March 28, 2024
Samuel Ersson will be back in goal once again for the Flyers Thursday night in Montreal.
But the situation behind him could be radically shifting, and so late into the season too.
Belarusian goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov is leaving the Russian KHL for North America, his overseas pro club Dinamo Minsk announced earlier this week through Instagram and Flyers general manager Danny Brière confirmed himself Thursday morning when he met with the media in Montreal.
The Flyers have been trying to bring the 22-year-old netminder over for a while now, Brière said, but "We're dealing with a lot of immigration stuff, so that's why we don't have an exact timeline.
"It's always tough to get him in the right places, the right visa, I know our people are working on it to try and make it work. It seems it just gets pushed out and pushed out. We were hoping he'd be here by now, but I think soon. I just don't have an exact day for it."
Brière does believe Kolosov will be in the U.S. shortly, however, and when he does arrive, the GM said it's likely that he'll start off in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the rest, in regards to a possible NHL look, will be figured out later.
Because there's some stuff to figure out now.
The Flyers had four more callups they could make following the March 8 trade deadline, but they were quickly exhausted because of a banged-up and stretched-thin defensive corps. Felix Sandström had also been recalled from the Phantoms prior to the deadline after Cal Petersen struggled in the backup role, which was preceded by Carter Hart taking an indefinite leave from the team to face charges in Canada for sexual assault.
Brière said the organization is seeking clarification from the NHL on what their options are, mainly if Sandström's status constitutes an emergency recall and what exactly can be done there.
"I think Felix is still on an emergency recall, so how does that work?" Brière said. "Are you able to switch an emergency recall or not? So that's where we need to get clarification. But most of our energy has been mostly spent on trying to get [Kolosov] here first."
And another curveball to account for that broke as Brière was speaking: Ivan Fedotov's KHL contract with CSKA Moscow was terminated and with his suspended one-year deal with the Flyers still valid.
Brière couldn't say much on that in the moment, per The Philadelphia Inquirer's Jackie Spiegel, but Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman quickly chimed in that this finally setting up what's become a heavily sidetracked start with the Flyers for the 27-year old Russian.
Everyone’s being very careful here for obvious reasons, but it is believed Fedotov is en route to beginning his NHL career for the Flyers. Wasn’t aware until news broke this morning, but all sides have worked on a solution for the last few weeks. https://t.co/Xb9ermvzjq
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 28, 2024
Additionally, ESPN analyst Kevin Weekes reported that the league would have to lift the hold on his contract for Fedotov to officially come over, but expects that all to be situated shortly.
**Breaking News** 🚨 📰
— Kevin Weekes (@KevinWeekes) March 28, 2024
For Fedotov to play for the @NHLFlyers , the @NHL will have to lift his suspension on his 1 Yr ELC Contract . Likely all will be addressed publicly very soon. The dynamic of the Flyers’ 🥅 is changing…#HockeyX #HockeyTwitter pic.twitter.com/WIqQl22sDV
So now there suddenly could be options here.
Ersson is the clear No. 1 for the rest of the way, but he's been playing a lot of hockey, far more than he's ever had to this point in his young career, and is going to need at least a couple more breaks, as head coach John Tortorella noted ahead of a tough stretch through March.
Petersen fell apart and allowed seven goals in a loss to Pittsburgh back on February 25 as soon as the skaters in front of him couldn't keep him to a light workload, and so the team turned to Sandström for a shot, who's done all he could given the circumstances and with the Flyers not having much alternative, but he's still only posting a 1-2-0 record in five games since March 2 and with only a low .823 save percentage.
Neither Kolosov or Fedotov have played a game in the NHL, but they would be coming from Russia's top pro league having posted some considerable numbers relative to where they're at in their respective careers.
Kolosov, in his second year with Dinamo Minsk, appeared in 47 games and put up a 22-21-3 record with a .907 save percentage, a 2.39 goals-against average, and four shutouts.
Fedotov, after being held up in Russia for nearly two years due to unfulfilled military service, returned to CSKA Moscow – on a contract the IIHF disputed – and for this season posted a .914 save percentage, a 2.37 GAA, four shutouts himself, and a 21-22-1 record through 44 games.
He was originally signed to a one-year deal by the old regime led by Chuck Fletcher, and with the intention that he would be the backup to Hart for the 2022-23 NHL season, but his detainment as he was trying to leave Russia that summer derailed that plan and took away a lot of time, to the point where it wasn't far-fetched to believe that he had fallen out of the Flyers' cards entirely.
But now, there's a chance he could be back in the fold, possibly at a point where the Flyers could use the goalie help the most.
But for now, Ersson has to help get them by Montreal first to keep ahead in a playoff race coming down to the wire.
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