September 23, 2026

Dan Vladar is 'day-to-day' as Flyers 'dodge a bullet' with goalie's injury scare

Dan Vladar is "day-to-day," a relief for the Flyers, but it could mean turning to Joseph Woll for next week's opener.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Bob DeChiara/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Dan Vladar was said to be "day-to-day" after leaving Tuesday night's Flyers preseason game in Boston with an injury.

Goalie Dan Vladar has the "day-to-day" designation after exiting Tuesday night's preseason game in Boston with an apparent right arm injury.

And for the Flyers, that's a bullet dodged.

"Well, yeah, any kind of that situation, you know, you dodge a bullet, so I think we dodged a bullet," head coach Rick Tocchet said Wednesday back at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. "He's in good spirits today."

Vladar, the Flyers' leading netminder, left Tuesday night's exhibition against the Bruins pressing late into the first period. He reached out to try and cover a puck at the top of the crease, but at the same time, Boston's Tanner Jeannot cut in to take a whack at it, and the forward's skate appeared to get caught underneath Vladar's arm.

Vladar lost his stick during the sequence, and never moved to pick it back up. He played through, but held his blocker in tight to his body up until the Bruins scored a few seconds later. Then he hunched over with the stoppage and started coasting his way toward the bench.

Aleksei Kolosov, the night's backup, would finish the rest of what stood as a 5-1 Flyers loss.

But the score hardly mattered leaving Tuesday night. The focus was all on the status of the goalie who played a major role in the Flyers' playoff breakthrough last season.

The team will take "day-to-day" given the situation and the fact that it could've been much worse, but with the season opener against the Penguins just a week away, Tocchet couldn't say whether Vladar would be ready in time for it.

"I don't know at that point," Tocchet said. "It's day-to-day, so it could be 48 hours or 72, I don't know."

Dan Vladar has left the game due to injury pic.twitter.com/i6GgzzkLWQ
— Nasty Knuckles (@NastyKnuckles) September 22, 2026

What Tocchet did know, though, is that the Flyers do have Joseph Woll as the main backup behind Vladar now, and that he's comfortable with the possibility of having to start Woll out of the gate if the team does have to.

After all, Woll was the goaltending upgrade the Flyers sought out this summer, when they landed on a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs that led them to move on from former reserve goalie Sam Ersson.

Tocchet said, too, that he also had a good word on Woll from Flyers alumnus and Woll's former coach in Toronto Craig Berube.

"He really speaks highly of him," Tocchet explained. "So we're in really good shape with that."

Probably far better in the crease than the Flyers have been in such a long time.

Vladar broke out to a career year alongside a young Flyers team that proved ready to break through, starting 51 games with a .906 save percentage, a 2.42 goals-against average, and a 29-14-7 record on a run that launched him into the conversation as one of the league's better goalies.

Then in the playoffs, Vladar got even better, posting a .922 save percentage through 10 postseason games that helped put the rival Penguins away in the first round and at least gave the Flyers a chance to fight in the second against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

As soon as free agency opened on July 1, the Flyers rewarded Vladar with a five-year, $27.5 million contract extension ($5.5 million per) that, in turn, rewarded the organization with some long-desired stability in net.

But they still needed more for this coming season, knowing it would be wise to try and ease the burden on Vladar going forward.

So they struck a deal for the 28-year-old Woll, who has bounced around through just about every role (starter, backup, 1A, etc.) in Toronto's own volatile goaltending situation over the past several years.

And now the Flyers might need to call his number right away, while thanking their lucky stars that they're not expecting to suddenly be without Vladar for the long haul.

"He's played a lot of good hockey in this league," defenseman Jamie Drysdale said of Woll. "I don't know too much of the backstory, but I know he's been a good goalie in this league and won a lot of games as well. So I'm sure he's ready. He looks good out here."

"It's my goal to help the team however I can," Woll said. "Whatever [the] situation is, it doesn't change that."