This is the 2025-26 edition — an archived read. Read the 2026-27 report →
Dan Vladar
Philadelphia Flyers Goaltender
Six-foot-five, an .8975 in Calgary, and signed in the summer to compete for a job on the club with the worst goaltending in the league.
| Season | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | GA | GAA | SO | SA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-21 | BOS | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 17 | 3.40 | 0 | 149 | .886 |
| 2021-22 | CGY | 23 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 57 | 2.75 | 2 | 608 | .906 |
| 2022-23 | CGY | 27 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 72 | 2.91 | 0 | 667 | .892 |
| 2023-24 | CGY | 20 | 8 | 9 | 2 | 68 | 3.62 | 0 | 574 | .881 |
| 2024-25 | CGY | 30 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 83 | 2.80 | 2 | 810 | .897 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 105 | 49 | 34 | 16 | 297 | 3.00 | 4 | 2808 | .894 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
12-11-6 in 30 games for Calgary with an .8975, a 2.80 average and 2 shutouts, facing 810 shots.
It is the second-best save percentage of his career and it came behind a club that finished 9th in the league in goals against. Philadelphia signed him in the summer, and the arithmetic of the move is simple: the club’s goaltending was 42 goals worse than its chances, and an .8975 would have been an enormous improvement on what it got.
The Physical Game
6-5 and 209 and he takes up a great deal of the net by standing in it. The style is deep and blocking rather than aggressive; he sets in the crease and waits for the puck to hit him.
The size covers the top of the net almost completely and the cost is the same as it is for every goaltender built this way — a second chance across the crease is harder for him to reach, and the recovery is the weak part. The rebound control is ordinary. He does not handle the puck well and does not start breakouts.
The Mental Game
Five seasons as a backup on two clubs and he has never held a starting job for a full season. The save percentages read .8859, .9063, .8921, .8815, .8975, which is a goaltender who has not settled.
He is not being asked to be a starter here either, which may be the most sensible thing about the signing.
The Intangibles
A third-round pick of Boston in 2015 out of Prague, and 105 NHL games in with a career .8942.
He is 28. On a club whose 25-year-old incumbent has posted an .8904 and an .883 in consecutive seasons, a competent 30-game backup is worth more than the contract suggests.