It seems like the early reports this summer regarding the disgruntled Alexei Kolosov might have had more substance than originally thought. AHL reporter Tony Androckitis tweeted out earlier Saturday that the goaltender informed the Philadelphia Flyers at the end of the season that he did not want to return after having felt isolated.
Kolosov signed his entry-level contract last summer and made his way to North America at the end of the season. He reported directly to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he was relegated to backup duties with the club in the midst of a playoff push. Cal Petersen was the de facto starting goaltender much to the chagrin of Kolosov, who felt like he deserved more playing time.
Over the summer there were a couple reports coming from a Belarusian source that Kolosov was upset with how his stint ended and that he might even return to Dinamo Minsk, his former club in the KHL. The Flyers squashed the rumours as best they could but Androckitis’ tweet shines some new light into the situation and it doesn’t look good for the Flyers or the Phantoms.
The one thing that doesn’t make all that much sense at the moment – and there probably won’t be a solution to this until at least training camp – is why was Kolosov so disgruntled and upset by his lack of playing time with the Phantoms? Was he expecting to come in and take over right away or was he told that he would be playing more games than he eventually received? The idea had to have been for Kolosov to join the Phantoms, see how things operate, and come back in the fall and essentially form a tandem with Petersen to start the season. However, it almost feels like there was either lack of communication, broken communication, or an actual belief that he was promised playing time.
Androckitis also cites that Kolosov felt isolated and that they left him to his own devices in his hotel room. That could explain the earlier reports that were roughly translated from Russian that he was having trouble acclimating himself to North America and the North American style of play. At this rate, it’s going to be a lot of speculating, however training camp should give us all the answers we need, especially if he decides not to report.
If it is true that the Flyers left him alone in his hotel room upon arriving to a new country with a foreign language, that’s a pretty tough look on the organization. It almost feels as if the Flyers focused way more attention towards Ivan Fedotov‘s arrival than his own and that probably didn’t sit right with Kolosov. The former had his contract terminated on the 28th of March, while the latter departed from Minsk on the 26th of March. All the while Fedotov then received a larger than expected 2-year contract worth 3.275 million.
Kolosov is arguably the most talented goaltender the Flyers have in their pipeline today. For a downtrodden Minsk team in the KHL, Kolosov sported a .911 SV% in 9 games in 2020-21 as a rookie, a .906 SV% in 22 games in 2021-22, a 2.55 GAA and a .912 SV% in 42 contests in 2022-23, and a 2.39 GAA and a .907 SV% in 47 games this past season. In 2 contests with the Phantoms he sported a 3.03 GAA and an .885 SV%.
Additionally, Androckitis mentions that the Phantoms shored up their goaltending by signing Parker Gahagan and Keith Petruzzelli to AHL deals to prepare for a scenario in which the Belarusian netminder does not report or return in 2024-25.
