The Philadelphia Flyers have lost one of their intriguing young goaltenders, announcing that Alex Lyon will be out for four weeks with a lower-body injury suffered on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders. Lyon was expected to contend for the starting role with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season, but will have to miss the start of the year as he gets healthy.
With basically the entire goaltending group in Flyers training camp either nursing or coming back from injury, the rest of the preseason may feature some more looks at youngster Carter Hart who played on Monday and Wednesday and has impressed so far in preseason action. That’s not unexpected for Hart, who is arguably the best goaltending prospect in the world right now, but good to see for Philadelphia fans worried about the situation in net once again. Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth still project as the NHL tandem to start the season, but there’s obviously a lot of pressure on the veteran pair to perform or else be replaced by one of the younger netminders.
Lyon, Hart and even Anthony Stolarz—who is finally healthy and ready to resume his career—are all ready to jump at an NHL opportunity if one presents itself at some point this season. The 25-year old Lyon did play in 11 games last season for the Flyers and posted a 4-2-1 record with a .905 save percentage. Those numbers aren’t outstanding, but the undrafted college netminder has played well in the minor leagues and still has high expectations from the organization.