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It sounds like Flyers goalie prospect Yegor Zavragin is going to stay an extra year in the KHL. Steve Jacot, Maddie Campbell, & Jacob Russell discuss what this means for the Flyers goalie situation, and whether they should bring back Sam Ersson for one more season.
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0:00
But, I think the biggest story that came
0:02
up this week, I want to get right into
0:03
this, is involving Igor Shesterkin, who
0:07
you know, when we talk about all this
0:09
extension talk with Dan Vladar, one of
0:12
the things on the peripheral, one of the
0:13
things we think about, is Shesterkin and
0:15
what his future is in the the
0:17
organization there. Because when you
0:19
look at their goalies, right?
0:21
Sam Ersson's probably on his way out. I
0:23
think we're all in agreement on the
0:25
status of Samuel Ersson at this point.
0:27
Uh nice man, beautiful hair, beautiful
0:29
head of hair on that head, but it sadly
0:32
does not translate to great goaltending
0:34
skills and numbers. So, it maybe he gets
0:36
a chance somewhere else, but I don't
0:38
want to see him back here for another
0:40
season at this point. And then, you look
0:43
over Kolosov, he's been better this
0:46
season, but still a mess. He had the
0:47
game where he didn't get a save and
0:49
allowed four goals, so that was awesome.
0:51
And uh Bjarnason had some, you know,
0:54
some bumps in the road in his rookie
0:55
season. And uh Matty, I think you
0:57
probably watched more Carson Bjarnason
0:59
than anybody here, and uh I would love
1:01
to get your thoughts on that.
1:03
>> Uh yeah, that was a a weird year for
1:05
him. I think I talked about this on PHLY
1:08
recently, where like
1:10
it sort of averages out to something
1:11
like close to what we would have
1:13
expected from him this year, but it was
1:15
because he started out hot and then sort
1:18
of fell off. It's like, "Ooh, it starts
1:19
to feel a little scary." But
1:22
I don't know, he's going through the
1:23
growing pains. Like, it's a big
1:25
adjustment going to the AHL. He was
1:28
always going to be like a little bit of
1:29
a project, at least I felt. So,
1:33
I'm fine with
1:35
giving him some time to figure it out.
1:37
I'm not worried about him, but it's
1:41
yeah,
1:41
the rest of the mix with how Shesterkin
1:44
fits into it is like
1:45
weird, still.
1:47
>> Yeah. We And the thing is, it ultimately
1:49
comes down to like, you're going to need
1:51
this guy. He is the one guy who you're
1:54
really looking at and saying, "You are
1:56
our hope for the future."
1:57
>> Yeah.
1:58
>> Yeah, Zavgorodny, he's not he's not like
2:01
uh guaranteed stud, but I I think we
2:04
were looking at the next 2 years.
2:07
Probably getting a decent look at him in
2:10
a
2:11
large sample size. Like I think he would
2:13
have played 30 to 40 games once he came
2:15
over. It's not like a guy like Bjarnason
2:17
who we probably want to test the waters
2:19
a little bit.
2:20
Zavgorodny's played in the KHL. KHL
2:22
isn't the NHL, but it's professional
2:23
hockey league. I mean, there's men, you
2:26
know, Nikita Gusev can shoot the puck
2:27
pretty hard probably still. I don't
2:29
know. Jordan Weal is the best player of
2:31
all time.
2:32
>> Oh my god, Jordan Weal. I hope his
2:34
aunt's not listening.
2:35
>> The Weal deal.
2:37
>> The Weal deal.
2:38
>> Jordan Weal, man. Jordan Weal, that was
2:41
uh my favorite Broad Street Hockey story
2:43
my writing experience was I wrote a
2:45
piece about Jordan Weal being a cancer
2:47
on the Flyers, very tongue-in-cheek, and
2:50
Jordan Weal's aunt took it very
2:51
personally. She took that personally
2:52
like Jordan, and uh not like Michael not
2:55
like Jordan Weal, like Michael Jordan.
2:56
So, there you go. Michael Jordan Weal.
2:58
But,
2:59
yeah, she didn't [laughter] take it
3:01
well.
3:02
>> Player.
3:04
But, yeah, you you look at a guy like
3:05
Zavgorodny, and you think that
3:09
there's more of a runway than anyone
3:12
else to become an actual starter in the
3:14
NHL.
3:16
And it looks like yeah, it's going to be
3:17
delayed here, and
3:20
it's been weird because it's not as if,
3:22
you know, St. Petersburg was using him
3:24
as like the de facto starter or anything
3:27
like that, either.
3:28
He was kind of in between a few
3:30
different names,
3:32
and
3:33
he never really found a rhythm in the
3:35
KHL. He found a rhythm in in the VHL,
3:37
the MHL. He's too good for those levels,
3:39
realistically.
