Up next in 10
The Philadelphia Flyers have things set up in net for the foreseeable future with Dan Vladar and Joseph Woll at the NHL level, and top prospect Yegor Zavragin waiting in the wings. So where does Carson Bjarnason fit?
Ryan Gilbert and Jacob Russell break down Bjarnason's rough first season in the AHL, and where he could go from here as we continue the Broad Street Hockey Flyers Top 25 Under 25.
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0:00
Hello and welcome back to Broad Street
0:03
Hockey, continuing our top 25 under 25
0:07
for summer 2026 here with gold tender
0:10
Carson Bjerringson. I am Ryan Gilbert
0:13
joined by Jacob Russell. Jacob, you talk
0:15
now.
0:17
>> [laughter]
0:17
>> Uh goalies, yeah, you know, AHL
0:20
goaltending, it's the easiest thing to
0:21
evaluate uh on planet Earth. Everyone
0:24
knows exactly what's going on when you
0:26
watch the AHL. Uh they don't shoot from
0:28
weird angles or anything through six
0:30
layers of traffic all night. Um yeah,
0:32
Carson Bjerringson, interesting guy, you
0:35
know, interesting guy, and that's who
0:36
we're going to talk about today.
0:38
Um
0:40
I liked him. I liked him coming out of
0:42
the draft, you know, WHL goalie,
0:44
uh another one, get another one, try
0:46
again.
0:47
Uh
0:47
first one didn't happen.
0:49
>> Yeah.
0:49
>> Um
0:51
kind of
0:52
just hard to assess these guys, you
0:55
know, it's
0:57
talking Flyers affiliated goaltending
0:59
has always been a very scary thing for
1:01
me, so I'm doing fine, I guess, in a
1:03
roundabout way.
1:04
>> Yeah, and you know,
1:06
Bjerringson coming into last season, I
1:08
feel like a lot of people had higher
1:10
hopes for him, you know, 913 save
1:11
percentage in the W, which isn't great,
1:14
but it's solid save percentage, um you
1:16
know, 22-15-3
1:18
with the Wheat Kings, um but this is
1:20
more about where like he fits now in the
1:23
Flyers goaltending system. Cuz they got
1:25
Ladar, they got Samuel Ersson, they got
1:27
Zavgorodniy,
1:28
uh and speaking of uh Ladar, uh Ladar
1:31
over at uh FanDuel, that's who that be
1:33
sponsoring the show, is uh where's his
1:35
odds to win the uh to win the uh Vezina?
1:38
55 to 1 for uh Dan Vladar to win the
1:40
Vezina, tied with our good friend uh
1:42
Sergei Bobrovsky, so it's
1:43
>> I've uh
1:44
that's a little wild, but I've had worse
1:47
I've heard worse bets. P.J. Tucker five
1:49
five plus threes.
1:51
>> There
1:52
There are There are
1:53
>> Today only.
1:53
>> There are worse bets
1:56
uh definitely out there, and and
1:57
Bjerringson, you know, came in at uh at
2:00
in the top 25 under 25. I had him 16th.
2:04
A few people had him a little bit
2:05
higher. Two people had him off hit their
2:07
ballots entirely. So, a wide range here
2:11
on goalies cuz like you said, they
2:13
they're always tough to evaluate,
2:16
especially going from um, the juniors to
2:19
the pro level.
2:20
In a In a season where Bjerning
2:22
definitely played more than the Flyers
2:24
probably wanted him to. You know, with
2:26
with Vladar getting hurt, Sam Ersson
2:29
being Sam Ersson, they had to call up
2:31
Alexei Kolosov to get a few starts, back
2:34
up a bunch. So, Bjerning ended up
2:36
playing 32 games, uh, 3.43 goals against
2:39
average, 877 save percentage. Also got
2:42
two games in at the, uh, ECHL with the
2:45
Reading Royals, uh, going one and one,
2:47
881 save percentage, and 3.57
2:50
goals against there. So, 6'4" is a big
2:54
goalie. He still has that size, um, but
2:58
it is tough to see
3:00
where he fits in in the system now. He
3:02
kind of just seems like an extra guy
3:04
rather than It was like, "Oh, Bjerning
3:06
and Zvargen. Zvargen and Bjerning." Now,
3:08
it's like, "Okay, Zvargen and we'll and
3:10
we'll see what Bjerning is."
