<p>Death, taxes and talking about the Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltending woes. It seems inevitable that at some point, every season, this is something that will find itself back in the discussion room – and it has been no different this season.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Flyers coach John Tortorella made his concerns loud and clear entering this season regarding his goaltending. This is a family-friendly platform, so I can’t give you the full quote verbatim, but it was something along the lines of it scaring the third-year Flyers just to even think about it.</p>



<p>We all knew there were going to be bumps (if not mountains) this season in the Flyers’ crease. There was an inherent risk with Samuel Ersson starting the year for the first time as the official starter without Carter Hart in the picture. The 25-year-old’s play has been up and down, though he still seems to be Tortorella’s preferred choice when all options are on the table. The problem, though, is that Ersson has not always been an option.</p><div class="injected-ad injected-video" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="0" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="168"></div>



<p>Once again on the shelf due to an injury –  though the injury is in the same area as the last one, it doesn’t sound like it’s the same specific one – and it has now begun to raise some question marks about his ability to be a long-term starter. While I don’t get the sense that this is a situation where the team is set to give up on Ersson, I do think there is a growing acceptance that Ersson is, at best, a 1A, platoon type of goaltender who can give you 45-50 starts as opposed to a workhorse starter.&nbsp;</p>



<p>This is the case for a lot of starting goaltenders nowadays, as the days of the 60-game plus starter has largely gone the way of the DoDo bird. Look at Adin Hill and Darcy Kuemper, two goalies who have won Stanley Cups over the last three years. Neither are workhorses by any means and both had their partners utilized significantly by their teams on route to their respective Stanley Cup championships.&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="174"></div>



<p>But in order for a platoon system to work, you need a solid 1B. To this point, the Flyers are still trying to figure out who that 1B guy is.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Ivan Fedotov was supposed to be that guy when he was shockingly brought over late last season. After finding a way to get the 28-year-old Russian out of his commitments to the KHL, general manager Daniel Briere subsequently signed Fedotov to a two-year contract worth more than $3 million per season. The deal was expensive and raised some question marks. But as it was explained to me, it was what it was going to cost for Fedotov to take the risk of moving to North America. </p>



<p>Additionally, with Ersson already signed to a two-year deal at a shade over $1 million per, the combined cap hit of a goaltending tandem coming in at less than $5 million was something the Flyers were more than comfortable with.&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="2" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="157"></div>



<p>Fedotov did struggle mightily earlier on in the season. Barely able to keep his save percentage at the .800 mark at one point, he became the No. 3 goalie when Ersson was healthy. At one point, there were discussions about him potentially hitting the waiver wire.</p>



<p>While the talks of Fedotov going on waivers quieted for a month or so, it seemed like it was a legitimate possibility leading into the holiday season. When Ersson was healthy and he and Aleksei Kolosov were both playing solid hockey for a stretch, it does sound like there was at least some consideration in the Flyers’ front office to have put Fedotov on waivers. They did want to have three guys with them out west – turns out it was a good idea, given the injury to Ersson – but I wonder what would’ve happened had the Flyers come back with three healthy bodies. Fedotov has played two games in a row over the last four days. He played well in Sunday’s game, but after giving up three goals on 17 shots last night, it had Tortorella say, “I have no idea” about the outlook for the goaltending situation.</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="3" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="196"></div>



<p>Then we come to Kolosov, who, by all accounts, should be in the AHL right now if things were ideal. Instead, he has been a main roster mainstay for over two months. He has caught a lot of shrapnel from pundits and fans alike, with some wondering if he’s an NHL-caliber goaltender. I don’t get the sense of the players having any ill will towards Kolosov for, as some may say, strong-arming his way into a consistent NHL job. Has he “earned” the spot in the traditional sense of the word? Probably not, but given the injury pattern to Ersson this season, would he have not seen significant time at the main roster level, anyway?</p>



<p>I get the frustration from everyone (coach included) on the goaltending. Had the Flyers consistently gotten even league-average goaltending this season, there’s a solid chance they’d be in a playoff position. They rank eighth in the NHL in expected goals percentage, per moneypuck.com; the team’s overall game and underlying process is well above league average. Now imagine this current team was getting the same goaltending it was a year ago at this time when they had Hart and Ersson running side by side. So, when I hear people criticizing the team’s woeful outlook between the pipes, it does make some sense.&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="4" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="216"></div>



<p>But then I take a step back and remember that the Flyers are still rebuilding, even though not in a conventional way everyone agrees with. Part of rebuilding is figuring out what you have internally and what pieces are going to be part of things moving forward. Part of that is goaltending and figuring out which of the guys they currently have at their disposal will be part of the long-term plan for this group.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Fedotov is approaching 30 and is likely not a long-term fixture. But, subjectively speaking, he is a perfectly fine No. 3 goaltender on the depth chart. And if we’re being honest, it isn’t like there are a plethora of available options right now that would be significant upgrades. I do think Fedotov has been largely better since the calendar flipped to November and was satisfactory in his last two performances, given that he barely played for a month.&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="5" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="153"></div>



<p>As for Kolosov, the situation does seem more tricky with the ever-looming threat of him bolting back to Russia if the Flyers tried to demote him. Yes, it is easy to preach “call his bluff,” but what if it isn’t? What if he leaves and Ersson remains on and off the injury shelf? </p>



<p>It’s easy to just say “play Cal Petersen,” but playing a proven (negative) commodity like that is not going to do anyone any favors in regards to getting a clearer outlook on the goaltending fixture long term. The Flyers need to know what Kolosov is in the long term, and though that’d be best served in the AHL to figure out, the NHL is what it is for now. And as I mentioned earlier, even if Kolosov was accepting of being the third guy and playing in the AHL, he would still be seeing NHL games with Ersson struggling to stay healthy. So either way you cut it, Kolosov was going to see significant time in the NHL this year.&nbsp;</p><div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="6" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="174"></div>



<p>Nothing is set in stone, and it has been echoed to me several times that everything is on the table. But for now, the Flyers are going to ride things out with their goalies. All three are locked into identical two-year term contracts, so it has given the Flyers a clear window on how long they have to figure things out – especially when considering their other goaltending prospects. </p>



<p>The outlook seems grim at the moment, but turbulent times are always to be expected in a rebuild. Unfortunately, those times have lived almost exclusively between the pipes this year.</p>



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