They say that when one door shuts, another one opens. Such is life for Philadelphia Flyers netminder Carson Bjarnason, the team’s 2023 second-round pick from the Brandon Wheat Kings.
The Flyers raised eyebrows by selecting Bjarnason and fellow teenage goaltender prospect Yegor Zavragin with two of their top picks in the 2023 NHL Draft. In fact, the management made the Wheat Kings goaltender a key priority, as indicated by their trade up with the Chicago Blackhawks to make it happen. Adam Gajan, Michael Hrabal, and Trey Augustine were all selected in the first ten picks of the second round, so the Philadelphia brain trust went and got their guy.
However, Bjarnason was not necessarily destined to be a high NHL draft pick. In fact, the Flyers prospect’s professional career was nearly gone before it began. Standing at 5-foot-9 and having been passed over totally in the WHL Draft, Bjarnason had his break thanks in part to his longtime goaltending coach, Tyler Plante.
Humble beginnings in Brandon
With his first draft experience going astray, Bjarnason had to work hard and fight his way onto a roster. Plante remained poised in Brandon, Manitoba, 30 miles west of Bjarnason’s hometown of Carberry, for the possibility that his protégée would take the necessary steps to advance.
“He had been coming to [my hockey school] for years, and I was familiar with him. Plante noted that there were two kids who returned every year, both from the Carberry area: Carson Bjarnason and Gavin Renwick. “These two kids would battle, work hard, and compete, and every year we’d say, ‘Oh, jeez!'” Flip a coin!’ Who gets the hardest worker, right? I always enjoyed putting them together since they worked their buttocks off all the time, never complained, had a small-town mentality, and were always dedicated workers. As we drew closer to the Western League, I believe Barney took a step and grew.
Size is only half the battle, of course. For the Flyers prospect, it came down to how he used it and how that translated to the next level of competition.
“I noticed that he really shot up, and I was actually sending videos to our GM at the time. We had gone through the draft process, and I kind of pushed him. . . the year leading up to his draft year wasn’t amazing like he was OK, but he had grown a lot, and he’s always had those components, the work ethic, the attitude, the character – I’ve always liked that about him,” Plante added. “When the growth happened, and I saw him after the [WHL] draft, I said, ‘Jeez, this guy’s really sprouted up.’ I was taking videos secretly and sending them to our general manager at the time, who was Darren Ritchie.”
“I’m sending this video comping [Bjarnason’s] movement to the pro guys, and obviously he was 14 or 15 or whatever, so he wasn’t quite there, but he looked like a miniature version, so after some discussions with Ritch, we got him thrown on our list, and the rest is history.”
According to Bjarnason, his rapid growth required certain adaptations. It’s something that all players have to deal with when they have one, but goalies must also make a mental adjustment. The angles you can take, the amount of net you take up, and how shallow you should be in the crease all alter as you mature.
“It’s a bit of a playing style thing, but you also get used to that body after a certain amount of time,” Bjarnason told ESPN. “I’ve been growing strength-wise lately, so it’s been good that way.”