3:12
>> Yeah, I mean, he's always been the
3:13
second name in that tandem. It's always
3:16
been Zvargen and Bjerning rather than
3:18
the other way around, but I did
3:21
think that there was some sort of future
3:24
for him uh,
3:25
at the NHL level, but now it's just
3:27
really closing up, right? Dan Vladar
3:29
shows up and he's
3:31
the best goalie since name whoever you
3:34
want, Steve Mason, I guess.
3:36
>> Yeah.
3:36
>> Um,
3:38
and now you get Joseph Woll, who if he's
3:40
healthy is, you know, capable of being
3:42
just as good as Vladar if not just a
3:45
little bit worse. Um,
3:48
so so now you wake up and he's is Alexei
3:50
Kolosov. Like, if you were calling
3:52
somebody up next season and probably the
3:54
season after that realistically unless
3:56
something really massive changes
4:00
or Kolosov leaves, which could totally
4:01
happen.
4:02
I'm more comfortable bringing up Kolosov
4:04
than a guy like Bjarnason. Like,
4:06
Bjarnason to me still feels like he's at
4:08
least 2 years away from the NHL, which
4:10
is fine. Goalies take a while and it's
4:12
not like they need him right now, right?
4:14
But
4:15
when you talk about the 25 under 25,
4:20
I don't know if he really has an NHL
4:22
role in his future imminently.
4:26
I think you're almost hoping that you
4:28
don't see him because if you did,
4:29
something went horribly wrong.
4:31
I just don't think that even if he plays
4:33
well, you really got to move him or
4:34
worry about him. I think he's he's good
4:36
to just sit down there and maybe
4:38
increase his game load a bit more
4:39
gradual or gradually than having him be
4:42
the um
4:43
one B to Kolosov basically the entire
4:45
year.
4:46
Uh because he wasn't ready for it, you
4:47
know, like of AHL goal tenders who
4:50
played over 30 games, he had the worst
4:54
um save percentage and the worst goals
4:57
against average. Um
4:59
uh
5:00
you got like somebody like Zach
5:02
Sawchenko
5:04
uh for the Cleveland Monsters who had an
5:06
880 and a 305. You know, that's still a
5:09
decent amount better than
5:11
what what Bjarnason did and we don't
5:14
know where that guy is. So, you do have
5:18
some worries, right? There
5:21
cause for, you know, maybe a little
5:23
apprehension on like his NHL future
5:25
because I don't really know where he
5:26
fits in and he hasn't banged down the
5:29
door at least in year one. So, it's
5:31
going to be
5:33
I I don't think we're going to see him
5:34
for a while. I think he just let him
5:35
marinate and take a while down there as
5:38
long as he needs and hopefully grow into
5:40
becoming the phantom starter before you
5:41
make a decision on him.
5:43
>> Yeah, you don't want to rush a goalie at
5:45
all. Like, even a goalies with with
5:46
higher pedigrees. we see like like Devin
5:48
Levi coming up for the Sabres and he had
5:50
a few flashes and now he's kind of down
5:52
their pipeline and in trade rumors. And
5:55
and looking at Bjernefoss' game log from
5:57
last year, he only allowed two goals or
6:00
fewer in eight complete games, but they
6:03
all came in his first 15 starts. So, he
6:05
came out of the gate decently, you know,
6:08
a few a few four goals against, a five
6:10
in there, but you know, a handful of
6:12
ones as well.
6:14
We also have to remember like the
6:16
environment he's playing in with the
6:17
Phantoms, which is now getting better
6:19
with with the, you know, new coaching
6:21
staff behind the bench, but you think
6:23
about the Flyers prospect pool, there's
6:25
not a lot of defensemen there. And you
6:27
even think about like are there AHL
6:29
tweener defensemen? And not really. You
6:31
got you got Murchison, they traded for
6:34
Kirill last year.
6:35
>> Garans and Adam Ginning, I guess, are
6:37
kind of tweeners, but they're really not
6:39
ever Yeah, they're going to be guys who
6:41
you ever want playing in the NHL ever.
6:44
>> No, so and the Phantoms weren't a good
6:46
team overall last year, so there is
6:48
there is some leeway where you can say
6:50
like, "Okay, Bjernefoss
6:52
played kind of more than you wanted on a
6:54
team that was, you know,
6:57
affected by injuries both to that level
6:59
and also players like Bump and Barkey
7:02
being called up.
