Tag: Dan Vladar

Darth Vladař is back.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday for the first time since leaving the Flyers’ preseason game Sept. 22 with an upper-body injury, goaltender Dan Vladař said he’s ready to go for Wednesday night’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 p.m., TNT, HBO Max, and TruTV).

“Yeah, the whole training staff, especially [head athletic trainer Alex] Ambrose … obviously did an awesome job with me, so I owe him a couple bottles of wine for sure,” the netminder joked when asked if he was ready for Wednesday.

He said his mentality will remain “stop the first shot” and that he probably could have played Saturday in the final preseason game if needed. While Rick Tocchet would not confirm Vladař as Wednesday’s starter, the expectation is that he will man the home crease when the puck drops on the 2026-27 season.

But Vladař’s availability was very much in doubt just a week ago after the Czech netminder left the Flyers’ second preseason game in Boston. He was injured when Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot crashed into his outstretched arm while pursuing a rebound. Vladař immediately dropped his stick after the contact and looked to be favoring his right shoulder or arm. At the next whistle, he skated directly to the bench, talked briefly with the Flyers’ training staff, and then exited down the tunnel in noticeable pain.

While the injury sent an immediate panic throughout Flyers Nation, Tocchet quelled fears the next day by saying that the Flyers looked to have “dodged a bullet” with their prized netminder. Vladař returned to practice in a full capacity Sunday and “looked good,” according to Tocchet.

“Someone is watching after me, I guess. It was close, but thank God it was nothing too crazy, so glad I can be here,” Vladař said Tuesday of the injury scare.

Having a healthy Vladař will be critical if the Flyers are to replicate or surpass last season’s run to the second round of the playoffs. In his first season in Philadelphia, he was the team’s unquestioned MVP, posting a 29-14-7 record and ranking in the top 10 in the league in goals-against average (2.42, third) and save percentage (.906, tied for eighth) among goalies to play 40 games. On the heels of his breakout season, the Flyers inked Vladař to a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension that will keep him in Philadelphia through the 2031-32 season.

Vladař isn’t concerned with the pressure of increased expectations entering the 2026-27 season.

“Obviously, you cannot really be listening to the outside noise, whether it’s good or bad. We just got to know what’s in here and focus on ourselves,” he said. “And for me, it’s focusing on me and helping my players, my buddies, [and] my teammates. … Nothing’s changing for us in that way. We’re one year older, maybe one year wiser. So hopefully we’re going to show it on the ice.”

With the Flyers playing back-to-back games to open the season, Vladař and new backup Joseph Woll are expected to split the two games.

Following a season where the Flyers largely struggled on nights Vladař didn’t play, the team made it a priority to upgrade the backup position. In acquiring Woll from Toronto, they did just that, as Woll boasts a .906 career save percentage and quality experience as a starter.

Inquirer writer Jackie Spiegel contributed to the reporting for this article.

Less than 48 hours after losing forward Denver Barkey to a lower-body injury that has him out day-to-day, the Flyers have added No. 1 goalie Dan Vladař to the list.

“I think we dodged a bullet,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Wednesday. “He’s in good spirits today.”

Tocchet’s update came following an anxious few hours for the Flyers and their fans after Vladař exited the team’s preseason game Tuesday in Boston with an “upper-body injury.” The 29-year-old goaltender was the team’s MVP last season, and any significant injury to the franchise goaltender would have curtailed the team’s elevated expectations entering the season.

Vladař’s status for the home opener, which is set for a week from Wednesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV), is unknown at this time. But the Flyers are hopeful their standout netminder has at least avoided the worst, and a lengthy spell on the shelf.

The injury occurred in the Flyers’ second preseason game when Vladař left 13 minutes, 31 seconds into the first period after allowing a deflection goal by Michael Eyssimont. The Czech netminder did not have his stick when the goal was scored.

