Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
The Philadelphia Flyers have put out the roster list of which of their players will head to London, Ontario to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday night. Among the few players missing from that list, is recently signed goaltender Ray Emery. Due to this, it is likely that the Flyers will give Steve Mason the chance to shine in his first outing with the team since last season ended.
Mason actually might have competition for the start, as rookies Anthony Stolarz and Cal Heeter will also be traveling with the team on Sunday. This makes sense, since preseason is usually when the team will play a lot of their prospects and rookies to really see how they do.
It’s possible that the Flyers want to test future goalie star Stolarz so they may play him Sunday or even in a later game during preseason. Stolarz is an up-and-comer with the team and he may just be the future of the Flyers. They have very high hopes for the young netminder and hope that soon he will be ready for action in the Flyers net. Stolarz had a rocky season in the juniors as he first was the third string goalie at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, but he eventually got to where he wanted to be when he was the backup with the London Knights and even helped them to conference title and the Memorial Cup. He still has a few years before he’s NHL ready, but the Flyers have high hopes that he might be the next great goalie for them.
Heeter is also a familiar name to Adirondack Phantoms fans, as the goalie has shared the net with Scott Munroe for the past few seasons and Brian Boucher for the second half of last season. Heeter has been in the system for a bit, but it looks like the Flyers don’t think he has enough goalie-caliber for the NHL. However, since he was invited to camp and is going to London on Sunday, they must have some faith in his abilities.
Deanna Vasso is a Flyers writer for Rant Sports. You can follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook or join her Google network.
