(Kevin Durso/Sports Talk Philly)
By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
One of the position battles at Flyers training camp is gone with the news that Anthony Stolarz will be out indefinitely after having surgery to repair a torn meniscus on his left knee.
The news had little impact on the Flyers current goaltending situation. Brian Elliott was brought in as a free agent and Michal Neuvirth returns to round out the NHL duo. But Stolarz figured to be a big part of the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and was expected to be in a battle for the starting job there with Alex Lyon.
For Stolarz, who was re-signed and protected from the Expansion Draft during the offseason, it instantly cuts short a season that would have meant a lot to prove himself as the Flyers goalie of the future moving forward. For Lyon, opportunity knocks once again.
There was a time back in 2014, just under two years after Stolarz was drafted by the Flyers, that the young goalie from Edison, NJ was the future between the pipes. He suffered a major injury with the London Knights that season, being cut by a skate blade, and faced a long recovery then, but rebounded and surfaced as the Flyers leading candidate to take over the net in Allentown and eventually Philadelphia.
But the Flyers didn’t stop there with goalies, especially after Ron Hextall took over as GM. They drafted three goalies in the 2015 NHL Draft, one in 2016 and one in 2017. They also signed Lyon as a free agent to give the Flyers a plethora of goaltending prospects.
In the years since, it’s been Carter Hart and Felix Sandstrom getting the attention among the prospects, despite Stolarz’s longevity with the Flyers organization.
When Stolarz got the call to the NHL last season in the wake of an injury to Neuvirth, opportunity knocked for Lyon then to take over the starting job in Lehigh Valley. Lyon carried the Phantoms through a lot of games, posting a 27-14-0 record with a 2.74 GAA and .912 save percentage.
Stolarz’s 18-9-0 record and 2.92 GAA weren’t terrible, but after an extended call-up with the Flyers and limited playing time, Stolarz just wasn’t the same in goal for the Phantoms as he had been leading up to the promotion.
So this season was going to be a big one for Stolarz. The Flyers put their faith in Stolarz to take the lead among at the AHL level, to be the first guy called upon should something happen at the NHL level.
And then the injury and surgery happened.
Now, Lyon is the man between the pipes for the Phantoms, make no mistake about it. And the opportunity for him is even greater now than it was a season ago. Lyon is not only playing to be the Phantoms starter even when Stolarz returns, but also to be the next in line should the Flyers need to make a call-up.
With Lyon putting up strong numbers in his first pro season and Hart and Sandstrom dominating the headlines for Flyers prospect goalies, Stolarz is suddenly facing a situation where he becomes the forgotten player in the pipeline.
The Flyers have been a healthy bunch as training camp prepares to begin in a week, and that’s certainly a good thing, and Stolarz’s injury hardly impacts the NHL roster. But it does have an impact on the organization, who may see a shift in the order of the goalie prospects very soon.
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