Broad Street, Hexy Never Sleeps: Flyers Sign Top NCAA Goalie Alex Lyon To An ELC.
Flyers – The Philadelphia Flyers have signed 6-1, 200-lb goaltender Alex Lyon to an entry-level contract, according to general manager Ron Hextall. Lyon, 23 (12/9/1992), recently completed his third season at Yale University. He posted a record of 19-8-4 with a 1.64 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage, along with five shutouts, to help Yale reach the 2016 NCAA East Regional after a second-place finish in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC). Lyon led the ECAC in goals-against average and save percentage for the second year in a row, while finishing third in win percentage.
Also for the second consecutive year, Lyon is a finalist for the 2016 Mike Richter Award, which honors the most outstanding goaltender in NCAA men’s hockey.
I’m not going to pretend like I know everything there is to know about former Yale goaltender Alex Lyon. But here are a few tings that I do know. I do know that he’s been one of the best goaltenders in the NCAA over the past two seasons. He posted a 0.939 save percentage in his sophomore season at Yale and just finished up his junior year with a 0.936. Does strong goaltending in college necessarily equate to strong goaltending in the NHL? Of course not. The shots they see are going to be completely different, and considering Yale is known to be a defense-first team that doesn’t give up a ton of shots, Alex Lyon is going to have plenty of work to do in order to adjust to playing for this organization. But here’s another thing that I know. Alex Lyon is a nerd because he went to Yale.
And sometimes the best thing that you can have between the pipes is a nerd. Because goalies are weird. We’ve been through this plenty of times. They’re a bunch of freaks. So if you can at least get a freak in the net who has a big brain and knows the game and can be cerebral in his adjustments, well then I like his chances.
One more thing that I know about Alex Lyon. I know that Ron Hextall likes him. If Hexy didn’t like the kid, he wouldn’t have signed him. And if Hexy likes you, then I like you. The Flyers are in the middle of a huge playoff push here. And Ron Hextall’s priority during this time was to make a pitch strong enough to Alex Lyon for him to sign here. I’m fully convinced that Anthony Stolarz is the future netminder for the Flyers so it looks like Lyon will probably have to battle with Felix Sandstrom to take that back up spot in Lehigh Valley. Sandstrom has incredible hair, as demonstrated here:
But Alex Lyon has a beautiful mind. Fucking nerd. And worst case scenario, Hexy is able to just flip the kid for more draft picks later down the line. There’s quite literally zero risk involved with signing Alex Lyon for Ron Hextall. He either adjusts to the pro game and becomes the back up for Stolie The Goalie, or he becomes draft picks if the goalie pipeline in Philly is just too tough for him to crack. Did Ron Hextall do it again or did Ron Hextall do it again?
Moving on to tonight…
Now I’ll be honest. I’m not not nervous about these last 4 Flyers games of the season. And it all starts tonight. Flyers vs Detroit. Biggest game of the year. A must-win scenario here. The Flyers, Red Wings and Bruins all have 91 points at the moment. But Philly has only played 78 games, Detroit has played 79 and Boston just wrapped up game 80 last night. So here’s what we’re looking at…
If the Flyers win in regulation tonight, they can clinch a playoff spot with their next win as long as Boston and/or Detroit lose one of their last two games either in regulation or overtime. Considering they play each other tomorrow, that does the trick. If they win in overtime and Detroit still gets a point out of it, then the Flyers still get in with their next win as long as Boston loses a game in either regulation or overtime. With an overtime loss tonight, the Flyers can still clinch with their next win as long as Boston loses a game in regulation. And if the Flyers lose in regulation tonight, well then fuck me. Moral of the story is that the Bruins can only end the season with a possible 95 points right now. The Flyers have 4 more games left (including tonight) to pick up 5 points. Just do the fucking thing and don’t suck tonight, Flyers. I beg of you.