Dan Vladar

Last Season

Fifty-two appearances, 29-14-7, a 2.42 goals-against average and a .9057 save percentage with no shutouts. His career figure across 157 games is .8978, so this was eight thousandths above his own standard and the best season of his life.

The Physical Game

Six foot five, 209, and he plays the size properly — deep, square, unhurried. Against a club that concedes perimeter volume by design and finished third in the league in expected goals against, that is close to an ideal pairing.

The lateral movement is ordinary and it is why the career figure sits where it does. When a play moves him across, he is beaten.

The Mental Game

A third-round pick who spent six seasons as somebody’s backup in Boston and Calgary before being handed fifty games. Twenty-nine wins out of it, and .903 over his last ten.

Nothing about the season suggests a man who found the workload difficult.

The Intangibles

Philadelphia’s goaltending still came in twelve goals worse than the chances it faced, which is the split rather than Vladar: he stopped .9057 across 52 games and Woll stopped .8984 across 39 with a 3.34 goals-against average.

The league median was .896. Vladar cleared it comfortably and Woll did not.

He is 29, and this club finished third at preventing chances and 26th at creating them. The goaltending is not the problem here. The scoring is.