Courtesy Wayne Fish, FlyingFishHockey.com
For a player who has never played in an NHL game, not even an exhibition one, there seems to be way too much conversation about Alexei Kolosov in Flyers land.
The 22-year-old native of Belarus is an intriguing prospect. He was a third round pick by the Flyers in 2021 and has fared well in his time playing for Dinamo Minsk in the KHL.
But whether he's a top tier goaltending prospect or not in the NHL is still a great unknown. The Flyers like what they've seen on tape and the reports from their scouts in Russia, but until they can truly get eyeballs on him and coach him up to the North American game, there is still a lot of uncertainty.
And until that happens, where he falls on the pecking order of Flyers goaltender prospects - including the two guys starting the year in the NHL - Sam Ersson and Ivan Fedotov - Kolosov could have the highest upside or he could be fifth behind those two as well as 2023 draft picks Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin.
Which is why this whole hubbub about Kolosov and his comfort in North America and his pseudo-demand to play in the NHL or KHL only makes very little sense.
But before we get to the here and now, let's have a quick recap to catch up those who may not be familiar with the Kolosov soap opera.
The Flyers were willing to loan Kolosov to the KHL at the start of last season primarily because the whole Carter Hart mess was taking longer than expected to become public.
Everyone in the sport felt like there was going to be an announcement on that in the summer of 2023. It didn't happen until halfway through the season.
With Hart on the roster and Ersson backing him up and trying to figure out if Cal Petersen could play like he did a few years ago (he can't), there was a real logjam for the Flyers in goal to start the season.
So, even though Kolosov had signed his entry-level contract, it made sense to let him stay home in Belarus and play for Minsk for one season until things cleared up.
A glovely save by Alexei Kolosov pic.twitter.com/xkqPtVTCIQ
But one circumstance (Hart finally being charged with an alleged crime and leaving the team) begat another, for as soon as Kolosov was ready to come over, suddenly, so was the older, more experienced, Fedotov.
Fedotov had his own issues trying to get to the NHL a year earlier, being whisked away in a white van to serve in the Russian military in Siberia just before coming over to North America. When he returned, he committed to CSKA Moscow. It's as if he was being strong-armed to play there.
But once their season ended, he got out of that contract and came to join the Flyers, and signed a two-year, $6.55 million contract with the team.
From afar, this seemed unfair to Kolosov, who thought he was coming over to get the backup job to Ersson when Peterson couldn't get the job done.
Kolosov still came over but had to go to the AHL with the Phantoms in the final week of their season and just before the playoffs. He played in one game, and practiced a bunch, but Allentown was not where Kolosov wanted to be.
His disappointment plus his language barrier made him isolate himself from his teammates, who tried to include him in off-ice activities. Kolosov claimed he was homesick because he wasn't playing in the NHL, and that's the only place he wants to play that's not the KHL.
He chose to stay alone in a hotel attached to the Phantoms arena, and not room with a teammate in a nearby apartment complex where many of the Phantoms were staying. Once the season was over and he went back home, he had an agent reach out to the Flyers and say he wanted to stay back in Belarus again.
Funny, kid, it doesn't work that way sometimes. You don't just get handed what you want in your career on a silver platter. You have to earn it - and the Flyers wanted him to do that.
They wanted him to come over, compete for an NHL job, but likely start the season in the AHL as the No. 1 goalie for the Phantoms and then, when the opportunity presented itself, get the call up to the big club and make a case for himself to stay.
Alexei Kolosov in Voorhees getting some work between the pipes.
Michkov, Fedotov, and Zamula came out of the locker room to watch Kolosov in action. #LetsGoFlyers
pic.twitter.com/pQgDYq5FwV
Apparently, that wasn't good enough for Kolosov.
He wanted more. He wanted guarantees that he'd be in the NHL permanently.
Making matters worse was a bevy of misleading, or flat-out erroneous reports, both in Russia and here in the U.S. about the way Kolosov was being treated by the Flyers and that his accommodations in Allentown were substandard.
In fact, there was another one that came out of Russia today that made it seem like Kolosov was only coming to Philadelphia to terminate his contract with the Flyers because it was something that was too difficult to do from afar.
“Kolosov’s goal is to come to Philadelphia and resolve the contract termination issue on the spot, which was impossible to do remotely," the source said @RGSafePlay. "He is expected back in Dynamo Minsk this fall."
via @smdemidovhttps://t.co/IxeaDmnf87
I mean, seriously people. Are we really going to buy a story that a 22-year-old kid who struggles with the English language is going to hop a plane halfway around the world to terminate a contract with his American employer rather than let his agent handle that?