Before Eyssimont scored, Vladař had mishandled a dump-in and was spread down with his arms extended on the ice when Tanner Jeannot crashed the net for the rebound. It didn’t look like there was significant contact between Jeannot’s leg and Vladař on the play, but the netminder let go of his stick immediately and appeared to be holding his right arm awkwardly in the sequence that led up to Eyssimont’s goal.

Afterward, Vladař skated over to the bench and, while leaning over in discomfort, talked with the Flyers assistant athletic trainer Joe Mele before heading down the tunnel. Vladař, who did not return to the game, was replaced by Aleksei Kolosov, who allowed four goals on 18 shots in a 5-1 loss.

Coach Rick Tocchet told the Flyers website after the game that Vladař was still being evaluated and that he did not have an update.

The worry with Vladař was that just a few short months ago, in Game 3 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, he took a knee to the hand or right arm from Bryan Rust as the Pittsburgh Penguins forward tried to cut across the crease during a power play.

On that postseason play, Vladař immediately appeared to be in pain after losing his blocker and was seen flexing his hand while being checked by then-Flyers head athletic trainer Tommy Alva. He stayed in the game and played the rest of the playoffs but was unable to represent Czechia at the 2026 men’s World Championships.

Vladař, who posted a 29-14-7 record with a .906 save percentage and 2.42 goals-against average last season, signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension that starts next season with the Flyers on July 1.

If Vladař is unable to go on opening night, that honor would likely fall upon the shoulders of Joseph Woll, who was acquired in June from Toronto. Woll, 28, boasts a .906 career save percentage and had some excellent spells as a tandem goalie while with the Maple Leafs.

Durability has been a major question for Woll, though, as he has only played 40 games once so far in his career and has battled a litany of injuries over the past few seasons.

The Flyers and goaltenders go together like oil and water. But it hasn’t always been that way.

Original Flyer and franchise icon Bernie Parent backstopped the team to back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and ‘75 with arguably the best two-year run by a goalie in NHL history. But fast forward 51 years, and the Flyers are still waiting to hoist Lord Stanley again, and still searching for a franchise goaltender who can hold a candle to the man that Philadelphians joked saved almost as much as the Lord.

There have been aspirants along the way: Pelle Lindbergh tragically died just as he was entering his prime. Ron Hextall never quite reached the hype of his Conn Smythe-winning rookie season. Future Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky was shipped out in favor of Ilya Bryzgalov, and most recently Carter Hart’s promising start here ended in disgrace.

That brings us to the next great hope to solve the Flyers’ longstanding conundrum in the crease: Dan Vladař.

Signed to a two-year, $6.7 million contract before last season, the 29-year-old career backup was a revelation for the Flyers, finishing sixth in Vezina Trophy voting and leading the team to an improbable run to the second round of the playoffs. For his efforts, the Flyers rewarded Vladař this summer with a five-year, $27.5 million extension, one that will pay the Czech netminder through his age-34 season.

Given Vladař’s exploits and the Flyers’ perpetual void between the pipes, you’d have expected his extension to be greeted warmly. Instead, due to his age and short track record, it has become a point of contention among the faithful. Here’s a closer look at Vladař’s new deal and why it was a no-brainer from a Flyers perspective.

Vladař’s the team’s most important player

Why were the Flyers so eager to extend Vladař even with a year remaining on his contract? Well, to start, he was really bleeping good.

Among goalies who started 40 games last season, Vladař ranked third in goals-against average (2.42), tied for eighth in save percentage (.906), was ninth in goals saved above expected (13.8), second in quality start percentage (72.5%), and third in even-strength save percentage (.923). He was even better in the postseason, leading all qualified goalies in save percentage (.922) and ranking second in goals-against average (2.18) and goals saved above expected per 60 (.805), according to Money Puck.

For a Flyers franchise that has recycled goalies like soda cans over the years, and that was just one year removed from posting a historically bad .879 team save percentage among Sam Ersson, Ivan Fedotov, and Aleksei Kolosov, Vladař stabilized the problem position beyond imagination and showed he was capable of handling the workload of a No. 1. He also demonstrated the calm demeanor and bounceback ability needed to play the much-scrutinized position in a city like Philadelphia.

