It looks like there is going to be a next step in the Alexei Kolosov Saga for the Philadelphia Flyers.
The 22-year-old netminder who has not appeared for development camp, rookie camp, and the Flyers’ training camp this month — and reportedly felt so homesick after a couple weeks in North America that he wanted his NHL contract to be terminated — is reportedly coming to Philadelphia and will try the whole “playing hockey in a different continent” thing out.
According to multiple sources on Thursday morning, Kolosov is making his way to Philadelphia and will appear in some upcoming games.
As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentions, the initial plan for Kolosov is that he will appear in at least one of the remaining four preseason games (most likely not Thursday’s home preseason game against the New York Islanders) and then he will be sent down to AHL Lehigh Valley and play some games there.
If he is truly having a terrible time, and his performances aren’t good enough to make the Flyers plead for him to stay here, then they will happily loan him back to the KHL and he can play for his hometown Dinamo Minsk. Kolosov is still under contract through the 2025-26 season, so theoretically, this might be the final bit of leeway the Flyers are willing to give the netminder. He might be only able to spend this upcoming season in the KHL with a handshake promise that he will be in North America for the final year of his contract and for them to not get absolutely nothing out of signing this player.
But now, the goaltending situation has got a little bit messier since Kolosov decided to not show up for any training camp this summer.
With Sam Ersson and Ivan Fedotov pretty locked in as the NHL tandem, that meant Cal Petersen would be all alone with the Phantoms if Kolosov didn’t show. So, the Flyers offered a professional try-out to 25-year-old Eetu Makiniemi and then promptly signed him to a one-year, two-way deal after he appeared decent in one preseason game. Without Kolosov in the picture, the AHL tandem would be Makiniemi and Petersen — now that Kolosov is projected to play some AHL games, will they just carry all three and then figure it out later? Let one of them play themselves out of the Phantoms’ tandem?
As it stands, Kolosov will have to stick out a few months of AHL action if he wants to even sniff the NHL this season. Ersson deserves to be there and the team certainly promised Fedotov NHL appearances for him breaking his KHL contract last season and coming overseas. Now, if Fedotov is very bad in his games, then the team can blame some potential demotion on performances — and if Kolosov plays very well in the AHL, then he can have his wish of being an NHL backup.
This is only going to get more interesting from here.
