The Philadelphia Flyers have inked another impressive young goaltending prospect, signing Felix Sandstrom to a three-year entry-level contract. Sandstrom dealt with an abdominal injury for much of the season, getting into just 11 games in the SHL. If he’s coming over to North America for 2018-19, the Flyers have some decisions to make on who will get what playing time.
Sandstrom, 21, was selected in the third round in 2015 and is part of a huge pipeline of young goaltenders in the Philadelphia system. He might be best known to North American fans for his performance at the World Juniors last year, when he took home Top Goaltender honors for Sweden. Though his club didn’t win a medal, he was a rock in net putting up a .915 save percentage against top competition, including 38 saves in a loss against Canada in the semifinals.
The man at the other end for that game (well, most of it anyway after replacing Connor Ingram just three shots in) was Carter Hart, a fellow Philadelphia goaltending prospect who could be a teammate of Sandstrom next season in the AHL. Hart dominated the WHL this season but will likely be transitioning to the AHL next season as a 20-year old, to get some fine tuning before hitting the NHL. Hart may be the prize of this pipeline, but Sandstrom isn’t to be overlooked. The Swedish netminder will try to stake his own claim in the system as the goalie of the future, especially with such disarray at the NHL level.
Flyers haven’t had a goalie since Hextall
They had one but traded him to Columbus. Bad move. Bobrovsky is the real deal.