It has been a wild ride for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2023-24 season. And no position highlights that quite like their goaltending. At one point it looked like they had a bulletproof duo with Carter Hart and Sam Ersson, which was among the league’s best tandems during December. The Hart gets arrested and Ersson falters and the subpar play of backups Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom threw what was once a position of strength into major disarray.
But as the questions mount as the playoff approach and things seem bleak, the cavalry is arriving in the form of a pair of KHL goalies.
The Flyers signed 22-year-old Alexei Kolosov to an entry-level deal last summer and as the KHL season comes to a close, he is heading to North America to start his career within the Flyers’ organization. It seems a visa problem is slightly delaying his arrival, but he should be here sooner rather than later. Obviously he becomes their top prospect, but his youth and lack of experience make him a questionable solution in the immediate future, especially considering the stakes both the Flyers and Phantoms are playing for right now are high.
Then there’s Ivan Fedotov.
The 27-year-old Russian has been one quite the rollercoaster ride over the last 24 months and the saga isn’t over yet. After an arbitration case from the IIHF, it was determined his contract with the Flyers he originally signed in May of 2022 is still valid after being tolled to this season after Fedotov was abducted by the Russian military in 2022 and unable to come to North America because of it.
The KHL and RIHF basically refused to acknowledge the findings and kept Fedotov in Russia, accumulating fines and suspensions along the way. It looked like his NHL door was closed for good.
Then on Thursday, March 28, it was announced that Ivan Fedotov’s two-year deal with CSKA was terminated after the first season. Then Elliotte Friedman announced that the tentative plan was for Fedotov to finally make the jump to North America. He’s still technically under contract with the Flyers, but he’s a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
Not that long ago Fedotov was considered to be one of the best goaltenders in the world. And Kolosov is considered one of the better non-North American prospects. Along with Sam Ersson, who has fought an admirable fight as a rookie in the NHL given the turn of circumstances that thrust him into the starting role, that’s quite the trio for potential success.
So what seemed like a sure fire position of weakness is all of a sudden overflowing with bodies, however the unknown factor of who has the skill to hang at the NHL level is still unknown.
Competing in the KHL theoretically makes Fedotov and Kolosov more prepared for NHL action than, say, Carson Bjarnason making the jump from juniors. With Fedotov being older, he may get a trial by fire in the NHL, leaving the younger Kolosov to get proper development time in the AHL.
The removal of a true starting goalie like Hart opens plenty of space for a proper tandem of close to 50/50 play to emerge and considering Ersson was at his best in limited appearances while simultaneously giving Fedotov a chance to acclimate to the NHL without throwing him in at the deep end could end up working out quite well for the Flyers.
The 2023-24 season started with the Flyers carrying three goalies and could very well end the season carrying three goalies too. Yet two of the three are different, and the guy seemingly earmarked for the future may not be the same guy anymore. There’s never a dull moment for the Flyers when it comes to goaltending. The saying goes that it’s darkest before the dawn, and a pair of reinforcements definitely spice up what was getting to be a rather precarious situation.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nbcsports.com / Getty Images
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