7:03
So, there is
7:05
you know, and goalies are weird. That's
7:07
why I wanted to keep Bjernefoss on my
7:09
ranking in that, you know, teen range
7:11
because you could see him having a great
7:14
first half of the year, splitting starts
7:16
with Kolosov, and you know, by by the
7:19
time January, February rolls around, he
7:22
might be an option to call up. Like,
7:23
that's that's there's a possibility.
7:26
There's a world where we see Bjernefoss
7:28
playing in in March and and it's not
7:30
just because everyone else got hurt.
7:32
There's also the option where
7:34
you don't want to see him because, you
7:36
know, bring up Kolosov, sign James
7:38
Reimer off the off the waiver wire just
7:40
to bring in an and back up for a game if
7:42
you have to. Like get like do do what
7:45
you have to do there, but
7:46
in the grand scheme of things, yeah, you
7:48
got Ledar under contract now for for
7:51
what, six more years? You got Wall for
7:53
two more years. Then Zavgorodniy can
7:56
come over after that. So, Garnison
7:58
really just feels like he's going to be
8:00
this fourth guy, which is fine. Goalies
8:03
take a long time to develop and if you
8:05
can give him
8:07
you know, he could be one of the parts
8:09
of the tandem for the Phantoms there for
8:12
two or three years, bring up your
8:14
prospects to play with them. That can
8:16
really be good. So, he can be a part of
8:18
the tandem towards kind of Ledar's final
8:22
years.
8:23
>> Yeah, I mean
8:25
I think that's just
8:27
the only way to go about it now,
8:29
especially. I don't think the Phantoms
8:31
were awful awful to the point where like
8:35
it was a complete detriment towards him,
8:36
but he's never played in the AHL before
8:38
and that's really tough. That's a really
8:40
tough transition. It is a very hard
8:41
league for everyone to play in. I think
8:43
we've said that a bunch of different
8:44
times. Sometimes the guys who jump
8:47
straight, you know, feet first in from
8:50
like the OHL or college, sometimes it's
8:52
almost better for them. He's immediately
8:54
already in it and you got to like sink
8:56
or swim, you know. I think with Martone
8:58
he's one of those guys that like I could
9:00
have seen Martone getting stuck in the
9:01
AHL just cuz it's hard. It's just
9:04
grindy, you know. And if your team's not
9:06
scoring, it's hard for you to score. Um
9:08
and it's not like Alexei Kolosov was
9:10
lighting the world on fire with his 2.98
9:13
and his 8.95 save percentage, you know,
9:15
like that's also 45th amongst goalies
9:19
who played more than 15 games uh in in
9:22
the AHL. So, there's not like he was
9:26
very good either. The defense was not
9:28
that great, but
9:30
you know, it is
9:32
just a wait and see game with him. I
9:34
think Zavgorodniy coming from the K is
9:37
definitely going to have a much easier
9:38
road and I think you're going to have to
9:39
start him
9:41
if he comes over and if he plays for the
9:42
Phantoms, right? Like I just think
9:44
whenever that happens, that's the
9:46
immediate spot where he is. So even if
9:47
Björninen was to win the role, I don't
9:49
think he'd even keep it for very long,
9:51
you know? It just doesn't seem like
9:53
that's the case or that's how it's going
9:55
to shake out. So yeah,
9:57
he'll be the fourth guy, I think it it
9:59
kind of works out that he doesn't look
10:00
good because you can just kind of say,
10:02
"Okay, well, he slots in right behind So
10:04
Bragging in the future." And then
10:06
whenever So Bragging shows up, Kolosov
10:08
is getting traded for a seventh-round
10:10
pick conditional.
10:12
So yeah, it all kind of shakes out the
10:15
way you would
10:16
hope. And they they took some more
10:18
goalies as well that
10:20
will hopefully be ready,
10:21
you know, for 4 or 5 years to kind of
10:24
have a shot at the NHL.
10:28
And just keep the pipeline kind of
10:30
stocked up and hopefully some of these
10:31
guys will come good at some point cuz
10:34
right now you got a pretty stable tandem
10:35
as it sits
10:37
uh in in the NHL. So that makes it a lot
10:40
easier for the development, too, of
10:42
everybody else.
10:43
>> And theoretically, the AHL tandem should
10:46
be solid enough. Kolosov now, what,
10:48
third third year over here? He's got a
10:51
better head on his shoulders now.
