Flyers moving on from goaltender Steve Mason, according to agent
It appears Steve Mason will be tending goal elsewhere for the 2017-18 season.
The Flyers apparently aren't interested in re-signing the former Calder Trophy winner, his agent Anton Thun told Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"In all honesty, he would have hoped the Flyers would have been interested enough to enter into contract negotiations with him right now, but they didn’t, so you move on," Thun said. "That’s business."
Mason, 29, will leave the City of Brotherly Love with the third-most wins in Flyers history with 104, trailing only the team's current general manager Ron Hextall (240) and Hall of Famer Bernie Parent (232).
If there's one word to describe his tenure in Philadelphia's crease, it's probably "inconsistent."
In total, he leaves with a .918 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average in 221 starts with the Flyers, but his seasons were often full of extreme highs and lows, and he was never able to put a stranglehold on the starting job.
Hextall instead opted to extend fellow goaltender Michal Neuvirth to a two-year contract back in March. Neuvirth has a .911 save percentage and a 2.50 GAA in 53 career starts with the Flyers.
Thun, of course, backed his client.
"If I was running the team, I'd sign Steve Mason, but of course I'm biased," he said. "They made a decision to sign Michal Neuvirth, which was their choice. I think it probably surprised a bunch of people, but, again, that's the Flyers' choice, and we just have to react to that."
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
At this point in his career, Mason appears to be your classic "tweener": too good to be a pure backup, but not good enough be a true No. 1. Regardless, there will be work for a very serviceable NHL netminder, especially with two more goaltender spots up for grabs in the league with Vegas entering the fold.
"At the end of the day, there's a goalie marketplace out there, and I think there will be significant opportunities out there for Steve," Thun said.
As for the Flyers, they certainly can't be content with Neuvirth and Anthony Stolarz, who has just four NHL starts under his belt, as their goaltending tandem heading into the season.
Look for them to be one of the many teams in play for a goaltender via trade. It's hard to imagine they'd make a deal with divisional rival Pittsburgh for Marc-Andre Fleury, but Arizona's Mike Smith seems like a good fit as a stop gap.
If the Flyers can't find a viable trade partner, they will have to turn to the list of free-agent goalies headlined by Ryan Miller, Brian Elliott, Jonathan Bernier, and Mike Condon. Yikes.