The Philadelphia Flyers surely are hoping they don’t have anything to worry about with goalie Dan Vladar.
He left their preseason game on Tuesday night with an injury, termed an upper-body injury, that doesn’t yet have a lot of clarity.
With the regular season beginning next week, it’s not a great time to have a goalie get hurt. Teams are just ramping up to play games that matter, and Philadelphia would be much happier with Vladar in the net than on the injured list.
There’s really just one piece of the situation that could help Philly, and it’s their backup goalie setup after a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
First, though, they’re going to have to figure out what the deal is with Vladar.
Dan Vladar Injury Update
Vladar exited the preseason game Tuesday night in the first period with an upper-body injury.
The goalie reached for a puck that came toward the net but had it knocked away by Bruins forward Tanner Jeannot.
Vladar let go of his stick and appeared to be favoring his blocker hand.
As with many hockey injuries, there wasn’t a whole lot more clarity on this one in the immediate aftermath.
The most telling indicator will be if Vladar is back on the ice at some point before the regular season. If he simply starts playing again, it likely won’t be a huge deal — but if Vladar vanishes, it could be a problem for the Flyers.
Vladar is coming off a great season in which he went 29-14-7 in 51 starts. He had a 90.6 save percentage and a 2.42 goals against average.
He impressed the Flyers enough that this summer, they gave him a five-year contract extension worth $27.5 million, which is $5.5 million per year.
Vladar missing time would almost surely be a negative for Philadelphia, but they did make a move for a new backup goalie this offseason.
Maple Leafs Traded Joseph Woll to Flyers
The Flyers pulled off a trade in June to acquire goalie Joseph Woll from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Woll went to the Flyers along with defenseman Simon Benoit in a deal that sent goalie Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick to the Leafs.
Philadelphia knew all along that it wasn’t acquiring Woll to start but instead to provide insurance behind Vladar.
A year ago, Woll had a 15-16-7 record with an 89.8 save percentage and a 3.34 goals against average.
Toronto had a surplus of goalies (and added Sergei Bobrovsky), so either Woll or Anthony Stolarz had to be dealt, and it ended up being Woll who moved.
The Flyers must’ve liked Woll enough to make that trade, because giving up the young defenseman Andrae wasn’t necessarily an ideal choice.
Now, it’s looking like Woll has at least a chance to play a bigger early role than he would’ve been expecting for the Flyers.
Flyers’ Dan Vladar Injury Opens Door For Maple Leafs’ Discard