New goalie Brian Elliott expects quick adjustment to Philly | Flyers Preview

Brian Elliott, the latest player on a long, ever-changing list of Flyers goalies, says the adjustment period with his new team has been easier than a year ago, when he became a first-time father as he was starting his inaugural season with the Calgary Flames.

After practices in Calgary early last year, the veteran goalie bypassed some get-togethers with his teammates and happily helped his wife with their new son, Owen. The downside: It took him longer to get to know his teammates.

"It's just such a change of life when you have a kid, and then you're going to a new city and a new team at the exact same time," Elliott, signed as a free agent in July, said during the Flyers' training camp. "It was just an adjustment period. You live and learn, get more experiences, and get stronger from it."

As he tried to juggle being a dad and getting acclimated to his new team, Elliott struggled at the outset last year, compiling a 9-12-2 record, a 2.88 goals-against average, and an .892 save percentage in the season's first half.  But the Ontario native got more comfortable as the season progressed and played superbly after the all-star break: a 17-6-1 record, a 2.24 GAA, and a .924 save percentage.

"Now he's a year old and it'll be a lot easier," Elliott said of his son. "All the little [milestones] add up and you're not as worried as you used to be — like checking to see if they're still breathing in their crib and things like that.

"It was just a difficult situation, but every guy goes through it," he added. "There's probably no easy way for a kid to come into your life. There's always an adjustment."

In the second half of the season, Elliott said, he got "back into that [goalie] mind-set" and settled into his role. "When your mind is elsewhere sometimes in practices," it makes things difficult.

"He was one of the main reasons why we made the playoffs last year," said all-star left winger Johnny Gaudreau, a South Jersey native. "He got off to a slow start, and it was probably a difficult transition to come into a Canadian market and a new city. But after that, he turned it up for us."

Elliott, who finished with a 26-18-3 record with a 2.55 goals-against average and .910 save percentage, won 11 straight from Feb. 21 to March 19, tying a personal best.

"One of the things that sticks out with me is his competitiveness," Gaudreau said. "He hated when people scored against him in practice, let alone in games."

Elliott, 32, said "you try to compartmentalize things: When you're at work, you're concentrating on work, and when you're home, you're [focused] on home. But you're only human, too, and your thoughts are kind of everywhere. When you get those thoughts under control and really focus on the task at hand, you get [good results]. I think as a team we came together and I benefited from that."

Elliott and Michal Neuvirth are expected to divide the duties this season. Elliott has been in a platoon in the past and he accepts it.

"You want to play as many games as you can, but it's a tough league and everybody has to contribute on every team or else you're not going anywhere," he said. "You can see from Pittsburgh, if they don't have [Marc-Andre] Fleury in the playoffs, they're not winning anything, either."

Having two goalies who can share the workload and win games is critical, Elliott said.

"Whether it be injuries or whether one guy is a little off one week and the other guy can pick up the slack, that's huge," he said. "That's what gets you into the playoffs."

Prior to last season, Elliott had an outstanding five-year tenure with defensively strong St. Louis, compiling a 104-46-16 record with a 2.10 goals-against average, and a .925 save percentage. He was selected to two all-star teams, and in his first year with the Blues in 2010-11, Elliott led the NHL in goals-against average (1.56) and save percentage (.940).

New Flyer Jori Lehtera was Elliott's teammate in St. Louis.

"He was unbelievable," Lehtera said. "I hope he plays the same as he did when I played with him."

Elliott, a former standout at the University of Wisconsin, isn't worried about the Flyers' not having much experience on the blue line; they could have five defensemen with less than two full seasons in the NHL.

"It can go both ways," he said of not having many veteran defenders. Sometimes, experienced players "can get into certain [bad] habits, and now, with these guys coming up, they don't have those habits, and you can grow with them. You can tell them, 'This is how I like setting up in the corner so I can get you the puck without you getting killed out there.' It's not a battle and we can talk things out before we get out there. It's about communication. … It'll be a process, and I've had really good relationships with guys like [retired goalie] Marty Turco, who is famous for playing the puck and getting his D-men the puck and basically keeping the offensive team out of the zone. You have to form those relationships, you have to know their voices, you have to know their body language."

Elliott, who signed a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2.75 million, doesn't view this season as a fresh start.

"I see it more as a continuation," he said. "I felt really good from the middle to the end of the season in Calgary. I want to continue that feeling. You feel confident and feel that, no matter what, you can make that save. When you have that feeling and confidence back there, the guys can go and do their job."