What are the Flyers doing with Ivan Fedotov?

The Philadelphia Flyers once again are one of the worst goaltending teams in the NHL. In fact, through Thursday night\'s loss in Vegas, the Flyers have the worst save percentage in the league at .878 with the third-most goals allowed per game at 3.56.

Sam Ersson has been inconsistent while also dealing with a lower-body injury in his first chance to take the starting job in a full season. Aleksei Kolosov and Ivan Fedotov have both disappointed as well, although only one of them has been given a real chance.

Here\'s a look at the Flyers\' goaltending stats through 39 games:

Games Starts SV% GAA GSAX (MP) GSAA (NST) Samuel Ersson 19 18 .884 3.02 -9.3 -7.01 Alexei Kolosov 15 11 .870 3.45 -5.7 -10.31 Ivan Fedotov 10 10 .877 3.48 -3.5 -6.01 GSAX = Expected Goals Against - Goals Against GSAA = Average SV% * Shots Against - Goals Against

No matter which way you slice it or what advanced analytical number you use, the Flyers goaltenders are bad, worse, and even worse. It\'s not what you want to see.

Ersson has shown in the past that he\'s capable of putting up strong numbers over the course of a few months when healthy. He\'s the Flyers\' starting goalie so it makes sense that he\'s gotten the bulk of the starts when healthy.

Kolosov more or less threatened his way to the NHL, only joining the team late in training camp after the Flyers refused to let him play in the KHL again this season. There are reports that he\'d refuse to report to the AHL if demoted, but the Flyers may have to call his bluff sooner rather than later.

Then there\'s the e̶l̶e̶p̶h̶a̶n̶t̶ giraffe in the room in Fedotov. He was expected to form a tandem with Ersson or at the very least see time as the backup. But he hasn\'t seen game action since December 5th when he was pulled after allowing two goals on seven shots to the Florida Panthers in the first period.

Since then, John Tortorella & Co. have made it clear that Ersson is the starter and Kolosov is the backup. Fedotov didn\'t even dress for a game until Thursday as Kolosov\'s backup.

So what exactly are the Flyers doing here with Fedotov?

Much like Kolosov has shown in recent games, Fedotov also didn\'t look like an NHL goalie early on. He allowed 14 goals on 78 shots (.821 SV%) in his first three starts before being thrust into action in Tampa Bay a bit unexpectedly. He put up a one-goal performance there to get a shootout win against the Lightning.

That started a nice string of games for the big man. He\'s gone 4-1-1 with 18 goals against on 182 shots (.901 SV%) since that horrid trio of performances to begin the season. He also earned the Flyers\' first win over the Rangers in Philadelphia since 2021. But apparently two goals on seven shots to the reigning Stanley Cup champions put the final nail in his coffin.

It\'s worth noting that the Flyers didn\'t really find their game until mid-to-late November. In the 20 games through November 20th, the Flyers had the fourth-worst Expected Goals share at 5-on-5 (44.26%) thanks to the sixth-worst xGA/60 (2.74). Since then, the Flyers have the second-best xGF% (58.71%) with a league-best xGA/60 (190).

Fedotov saw action in three of those games: a shootout loss against Vegas, the win against the Rangers, and the 20 minutes against Florida. He hasn\'t seen any game action since -- not even in the AHL. Perhaps he\'d perform better with this version of the Flyers playing in front of him.

It\'s not like the Flyers have some goalie in the AHL that needs to get playing time ahead of Fedotov. Cal Petersen is playing out his contract in Lehigh Valley and has started 19 games. Parker Gahagen, who is someone that you\'ve definitely heard of, has started six. Eetu Makiniemi, who the Flyers signed when it looked like Kolosov wasn\'t coming over, has five starts, and will be out at least two more months as he recovers from sports hernia surgery. Kolosov himself doesn\'t even look like an AHL goalie based on his .875 SV% and 3.29 GAA in four starts.

The Flyers are paying Fedotov $3.275 million per year through the end of next season and he\'s done absolutely nothing on the ice for almost a month (it will be over a month if he doesn\'t play on Sunday).

What\'s the point?

If you\'re going to carry three goalies you might as well use all of them, especially in a rebuild. If not, let Fedotov get some playing time in the AHL via either a conditioning stint if both parties agree or just by putting him on waivers. It\'d be rather shocking if a team claimed a 28-year-old goalie with barely any NHL experience making $3.275M per year.

I\'m not saying that Fedotov is the answer -- he almost assuredly isn\'t -- but he can\'t be much worse than what the Flyers have shown out there in the crease this season. If you\'re going to do all of the work to get Fedotov to North America, you need to see what he\'s got. And if he needs some extra seasoning, that\'s exactly what the AHL is for. Or even the NHL! It\'s a rebuild after all.

Talking Points