But what if he is a one-year wonder?

While never a full-time starter, the 6-foot-5 Vladař showed promising signs before last season and was well regarded in the goalie analytics community. He posted a .906 save percentage in 23 games in 2022-23, and in his final year with the Flames, he ranked 18th in the NHL in even-strength save percentage (.913), only to be done in by the league’s 25th-ranked penalty kill. That’s not to say anyone expected a top-10 Vezina glow up, just that he’s long been a solid NHL netminder.

Vladař’s value to the Flyers goes beyond his play in the crease as well, as, rather atypically for a goalie, he was a team leader and a prominent voice in the dressing room. Rick Tocchet and several of his teammates praised his positivity in tough moments, while Owen Tippett said he’d “never played with a goalie that’s been that vocal, both on the ice [and] off.”

“Dan Vladař wanted to be a Flyer,” general manager Danny Brière said on July 1. “He was adamant … when you have your MVP from the previous year who says,’ I want to be here, this is my team, I want to lead this team,’ it made it really easy for us to [sign him] — especially at the number that we got [him at].”

The force (environment) is strong in Philly

As good as Vladař was, and anyone who watched him last season will vouch that he was excellent, he was also helped by the way the Flyers played.

The Flyers were one of the league’s best shot suppression teams, surrendering just 25.5 per game, the fourth-best mark in the NHL. That correlated to high-danger shots as well, as the Flyers allowed the fourth-fewest high-danger chances at five-on-five and had the fourth-fewest expected goals allowed mark, according to Natural Stat Trick.

This was no fluke either, as Tocchet is a defense-first coach who has a track record of keeping opposing teams’ shots to the outside and insulating his goaltenders. Thatcher Demko came second in Vezina voting during Tocchet’s time in Vancouver, while the Arizona Coyotes ranked in the top five in team save percentage in two of Tocchet’s four years in the desert.

The Flyers upgrading the backup position with a starting-caliber goaltender in Joseph Woll should also only help Vladař. Last season, the gap in quality between Vladař and Ersson was so vast that the Flyers were forced to overplay Vladař, especially as they pushed for the playoffs late in the year. Woll, 28, comes with durability concerns, but if he’s healthy, he’s a .906 goalie for his career and someone who should allow the Flyers to divide the 84 games up more evenly and keep Vladař fresh.

He’s not old in goalie years

While many are harping that Vladař is over the hill, he only turned 29 in August and should still have a lot of good hockey in front of him.

Being 29 as a goalie is not nearly the same as being 29 as a skater, as many goalies’ primes run into their early-to-mid-30s. In fact, five of the last six Vezina winners have been 29 or older, while each of the top four goalies in save percentage last season was at least 29.

Like with a starting pitcher, Vladař should also age more gracefully than most given he’s been relatively healthy throughout his career and has an extremely low number of games under his belt for someone his age. Theoretically, the lower number of miles on Vladař’s speedometer should mean his body is fresher and less taxed than the typical 29-year-old netminder.

For context, Vladař has started 156 games (including playoffs) entering his age-29 season. That number pales in comparison to contemporaries like Andrei Vasilevskiy (535), Connor Hellebuyck (407), Igor Shesterkin (252), and Ilya Sorokin (202) at that age — the latter two also had 117 and 244 Kontinental Hockey League games played, respectively, before coming to North America. How little has Vladař played comparatively? Jake Oettinger, who is entering his 28-year-old season, has already started 365 games, and Jeremy Swayman (27) has 261 under his belt.

Those numbers all bode well for a goalie who started 51 games last year in the regular season and all 10 in the playoffs after previously never starting more than 29 in a season. Vladař did so without showing any signs of fatigue or his play dropping off, case in point being his stellar play in Round 2 vs. Carolina.

