Dan Vladar was one of the Philadelphia Flyers\u2019 most valuable players all season long. It\u2019s easy to say that a goalie is an important player on any team, but Vladar really embodied that this season for the Flyers.<\/p>\n
Vladar wanted to come to Philadelphia because he saw an opportunity to take a bigger share of the crease, and he did just that. The 28-year-old netminder started 51 games in the regular season and 10 more in the playoffs. It was by far the biggest workload that Vladar has had in his professional career.<\/p>\n
For reference, Vladar played in 50 games total (48 starts) in his previous two seasons in Calgary. He\u2019s now played in 157 games (146 starts) in his NHL career, with one-third of them coming this past season with the Flyers.<\/p>\n
There were a lot of questions surrounding Vladar\u2019s larger workload as he became the clear number one option ahead of Sam Ersson, and he answered all of those with stellar play throughout the entirety of the regular season and into the playoffs.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s not satisfied. He is going to work this summer so he\u2019s ready to be even better in his second season in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be probably the biggest thing for me heading into the summer. Obviously, I\u2019m not satisfied with that season. I want more,\u201d he said at his exit interview on Tuesday<\/a>. \u201cAt the same time, I know that we have a great team staff around here in Philly, and also I trust my guys back home over in the summer. I think everybody is on the same page. It\u2019s going to be a conversation we\u2019re going to have to get me as ready as possible, and even better.\u201d<\/p>\n Vladar did miss some time during the regular season, though. He left the game on January 14 in Buffalo and did not return until two weeks later in Columbus. That was during the Flyers\u2019 worst stretch of the season, but Vladar was able to return ahead of the Olympics and represent his country in Milan.<\/p>\n But that wasn\u2019t the only injury that Vladar suffered this season.<\/p>\n When did Dan Vladar suffer his playoff injury?<\/p>\n Some wondered if Vladar was dealing with something after Bryan Rust fell on him during Game 4 of the first-round series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. <\/p>\n Dan Vladar was in a ton of pain after a play involving Bryan Rust falling onto his outstretched arm, but he’s staying in the game \ud83d\ude33\ud83e\udd15 pic.twitter.com\/IabxpLRnxh<\/a><\/p>\n