Last July 1, the Flyers surprised many by signing Dan Vladař to a two-year, $6.7 million contract. Vladař then surprised many with his play.
One year later, and the goalie is sticking around for the foreseeable future. The Flyers announced Wednesday that he is signing a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension with an annual average value of $5.5 million. According to a league source, the contract comes with a no-trade clause for the first two years, followed by a no-movement clause for the remaining three years, with it dwindling from 15 teams to five.
Vladař’s contract won’t kick in until the 2027-28 season and will take him through his age-34 season. The signing came now, as opposed to next summer or even mid-season, because if he at least meets his numbers this year, “you’re looking at a crazy number that we’re probably not comfortable with,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said on Wednesday.
“Dan, I think, exceeded expectations last year, not just on the ice, but also off the ice, too,” the GM added. “Tremendous leader, tremendous human being, the way he interacted in the room with the guys, the way he found a way to get them going, and wanted more.
“I think you’ve heard Rick Tocchet talk about him coming over to the bench and trying to encourage the guys and get them going; it’s more than just this play on the ice. He was huge in our locker room. I don’t expect that to change. He’s just a good human being. It’s good to have him around.”
The writing had been on the wall for some time that the goalie was sticking around long-term. Asked about the rumors of an extension, Vladař joked at his end-of-season availability that, while he would accept the phone call for the extension, “If you can ask the same question to Danny Brière, I’m going to be watching. So we’ll see what he says.”
Two days later, the general manager was quick to respond, saying, “I heard his answer. Maybe we wait, and I’ll talk to you guys [off camera] about that.” The extension could not be signed until July 1.
The Czech goalie, who previously was a career backup, mainly for the Calgary Flames, is coming off the best season of his career while playing almost twice as many games as his previous career high (30). Across 51 starts, he went 29-14-7 and had the most wins by a Flyers goalie since Steve Mason in 2013-14. He also had one relief appearance, stopping all six shots he faced from the Boston Bruins, to finish the regular season with a 2.42 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.
In the postseason, despite the Flyers getting swept in four games by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes after beating the rival Pittsburgh Penguins in six, Vladař’s numbers were even better. He posted the ninth-best playoff GAA among Flyers goalies all-time with at least five starts (2.18) and the eighth-best save percentage (.922). Vladař recorded two shutouts in the playoffs, making him the eighth Orange and Black netminder to have a pair in the postseason; the team did not record one in the regular season.
“Vladdy, he was a monster in there,” forward Travis Konecny said after the season. “And he wins the games two ways. There’s the — we’re not playing good; he comes and talks to us, pumps us up. We believe in him, so you kind of keep going, you keep pushing, you find a way to win. Or he wins the game by just being Vladdy, and he just takes the game.”
Vladař revealed after the season that he had sustained an injury in the playoffs when Penguins forward Bryan Rust ran over his arm. Because of it, he wasn’t able to represent Czechia at the men’s World Championships in May.
There are some questions outside the organization about the long-term contract, especially with this past season being Vladař’s first season as a No. 1. Internally, they do not think it’s an anomaly. He came to Philly to prove he can be a starter, and he showed it.
“Dan Vladař wanted to be a Flyer,” Brière said. “He was adamant … and look at the end of the day, it’s not everybody who wants to be a Flyer … but when you have your MVP from the previous year who says, I want to be here, this is my team, I want to lead this team, it made it really easy for us to [sign him] — especially at the number that we got [him at].
“He put it on the line, and he played ball with us. If we wait, that number gets dramatically higher the following year.”
Bringing in Vladař, who will turn 29 in August, helped solidify a position that has long been a question mark in Philly. The previous year, the Flyers’ three-headed monster of Sam Ersson — who was traded recently for Joseph Woll — Aleksei Kolosov, and Ivan Fedotov — who was traded before last season — combined for a league-worst .879 save percentage. Brière stressed that things needed to be better.
Under Vladař, they were. And now he has a solid backup in Woll, who was acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in mid-June. Woll has a career 63-43-9 record with a 2.94 GAA and .906 save percentage.
“Now with Woll to help him, it’s not just him; now he’s got a really strong helper right beside him,” Brière said. “So my hope is that with both those guys we can keep them fresh along the way, too. You don’t have to overplay one or the other. I think they’ll support each other really well, and I think that ups the chances that both these guys will be able to stay fresh and play well throughout the year.”
Leave a Reply