Few players in recent Philadelphia Flyers history have exceeded reasonable expectations quicker than Dan Vladar did in his first season with the club.
Signed ostensibly to provide competition and cover for Sam Ersson, Vladar instead snatched the starting netminder job right out from under the Flyers’ homegrown product, and didn’t stop there. By the end of the 2025-26 season, Vladar wasn’t merely the team’s new No. 1 goalie — he was the team MVP, running away with the voting for the Bobby Clarke Trophy even before he led the team to an upset first-round playoff series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The result this summer? A brand-new five-year, $27.5 million contract that doesn’t even kick in until 2027.
But while there are nothing but positive feelings in Flyers World associated with Vladar now, the new contract does mean that he’s no longer found money, playing at a bargain-bin price. There were already going to be higher expectations for Vladar entering 2026-27; now, those expectations come with a looming monetary value that he needs to fulfill.
So let’s take a look back on Dan Vladar’s 2025-26 campaign: how he did it, just how good it actually was, and whether it’s reasonable to view it as Vladar’s new normal moving forward.
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2 Comments
trebor
Great article Charlie! Hope he can remain healthy and repeat last season.
tasjr
Hey Charlie, thanks for the great article. Your discussion about the Flyers elite defensive performance in 2025-26 that greatly aided Vladar’s numbers begs the question, was that a one-off for the team, or can they duplicate it going forward? We can assume Tocchet will always focus on defense, but do you believe the Flyers personnel are up to the task to repeat this performance? While also somehow adding some more offense? I guess any uptick in offense will likely need to come from the youngsters taking a leap forward.