The Philadelphia Flyers made a signing late on Saturday night that went under the radar.
Goaltender Aleksei Kolosov, 21, has agreed to a three-year, $925,000 entry-level deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. Via CapFriendly.
Aleksei Kolosov even said that he would not be travelling abroad until potentially next year: “I’m not going to go overseas yet, I’ll play in the KHL for at least another season.” It was anticipated that the young goaltender will re-sign with Dinamo Minsk in the KHL.
“I’m not going to go overseas yet, I’ll play in the KHL for at least another season.”
Aleksei Kolosov on his plans for the upcoming season. Via: Hockey News Hub
The Flyers have now returned the young goaltender back to Dinamo Minsk, where he will play out the rest of the 2023–24 campaign. soon after being acquired by the Flyers, he went on loan to Minsk.
After a long period without seeing a new prospect, the Flyers’ goalie pool needed to be refreshed. With the addition of Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin at the 2023 NHL Draft, GM Danny Briere provided it a much-needed facelift.
Moving some of the netminders who aren’t working out or don’t suit the current timeframe is now the dilemma. For instance, Felix Sandstrom has not performed as well as the Flyers organization had intended. In order to bring in Carson Bjarnason and Aleksei Kolosov hopefully next season & place them in a position where they can grow and perhaps see NHL minutes.
Former Phantoms goalie Kirill Ustimenko reportedly has already gone back to the KHL and will stay there, so that clears up one spot for one of the new guys.
What The Philadelphia Flyers Goalie System Should Look Like Moving Forward:
Carter Hart – PHI Cal Petersen – PHI
Samuel Ersson – PHI
Aleksei Kolosov – KHL/LVP
Carson Bjarnason – LVP
Yegor Zavragin – LVP
Personally, I would back up Hart with Aleksei Kolosov, Carson Bjarnason, or Samuel Ersson, especially if the team is in the midst of rebuilding. However, Cal Petersen’s pay is taking up a sizeable portion of the Flyers’ budget regardless of where he slots into the lineup.
This signing was made in part to make up for the Flyers’ loss of their other goaltender prospect, Ivan Fedotov, who plays in the KHL and choose to resign there after exercising his ladder option. Which in part has now brought about a number of problems for all parties concerned. Leaving GM Danny Briere to act swiftly and wisely by signing an unsigned goaltender who was significantly younger.
In 42 games last season with the Dinamo Minsk in the KHL, Kolosov honed a .912 SV%, 2.55 GAA.
The Flyers have a good prospect pool of netminders and it will be interesting to see what Danny Briere does. Felix Sandstrom may be on the way out along with some other goalies but that is just speculation.
By: Dylan Robillard (@DylanRobillard_)
photo credit: Getty Images
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