10:53
Björninen coming back in for for a
10:55
second full year. Uh I'm looking back
10:57
here through, you know, the past 5, 8
11:00
years on some rookie goalies that
11:02
struggled in the in their uh their first
11:04
season in the AHL. Uh 2018-19, you had
11:08
Dan Vladar, 898 save percentage. Filip
11:10
Gustavsson, 887.
11:12
Um the following year, you had Joseph
11:14
Woll, 880. Stu Skinner, 892.
11:18
Uh next following year, Joseph Woll uh
11:21
was again a rookie, but 892 in the
11:24
shortened season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen,
11:26
888. So there are guys who come in,
11:29
struggle in their first year, and then
11:31
are able to, you know make a career out
11:34
of themselves to you know because it's
11:35
great for the wild that are has been
11:37
great for the flyers. So
11:39
there there is there is plenty of room I
11:41
think for for Bjarnason still just just
11:43
turned 21
11:45
last month so
11:47
two months ago now in in June but
11:50
big body 6'4 second round pick
11:53
give him the runway to just see what he
11:55
can do. Hopefully he he has a better
11:57
year with the Phantoms.
11:58
>> And and the guy even the guy like Dennis
12:00
Hildeby who has just gotten plucked to
12:02
go and um
12:04
be the backup to to Andrei Vasilevskiy
12:06
in Tampa.
12:08
898 uh 271 goals against last year. I
12:12
mean it's nothing insane you know it's
12:15
not unbelievable numbers by any stretch
12:18
and
12:19
I don't know I think it's just one of
12:21
those things you got to wait and see.
12:22
It's probably not going to be this year
12:24
upcoming. He probably won't get
12:26
a ton better but if you can see a 900
12:28
save percentage out of him
12:30
I mean the goals against that's
12:32
partially a team thing but you got to
12:33
get that closer to three at the very
12:35
least like it can't be close to 3.5 like
12:38
that you're getting to a point where
12:39
it's just hard to
12:41
you know it's hard to
12:44
really have confidence when you go in
12:45
the net. That's like Mads Sogaard
12:47
numbers and we all know how good Mads
12:49
Sogaard is. Um
12:51
so yeah it's it's going to be
12:53
interesting. I think he's got
12:56
I always like his positional play. He
12:57
always seemed really technically sound
12:59
like side to side he didn't go too far.
13:02
Sometimes you know I think we had that
13:03
with with Kolosov and Fedotov.
13:05
>> Our our good friend Feddy yeah.
13:07
>> Our our good friend Feddy who where
13:09
they they're huge they well Kolosov not
13:12
as much but mostly Fedotov. They're big
13:15
but they just slide like the the paint
13:18
is not as magnetic as it should be that
13:20
blue paint just like they're all over it
13:23
they're in the corners. Um I just
13:25
thought Bjarnason a little bit more
13:28
um,
13:29
technically sound of a goalie. And and a
13:32
left catcher. Left catcher always weird
13:34
when you get a left catcher.
13:35
>> Oh, no, left catcher's normal. Right
13:36
catcher's weird.
13:37
>> Right catcher.
13:38
>> Yeah. Uh, yeah. I go both hands
13:40
actually. I go ahead both hands when I
13:41
was in net. So, I get screwed up
13:43
sometimes.
13:43
>> Okay. No, yeah. Left catcher. So, so it
13:45
is normal there.
13:46
>> He's he's not throwing uh, he's not
13:48
throwing what is it? He's not riding
13:50
goofy.
13:51
The Tony Tony Hawk pro skater.
13:54
>> And uh, that's tricky of course for the
13:56
for this as well. Yeah.
13:58
Yeah. Look look at and looking at the
13:59
Phantoms defenseman that played last
14:01
year uh, just by games played you had
14:03
McDonald, Helge Grans, Kristian
14:05
Khenayrou,
14:07
uh, Maxim Goulette, Oliver Bonk, Adam
14:10
Ginning, David Jiricek at 39 games in
14:12
there, Ty Emberson, Roman Schmidt. Like
14:14
a a bunch of guys that you don't
14:16
necessarily want to see there. So, Bonk
14:18
probably will start the season there.
14:20
McDonald as well as another another year
14:22
under his belt. So, yeah. Hopefully see
14:25
Bjergaasen be able to, you know, talk
14:27
himself back into be being like, "Okay.
14:30
He can he can be a tandem guy at the NHL
14:32
level at some point rather than being
14:34
like, "Oh, god. This guy had to go back
14:36
to the ECHL." So, hopefully hopefully he
14:39
plays in just one league this this
14:40
season.
