During the playoffs, the Flyers equaled a dubious NHL record by making seven in-game goalie switches.
"It was strange, and something I never want to see again," said Snider, adding he had a productive meeting Wednesday with general manager Paul Holmgren and Peter Luukko, president of Comcast-Spectacor.
The Flyers had a 3.46 playoff goals-against average, placing them 14th out of 16 teams.
Told that the fan base was lamenting the need for a true No. 1 goalie for a few decades, Snider fired back, "I want one, too."
He paused.
"So either one of the goalies we have has to step up in training camp, or we have to make improvements to make sure it happens. But we are never going to go through the goalie issues we've gone through in the last couple of years."
That sounds like Snider in the early 1970s, when he vowed to never be pushed around again by the St. Louis Blues or other teams, and he added big, tough players. The Broad Street Bullies were born.
Snider's tone suggested the Flyers are prepared to either deal for a goalie (Los Angeles' Jonathan Bernier? The Islanders' Evgeni Nabokov?) or sign a free-agent such as Ilya Bryzgalov of Phoenix.
Adding a marquee free-agent goalie may be difficult because the Flyers are tight against the cap.
Snider didn't see that as a problem.
"If we trade or go for a goalie [through free agency], we'll make it work," he said. "We can make anything work, even with the cap."
Snider made it a point to praise the development of rookie Sergei Bobrovsky and call him the franchise's "goalie of the future."
"I think he'll be a great goalie. He had an incredible first year, considering where he came from and that he didn't play on a particularly great team in Europe," Snider said. "His future is outstanding; he's still learning the game and how to handle the puck, but he did a lot better job in the second half of the year. He has a lot of talent, and he's only going to get better and pick up the nuances of the North American game."