3:41
But, in the KHL, it's just it was a lot
3:42
of stop-start. It wasn't great, and you
3:45
were kind of hoping, "Okay, if you get
3:47
him to the AHL, or if you even get him
3:49
to the NHL right away, you can kind of
3:51
shelter his matchups. The team plays
3:53
really good defense, at least the one
3:55
that we saw recently
3:57
seemed to play pretty good defense. So,
3:59
you know, you you would hope that you
4:00
could force some low danger chances and
4:03
you know, maybe get him acclimatized to
4:05
the NHL and now that's going to be I
4:08
don't know. Who knows how far away that
4:10
is now? I You really can't tell.
4:12
>> Yeah, it's crazy how quickly things
4:14
change cuz we had that rumor kicking
4:17
around right around the end of the
4:18
season that he might be coming over like
4:21
now.
4:22
And now it's suddenly [laughter] like
4:24
4 years down the road or something.
4:26
Yeah.
4:27
>> No, no, see you in 2035.
4:29
>> Yeah.
4:29
>> Right, right. Well, the So, the report
4:31
is that he got traded to HC Metallurg,
4:33
which apologies I said that wrong, but
4:35
also I don't care.
4:35
>> Magnitogorsk.
4:37
>> Magnitogorsk, which of course
4:38
Magnitogorsk is cousin.
4:40
>> never been good at that one.
4:41
>> No, I don't It's not It's not for me to
4:43
pronounce that stuff. He got traded
4:45
somewhere else in the KHL. Who cares?
4:46
Big whoop. But the big thing with that
4:49
is his contract reportedly was extended
4:51
to the 20 2027-28
4:53
season, which that puts a little hitch
4:56
in the wagon there. That makes it a
4:58
little bit more complicated for the
4:59
Flyers to bring him over and see what he
5:01
has in North America. And that also
5:04
makes It makes really interesting for
5:06
things for the Flyers as far as this off
5:08
season goes because when we're talking
5:10
about if Ersson comes back, which I
5:12
think most of us I think are saying,
5:14
"Please no. We've seen enough.
5:16
Respectfully, stay away."
5:18
And you're looking for a more reliable
5:20
backup option.
5:22
Because you don't want to block a guy
5:24
like Sandstrom if he's ready. You know,
5:26
that's I think a big factor here. But
5:28
when we're looking at this, you got to
5:30
now think, "Okay, we're going to need
5:32
somebody for a couple of years." So,
5:34
maybe that
5:36
changes what Danny Briere's thinking as
5:38
far as what kind of backup to go after.
5:42
>> Yeah, it's suddenly a lot more
5:43
complicated than I think they might have
5:45
been anticipating heading into this off
5:48
season for sure.
5:50
>> I think I think now it just forces you
5:52
to sign somebody.
5:54
Um, I don't know if you want to try
5:56
another Vladar esque swing and like try
5:59
and look at another 1B type of name and
6:03
see if that makes sense um, to try and
6:06
compete even with Vladar. It would seem
6:08
far-fetched that you sign a guy that
6:09
competes with the guy
6:11
who was so good for you this season, but
6:14
possibly like
6:16
I think that makes more sense than just
6:17
signing
6:18
the equivalent of a Curtis McElhinney
6:20
for back in the day. Like
6:23
just a guy who is going to play 30 to
6:25
five games and be completely average.
6:28
Like signing Jake Allen, right? Uh,
6:30
that's that's the sort of thing um,
6:33
that doesn't necessarily make sense
6:35
especially because if Bjarnason was to
6:37
push a little bit like you could bring
6:39
him up. Kolosov's kicking around. I
6:42
don't know what the hell he's going to
6:43
end up doing at this point. The fact
6:45
that he's survived to this point and is
6:47
still on the Flyers and this
6:48
relationship is still like and he's not
6:50
in the NHL and he has no real viable
6:52
path to the NHL,
6:54
but he's still around. And you know,
6:57
it's it's weird. Zubrigan
7:01
it makes it so you're signing a guy
7:04
possibly for more than one year
7:06
potentially.
7:07
Whereas if Zubrigan was coming over and
7:09
even the season after the upcoming
7:12
season,
7:13
um, then you can at least bank on that
7:15
and just sign someone to a one-year deal
7:17
and it doesn't really matter who it is.
7:19
Um,
7:20
now it's it's like you said, it's a lot
7:22
more complicated.
7:24
>> And the thing I'm sort of like rattling
7:26
around at the back of my head too is
7:27
like
7:29
as much as Steve, you're emphasizing do
7:31
not bring back Sam Ersson.
7:34
Do they do it on a one-year deal? Like
7:36
what's the market looking like? Do they
7:37
feel
7:39
like
7:40
he was so good the last, you know,
7:43
stretch of the season. We can eat
7:45
another year of restricted free agency
7:47
and like hope that after that one of the
7:50
the kids is ready to come up.
7:52
I don't feel great about that, but I'm
7:54
asking the questions.
7:56
>> I don't feel great about it, but you do
7:58
look at it and you go if you squint and
7:59
you're like, well, Sam gives us like an
8:01
8 892.