You don't need to admit it publicly if you bought that. But if you did, you need to challenge yourself to identify fraudsters better.
The problem is, in Russia, the representation game is like the Wild West. Russian agents don't always respect their fellow agents and often times will reach out to a player represented by another agent and tell the player they can get them what they want sooner.
It's a scenario that Kolosov faced. He was hearing from several representatives, and it's possible - nay, probable - that some of them didn't have his best interests at heart.
And it's likely that these "agents" are often the source of the misinformation that gets shared, making matters all the more difficult for both the player and the teams.
The good news is, Kolosov finally locked in with a new agent - Dan Milstein. Milstein represents several Russian or Belarussian players in the NHL. He has been a good communicator with the Flyers and has pushed Kolosov to come over and give it a shot in training camp.
That's not to say everything here between the Flyers and Kolosov is rosy - or guaranteed.
Yes, he was on the ice at practice Friday, and from all accounts, it was a good practice for Kolosov.
And yes, he is going to give it a go with the Flyers for a bit this season - even if it means being shipped to Allentown for a spell.
But this isn't just about Kolosov cracking under the pressure of the Flyers moving on without him - as G.M. Danny Briere all but stated at his press conference last week.
There are some parameters that Briere and Milstein are still hammering out.
Milstein released a statement to NBCSportsPhilly on Thursday that said "Alexei is enthusiastic about joining the Flyers for the upcoming training camp. All previous concerns have been thoroughly addressed and are now resolved."
However, that is also a little misleading as a Flyers source confirmed to me that there are still some "conversations to be had."
Kolosov wants some assurances that he will get his NHL opportunity sooner rather than later. The two sides agreed to stay in constant communication and see how things play out.
According to multiple sources, Kolosov will compete for the rest of training camp with Ersson and Fedotov. The Flyers would like to see him play some games in the AHL, so it's not just exhibition games, to determine what kind of player they have.
For now, the plan is for him to stay with the organization for about six weeks, and then see where he fits at that point. Will he want to stay? Will he want to go back to the KHL? Will the Flyers agree to loan him? Will his trade value go up?
(One League source indicated that he likely has no value for the Flyers in a trade at the moment as teams wouldn't want to compensate the Flyers with anything worthwhile for a player who they aren't sure will stay in North America).
But, over the course of the next six weeks, Kolosov can surely make a mark for himself.
The Flyers offer something that many teams in the league do not - and that's opportunity. Most teams have an established No. 1 goalie. A lot of teams already have their No. 2 guy in place as well. The Flyers really don't have either.
Sure, Ersson and Fedotov are the frontrunners, but the Flyers recognize neither are definitely locked into a set spot for the long-term.
Ersson played well at times last season but faltered down the stretch with more responsibility put on him, so he's not an established No. 1. The Flyers don't know much more about Fedotov as an NHL goalie than they do about Kolosov, although they've had an opportunity to work with him for a longer period of time.
So, there are no guarantees between the pipes.
Flyers coach John Tortorella said Friday that he wasn't sure if or when Kolosov would play this preseason - but he will.
There's a third goalie on the ice today in the second group, and he certainly appears to be Alexei Kolosov.
Guess it could be someone else, but I'm not sure who. Bjarnason was sent back, Hildebrandt was released from his ATO, and it's not Makiniemi or Petersen. pic.twitter.com/0dIuaz5hvQ
He won't play Saturday at home against Boston. That's a given.
The hope internally is he can start either Monday in New York against the Islanders or next Tuesday in Boston, but that will still depend on how he's feeling after a few practices and where his comfort level is.
The Flyers are leaning on their other Russian players to try and get Kolosov acclimated as quickly as possible. They have asked them to spend time with the young goalie and get him used to the culture. The faster that happens, the sooner he'll play.
Additionally, playing on the road likely gives the Flyers a better look at him against NHL competition. Teams usually field more NHL-caliber lineups in exhibition games on home ice than they do on the road.
And then Kolosov will likely get a couple weeks-worth of games with the Phantoms before the Flyers decide what is the next best step.
It'll be a very fluid situation for a bit and one heck of a drama. - one that seems to be a lot for a quirky, third-round goaltender. But it's something the Flyers are willing to endure to see if, in fact, Kolosov can be the answer and their best option.
He just wants them to make that call now. Which is a long tight rope to traverse for the Flyers to get to the other side hoping for the next Andrei Vasilevskiy and not the next Ilya Bryzgalov.