All these factors make a five-year contract, at a below-market average annual value of $5.5 million per year, a good bet for the goalie-starved Flyers. When his contract kicks in after next season, Vladař will only rank 21st in terms of goaltender AAV. If he continues to play anywhere like he did last year, when he finished sixth in the Vezina and even received MVP votes, for even half this deal, that would represent one heck of a bargain and maybe, just maybe, another parade down Broad Street some day.

The word “believe” was used throughout the Flyers’ run to the postseason and beyond.

It was in big letters on the T-shirts the team wore, with 3.8% on the sleeve and beloved goalie Bernie Parent’s mask. And, a year ago, it was why Dan Vladař signed with the Flyers. He believed he could be a No. 1 goalie, and he believed something special was brewing in Philly.

That belief became a reality when, across 51 starts, he went 29-14-7 and recorded the most wins by a Flyers goalie since Steve Mason in 2013-14. He finished the regular season with a 2.42 goals-against average and .906 save percentage, with one relief appearance included. He was even better in the playoffs, posting a 2.18 GAA, a .922 save percentage, and two shutouts.

The Flyers showed how much they believe in Vladař on Wednesday by signing him to a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension that carries an annual average value of $5.5 million.

Vladař, who turns 29 next month, spoke to the Flyers’ brass not long after the season concluded, and said that two weeks after the exit interviews, the deal was done. There was no hesitation and “no thinking longer than one second” on his part to get it done.

“Obviously, it means a lot. I, for sure, I don’t take it for granted,” he said on a Zoom with reporters Thursday when asked what it means to him to have the Flyers believe in him. “Since Day 1, I really felt like I became a part of the family here, and [that’s] why my goal is to stay here for as long as I can and to have as much success as I can.

“Nothing’s going to change for me heading into the next season. I’m still going to try to be the same goalie and obviously be the same person and really enjoy my time in Philly, and obviously my family loves it there, too, which was a big factor as well.”

Family is another word used religiously by the Flyers. Vladař said when he signed his initial two-year contract last July 1, every player reached out to him. They welcomed him with open arms, and it’s akin to how he reached out to the newest goalies in the organization, Martin Psohlavec and Marek Sklenička. The fellow Czechs were drafted by the Flyers last weekend.

“I spoke to them right away on Saturday,” he said. “Both seemed really excited to be part of the Flyers, and I basically just congratulated them. I just told them that I’m here for them if they ever have any questions and stuff like that. And at the same time, if they are going to be in Prague around the summer, they are more than welcome to go for lunch or come over for some barbecue.”

It will be a 50% new look between the pipes for the Flyers this upcoming season. Sam Ersson was traded to Toronto before his rights were traded to Ottawa. He signed a two-year, $4.4 million contract with the Senators on Wednesday.

Vladař said the news of the trade on June 16 was shocking — “I never saw that coming” — and called it a sad day.

“First of all, I want to say thank you to Sam. He’s been one of the big reasons why we had a pretty good year, us as a team,” Vladař said. “I cannot wish him anything, just the best. And I hope he’s going to get his role, he’s going to get his games, and he’s going to prove to everybody that he’s a starting goalie. That’s my belief.”

And, yes, he has spoken with Joseph Woll, his new goalie partner acquired in the swap with Toronto.

“I reached out right away to Joe,” he said. “… And same thing as with Sam; we are going to need two, if not three, goalies over the next couple of years. So, for me, nothing’s changing. I’m going to be supportive, and I’m going to battle, and I’m going to be there for him every time he needs me. So nothing’s changing for me.

“And he seemed like a really good person and a guy who wants to be a Flyer. So I think that’s what we are trying to build here. So I’m pretty sure that we are going to have great chemistry, and we are going to do something really special here.”

Last July 1, the Flyers surprised many by signing Dan Vladař to a two-year, $6.7 million contract. Vladař then surprised many with his play.

One year later, and the goalie is sticking around for the foreseeable future. The Flyers announced Wednesday that he is signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension with an annual average value of $5.5 million. According to a league source, the contract comes with a no-trade clause for the first two years, followed by a no-movement clause for the remaining three years, with it dwindling from 15 teams to five.