14:41
>> Yeah. You know what's funny about Carson
14:44
Bjergaasen? And like I it does feel a
14:47
little like hate little scoreboard
14:48
watchy.
14:50
He was drafted as a goalie in the second
14:52
round of the NHL draft and he's never
14:54
had a save percentage above 920 in his
14:56
life. Like I see his stats back to U15
15:00
AAA.
15:01
And he has never once had a
15:04
season where he's had over a 920 save.
15:08
>> Yeah.
15:09
The Flyers do like their Brandon Wheat
15:11
Kings. It's kind of like kind of like
15:13
the London Knights
15:15
the Western London Knights. Like
15:16
>> Patrick.
15:17
>> That was kind of more of a more of a
15:18
Hexstall thing.
15:19
>> Worked out well to be fair.
15:21
A lot of legendary Brandon Wheat
15:23
>> play a Brandon?
15:24
Was it a couple.
15:27
Yeah, we're really on a hot streak,
15:29
aren't we?
15:31
>> Yeah, but yeah.
15:32
>> to be fair, Ivan was good.
15:34
>> Yeah, second yeah, second round goalie
15:36
like like that that is kind of weird and
15:38
like other second round goalies in that
15:40
draft. Trey Augustine 41st overall, Adam
15:43
Gajon
15:44
and Michael Garteig.
15:46
>> guy, yeah. He was nice.
15:48
>> Damien Clara, the the the Italian. Yeah,
15:50
yeah, yeah.
15:51
He was taken down by the Ducks in that
15:53
round, but
15:54
Yeah, it's just it's just wait and see
15:56
with this and hopefully he's able he's
15:58
able to find it a little bit.
16:00
>> Yeah, I mean this it's it's not
16:02
unfortunately, it's not going to be like
16:05
overnight and there's not really much to
16:06
say about it because if he just plays
16:08
badly, it can
16:10
things move very quickly, you know,
16:12
things move very fast. Uh Damien Clara,
16:14
by the way, played three games in the
16:15
AHL
16:17
for a 4.04 goals against average and an
16:19
868 save.
16:21
Um but to be fair, in the Olympics, he
16:24
had a 911.
16:26
>> He was He was great in the Olympics.
16:27
>> Well, you know, listen.
16:29
Maybe Carson needs to switch to wherever
16:31
Bjarnason's from. Maybe he'll play for
16:33
Norway. I think he can get in
16:35
Team Norway. I'm making an assumption as
16:37
to where his last name's uh from.
16:41
>> I'm trying to
16:42
I'm trying to see where Bjarnason
16:43
Bjarnason was 16 last year, too. So, he
16:45
he's just stuck right in the middle of
16:48
the uh top 25 under 25.
16:50
>> Yeah, I think I I was always like I
16:52
didn't do about this year. I I I didn't
16:54
get it
16:55
um done in time essentially. Uh but
17:00
Bjarnason and and Zavgorodniy were
17:02
always kind of tied at the hip for me.
17:04
I'd have Zavgorodniy in front of
17:05
Bjarnason and then just kind of move
17:07
them
17:08
up and down like inside the late teens.
17:11
So, that was my
17:12
that was my kind of
17:14
vibe. Put them at like 18, 17 every
17:17
year.
17:17
>> Yeah.
17:18
>> So.
17:18
>> I I've he was tied for eighth in the
17:21
winter.
17:22
So Ragin was and Bjarnason was at that
17:25
16th. Yeah, that's kind of Bjarnason it
17:27
like separated for me. Bjarnason 16,
17:30
below him I got Ben Sager, Mark
17:32
Tagliani, like guys in ahead of him.
17:34
Ruining, Sokolov, Yuro check, like guys
17:36
that have higher potential.
17:38
>> I would have if I yeah, I would have
17:40
definitely put him closer to 20,
17:41
probably in the 20s. Given like just the
17:45
numbers or just the raw numbers aren't
17:46
great.
17:47
But yeah, not
17:50
it's it's a wait and see process.
17:51
Goalies are weird and can come out and
17:53
have a 920 next year and I wouldn't be
17:55
surprised. It's just kind of how it is.
17:56
>> Yeah, yeah, exactly there.
17:59
Think that's going to do it here for our
18:00
discussion on Carson Bjarnason. Make
18:02
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18:04
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18:07
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18:11
Let us know if our takes are are good or
18:12
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18:15
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