last season. With Ersson serving as Hart’s backup, obviously Tortorella believes that Ersson gives the team the best shot at winning over Sandström. Ersson has been great at camp, but an even better in pre-season action. He doesn’t break and looks very composed in net.
What will happen next is anyone’s guess for Sandström. Will he possibly be waived today, or will the Flyers carry three goalies into the season? Stay tuned to find out.
Extra Credit:
John Tortorella also confirmed that Adam Ginning and Ronnie Attard have both been sent back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. This leaves just Egor Zamula and Emil Andrae as young prospects looking to earn a spot on opening night.
Samu Tuomaala is hurt, and rehabbing, thus why he is still left at camp.
