Flyers Development Camp Recap: Goalies

(Photo: Kate Frese)

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

The Flyers wrapped up their annual prospect development camp on Monday. While the purpose of the camp is not for evaluation and for simply honing skills and improving in certain areas of the game, it is an opportunity to see many of the team’s prospects and get a look at what skills the possess.

In the final part of our three-part series, reviewing the Flyers prospects at development camp, we look at the goalies.

Carter Hart – Naturally, all eyes were on Carter Hart at camp and rightly so. He’s ready to turn pro next season and the NHL is not far off in the distance. In certain drills in group sessions, the object may not be having the goalie stop the puck, but Hart takes a lot of pride in keeping the puck out of his own net and making saves on teammates. One thing that stands out with him is how he tracks the puck. He’s very good at staying square and doesn’t get caught out of position often. That kind of foundation allows him to stay square, move and react quickly, and make himself bigger lower in the net.

Felix Sandstrom – Sandstrom has, in a way, become a forgotten prospect among goaltenders in the wake of Hart’s rise to the top. Sandstrom in his own right is a top goalie prospect. It was a trying season for Sandstrom, but his camp work continues to look strong. The one factor against him is that, while he signed his entry-level deal, he will return to Sweden next season, while Hart remains a call away in the AHL. So while Hart could be, realistically, a season away, Sandstrom is probably closer to two seasons away.

Kirill Ustimenko – This was the first camp appearance for Ustimenko, so there wasn’t much known about him going in. He’s got good size for a goaltender and he had a solid camp all in all, coming off a fairly solid season. There is a lot of fine-tuning to be done to his game, but with plenty of time to work on that in the Flyers system, there is no rush with him.

Ivan Fedotov – This kid is tall at 6’7” and it shows compared to the other netminders. He uses his size well, but movement and reactions are a lot slower than the rest. As another European netminder, there is plenty of time to let him mold into a better netminder with more time.

Samuel Ersson – The newest addition to the Flyers prospect pool for goalies had a solid first camp. His positioning is sound and he’s good at tracking the puck, good skills to have as a foundation for playing the position.

Matej Tomek – He’s one of the most veteran in camp at the position, but he’s not a standout. It’s hard to compete with the likes of Hart and Sandstrom, but after four years, you would like to see more progress. Of course, Tomek has been on a rough career path. He transferred from the University of North Dakota to Nebraska-Omaha, where he will debut next season, and played 30 games in the USHL this past season with Waterloo, posting a solid 2.39 GAA. He still needs to show that he’s got the skills at the college level and at camp with prospects who are near NHL ready to even be on the radar, and after four years, it just doesn’t seem like he’s come all that far.