8:04
Sam gives us an 892 in 15 games
8:07
and then and then we get Vladar out
8:09
there for 45 and then and then maybe,
8:12
you know, we get some Collisaw games in
8:14
there. Maybe he gets four starts here or
8:16
there cuz somehow he just manages to get
8:18
four starts.
8:20
Um, you know, you can resign
8:23
a guy like Ivan Fedotov
8:25
if that interests you, Steve.
8:27
He's going to be He's going to be
8:29
available.
8:30
>> He will be available. There's good
8:32
reason he'll be available. If he's not
8:34
on the first plane back to Russia, then
8:37
what's he even bothering with?
8:38
>> Right, you want Vitek Vanecek is dead?
8:40
Like that's what we're talking about. I
8:42
don't know if it's really
8:44
the sexiest options. I do not want that
8:47
to happen at all.
8:49
I take more umbrage than that than
8:51
Yes.
8:52
I think so. I think I would.
8:55
I don't think I believe in Cam Talbot at
8:56
all, no offense. I played with a guy
8:59
who's a good friends with Cam Talbot.
9:01
>> Oh, I'm sure he's got some stories then.
9:04
>> Yeah, I you know, I didn't get
9:06
[laughter] too deep into that, but
9:08
>> Bring Bring Bobrovsky back.
9:09
>> Just uh sign all the old guys, right?
9:12
>> Bring in Neal Terrasenko
9:14
Carlson David Rittich.
9:16
>> Real old real quick.
9:18
>> Are any of these names appealing to
9:20
anybody?
9:21
The other Matt Murray
9:23
Other Matt Murray's available. Other
9:24
Matt Murray The younger one, slightly
9:26
younger. Levi Merilainen He had like an
9:29
8-5
9:30
4.
9:32
But
9:33
I don't know. Maybe it is Ersson. Maybe,
9:35
you know, maybe you know, you can do
9:37
worse. I'm going I I don't know if you
9:39
can do the work. I'm going to look up
9:41
that save percentage from this past
9:42
season again, that aggregate save
9:44
percentage to see what it was. Just to
9:46
remind myself
9:47
>> He's only
9:49
He's going to be 27. He's fine. Maybe
9:51
he's got another
9:53
>> Oh, did Joe DiMaggio join the podcast
9:55
all of a sudden?
9:56
>> [laughter]
9:57
>> That's I I have nothing but love for
10:00
Joe, but one of the funniest things with
10:02
Joe is just how often he will bring up
10:05
uh goaltending age. It always cracks me
10:08
up because he he's been Mr. Trade for
10:10
Stuart Skinner for years now. And
10:12
>> I was so upset with him. So
10:14
>> No, that's unforgivable to me.
10:17
Okay, so he did not finish with
10:20
So Sam Ersson didn't finish with the
10:22
lowest, but it's down there. So he ended
10:25
up with an 870 [snorts]
10:26
save percentage. Uh lower with more than
10:29
10 starts were
10:31
uh Miro Lehtinen who had an 860
10:34
>> He's available.
10:36
>> Petr MrΓ‘zek who had an 858.
10:38
>> Oh, [laughter] he's available.
10:40
>> So don't forget after all these things
10:43
that you know, he still was pretty hot
10:45
garbage. Uh however, only three
10:47
percentage points worse than Jordan
10:50
Binnington.
10:52
>> Lest we forget.
10:53
>> Lest we forget.
10:55
>> I you know, I just it seems so bad this
10:58
year all across the league
11:00
goaltending just in general, especially
11:02
if it isn't your guy like the
11:03
Vasilevskiy, the Shesterkin
11:05
>> Yeah.
11:05
>> even Shesterkin I don't think was great,
11:06
but that's the Rangers also. Like if it
11:08
isn't the guy on the team, you do not
11:11
feel good about someone stealing you a
11:12
hockey game in the regular season. Uh if
11:15
you're playing your backup
11:17
you're getting pumped. And even the
11:19
teams that had like the good backups and
11:21
a deep roster of goaltenders like the
11:23
Leafs, they were just so poor in all
11:26
other aspects of the game that didn't
11:28
matter. Like the Leafs have legitimately
11:29
four goalies who could play at the NHL
11:31
level right now.
11:32
Um and
11:34
you know, two of them always get injured
11:36
and the other two
11:38
are swapping in and out all over the
11:40
place behind a team that sucks and can't
11:43
score.
11:44
So, it's like why does it even matter to
11:45
begin with?
11:46
The Flyers
11:48
you feel like maybe it is just take a
11:50
swing at somebody and and hope that the
11:52
way that they defend and the way that
11:54
they play defense makes the like a lower
11:58
Brossoit like play well in his limited
12:01
starts, you know? Like I don't hate that
12:02
either.
12:03
>> Yeah, I was just going to say
12:05
maybe the bright side of that is
12:09
the tweaks that they made in the second
12:10
half of the season to whatever they were
12:12
doing with their defensive scheme
12:14
worked. So, do you hope that
12:17
personnel not withstanding that
12:21
you can keep that rolling and prop up a
12:24
mid backup at best? I don't know.
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