It looks like the Philadelphia Flyers will be having one more representative at the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off tournament next month.
According to reports, Flyers goaltender Sam Ersson will be replacing New Jersey Devils starter Jacob Markstrom after the latter suffered an injury Wednesday night in a game against the Boston Bruins. Markstrom underwent some imaging, according to the team, and after getting approximately diagnosed with an MCL sprain, he will be out for four to six weeks, meaning that he will have to miss the entire tournament and not be able to represent his country in February’s midseason tournament.
With Ersson taking his place on Team Sweden’s roster, the count of Flyers at the 4 Nations tournament now goes up to four, with winger Travis Konecny and defenseman Travis Sanheim on Canada, and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen on Finland. Only the United States will not have a Flyer on its roster (and maybe that’s for the better if we want to cheer for the home team).
Will Ersson truly get some time in between the pipes during this tournament though? We’re unsure. With just three guaranteed games (could be four if Sweden is in the championship game), the other netminders might be preferred over the 25-year-old Flyer. Minnesota Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson is most likely going to be one of the finalists for the Vezina Trophy this season if his play continues and Ottawa Senators starter Linus Ullmark just one that individual award not too long ago, and has proven to be one of the sole reasons why the Senators suddenly find themselves in the playoff hunt. Markstrom could have earned a start over them out of seniority, but now the two other starters are certainly above Ersson in the pecking order.
Sweden most likely cannot afford to take a risk in any game — against Canada, United States, or archrival Finland — if they have championship aspirations and Ersson’s current NHL performance is a little suspect if we want to translate it to the international best-on-best stage. He has been better as of late, but through 26 games this season, Ersson has earned an .891 save percentage and a 2.80 goals against average. But since the calendar turned to 2025, that save percentage has been at a .907 through seven games and he has earned a 5-2-0 record. Not too shabby.
And Sweden didn’t really have any significant choice to make. It was either pick a designated started in Ersson, or go with other backups from around the league like Anton Forsberg in Ottawa, Jonas Johansson in Tampa Bay, or Arvid Soderblom in Chicago. You can see why Ersson was the choice after all.
Ersson has had some international experience representing his country, as well. Most recently he was one of the goaltenders on the World Championships team last spring and back in 2021. And before that, he was on the 2019 World Juniors squad that featured players like Capitals blueliner Rasmus Sandin, Canucks defenseman Erik Brannstrom, Ducks center Isac Lundestrom, and even Flyers teammate Adam Ginning was on that squad. Sweden knows Ersson well enough to know that he is more than worthy to wear the Tre Kroner.
The 4 Nations Face-Off starts on Feb. 12 with Sweden facing Canada in Montreal and wraps up on Feb. 20 with the championship game in Boston.