from Mike Sielski of Philly Daily News,

Goaltending has bedeviled them since Ron Hextall won the Vezina in his rookie season, 1986-87, and the obvious irony of his just-ended tenure as GM is that the Flyers’ last great goalie had no more success in solving this riddle than anyone else in the organization has. He counted on Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth – a pair past their 30th birthdays, both of whom underwent offseason surgeries – returning healthy and getting through 82 games or more before the organization started fresh next season. (The Flyers have no goalies under contract for 2019-20.)

It was a bad bet from the start, and somehow it’s gotten worse. At a time when NHL goaltending has never been better, the Flyers, relatively speaking, have arguably never been worse at the position. They rank last in save percentage, even though, according to the statistical database Natural Stat Trick, they have given up the third-fewest high-danger scoring chances in the league. For all the presumption that Dave Scott and Paul Holmgren have charged Fletcher with speeding up Hextall’s slow and deliberate rebuild, it would seem impossible for Fletcher to get a full and accurate sense of who he should keep, who he might trade, and how good the Flyers can really be until the goaltending situation stabilizes itself.

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