Vladař’s contract won’t kick in until the 2027-28 season and will take him through his age-34 season. The signing came now, as opposed to next summer or even mid-season, because if he at least meets his numbers this year, “you’re looking at a crazy number that we’re probably not comfortable with,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Wednesday.

“Dan, I think, exceeded expectations last year, not just on the ice, but also off the ice, too,” the GM added. “Tremendous leader, tremendous human being, the way he interacted in the room with the guys, the way he found a way to get them going, and wanted more.

“I think you’ve heard Rick Tocchet talk about him coming over to the bench and trying to encourage the guys and get them going; it’s more than just this play on the ice. He was huge in our locker room. I don’t expect that to change. He’s just a good human being. It’s good to have him around.”

The writing had been on the wall for some time that the goalie was sticking around long-term. Asked about the rumors of an extension, Vladař joked at his end-of-season availability that, while he would accept the phone call for the extension, “If you can ask the same question to Danny Brière, I’m going to be watching. So we’ll see what he says.”

Two days later, the general manager was quick to respond, saying, “I heard his answer. Maybe we wait, and I’ll talk to you guys [off camera] about that.” The extension could not be signed until July 1.

The Czech goalie, who previously was a career backup, mainly for the Calgary Flames, is coming off the best season of his career while playing almost twice as many games as his previous career high (30). Across 51 starts, he went 29-14-7 and had the most wins by a Flyers goalie since Steve Mason in 2013-14. He also had one relief appearance, stopping all six shots he faced from the Boston Bruins, to finish the regular season with a 2.42 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.

In the postseason, despite the Flyers getting swept in four games by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes after beating the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in six, Vladař’s numbers were even better. He posted the ninth-best playoff GAA among Flyers goalies all-time with at least five starts (2.18) and the eighth-best save percentage (.922). Vladař recorded two shutouts in the playoffs, making him the eighth Orange and Black netminder to have a pair in the postseason; the team did not record one in the regular season.

“Vladdy, he was a monster in there,” forward Travis Konecny said after the season. “And he wins the games two ways. There’s the — we’re not playing good; he comes and talks to us, pumps us up. We believe in him, so you kind of keep going, you keep pushing, you find a way to win. Or he wins the game by just being Vladdy, and he just takes the game.”

Vladař revealed after the season that he had sustained an injury in the playoffs when Penguins forward Bryan Rust ran over his arm. Because of it, he wasn’t able to represent Czechia at the men’s World Championships in May.

There are some questions outside the organization about the long-term contract, especially with this past season being Vladař’s first season as a No. 1. Internally, they do not think it’s an anomaly. He came to Philly to prove he can be a starter, and he showed it.

“Dan Vladař wanted to be a Flyer,” Brière said. “He was adamant … and look at the end of the day, it’s not everybody who wants to be a Flyer … but when you have your MVP from the previous year who says, I want to be here, this is my team, I want to lead this team, it made it really easy for us to [sign him] — especially at the number that we got [him at].

“He put it on the line, and he played ball with us. If we wait, that number gets dramatically higher the following year.”

Bringing in Vladař, who will turn 29 in August, helped solidify a position that has long been a question mark in Philly. The previous year, the Flyers’ three-headed monster of Sam Ersson — who was traded recently for Joseph Woll — Aleksei Kolosov, and Ivan Fedotov — who was traded before last season — combined for a league-worst .879 save percentage. Brière stressed that things needed to be better.

Under Vladař, they were. And now he has a solid backup in Woll, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in mid-June. Woll has a career 63-43-9 record with a 2.94 GAA and .906 save percentage.

“Now with Woll to help him, it’s not just him; now he’s got a really strong helper right beside him,” Brière said. “So my hope is that with both those guys we can keep them fresh along the way, too. You don’t have to overplay one or the other. I think they’ll support each other really well, and I think that ups the chances that both these guys will be able to stay fresh and play well throughout the year.”