From Sweden to South Philly, Samuel Ersson continues to impress

Falun, Sweden is about a three-hour drive northwest of Stockholm. It's a little smaller than Wilkes-Barre, but like most places in Sweden, is infinitely more picturesque. Winter sports are a way of life in that part of the world, and naturally hockey plays a large part in that.

But not many people from Falun make it to the National Hockey League, which is part of what makes Samuel Ersson's arrival in the NHL special to him. Only Jesper and Adam Boqvist, the brothers who play for New Jersey and Columbus, respectively, have reached the NHL anytime recently. It appears that Ersson is the first goaltender to do so.

"Obviously it's a proud moment, not only for my family, but where I'm from," Ersson said. "My old hockey team where I grew up, it's fun for them to see that someone from my town can reach the level that I have right now. I try to enjoy it and live in the moment."

The road started in Falun, but then spent a good bit of time in Gavle, about 75 minutes due East, where he played several seasons in the Brynas HC system. He rode out the pandemic there, getting more games in than most non-NHL players; he made 42 appearances in the 2020-21 season in Sweden's top division, his third following his fifth-round selection by the Flyers in 2018.

But for any European goaltender, there comes a time when he has to transition to North America and the smaller ice surface used by the NHL. Ersson made that switch in the summer of 2021, and was set to go with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms a year ago. But then the injury bug hit, and Ersson was limited to just five games in 2021-22, not an ideal situation for someone trying to make such an adjustment.

To his credit, Ersson hit the ground running last summer and had a very strong development camp followed by an equally strong training camp, one where head coach John Tortorella thought Ersson was the best goaltender in the camp, admittedly a statement made with Carter Hart having missed the entire camp with a nagging injury.

Ersson played 18 games with Lehigh Valley, continuing to figure out the new environment, until circumstances dictated his call-up. The Flyers were going on a road trip and Felix Sandstrom was under the weather. That meant Ersson was now working on that transition at the NHL level.

"It's getting there," he said. "It's a transition. I have to get accustomed to the level of play and the speed of the game up here. I feel like I'm getting better every game, and I'm liking more and more how I play."

The first game was certainly a bit of a shock. Ersson was given the start in Carolina two days before Christmas, and it didn't go the way he had drawn it up in his head. The Hurricanes sprinted to a 5-2 lead by the time the second period was eight minutes old, and Tortorella reluctantly ended Ersson's night early.

But fate works in funny ways sometimes. Later in that second period, Hart was injured on a collision in his crease. That sent Ersson back in for the final 22 minutes, which was a complete turnaround - he looked like the goaltender from training camp that had impressed Tortorella so much.
Even though the game was still a loss, those 22 minutes may have changed Ersson's trajectory completely. Instead of leaving Carolina to spend the Christmas break fretting about that game's first half serving as his NHL resume to that point, he achieved immediate redemption. That earned him more starts on the subsequent West Coast trip, where he was able to further establish himself. He almost got his first NHL shutout in Anaheim, and then eventually did get it a couple weeks later in Buffalo. But if he doesn't get back into that Carolina game, who knows where that trajectory would have taken him.

"It's definitely important looking back at it, getting in and kind of getting settled and slowing things down a little bit more, finding my game at this level," Ersson said. "Stuff like that happens and you have to deal with it. Looking back on it now, I'm kind of happy. It's adversity. I can show the team and the organization I'm able to handle adversity, and that's very important."

Ersson has continued to ride the NHL train, at least for now, although the organization has to make a decision soon - Sandstrom is in Lehigh Valley on a conditioning assignment, but he would have to clear waivers to be there once that is over. Ersson does not have to clear waivers to go back to the Phantoms. So the Flyers will either have to send Ersson down, roll the dice on Sandstrom, or carry three goalies. Whatever happens, Ersson isn't focused on any of that.

"I can't control everything around me," he said. "I can only control how I play and take that to the games I get to play. So that's what I'm focusing on."

For Ersson's part, he has done everything he possibly can to stay on the NHL roster. He has picked up wins in five of his first seven NHL games after the victory over Anaheim on Tuesday. So for now, he will enjoy where his career has taken him. He just hopes it leads to a point where his parents can come see him play - they came over from Sweden in December and saw him with Lehigh Valley, but they had just returned home when his NHL call-up came.

"Hopefully maybe they can come over a little bit later," Ersson said. "It's something you want to share with them too. They have such a huge part in me getting to this level. So you really want to share with everyone."