Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Flyers, the Alexei Kolosov saga continues deep into the summer and with training camp only a few weeks away from kicking off.
It wouldn’t be a Flyers season without at least one controversy and we’re starting relatively early with one of their more lauded goaltending prospects. Kolosov seemed relatively eager to get his professional career started in North America when he was granted permission to leave Dynamo Minsk to join the Flyers organization and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the middle of their playoff push back in March.
After a lot of “he-said-she-said” this summer, it sounds like Kolosov would rather return to the KHL this season on loan, rather than forming a tandem in the AHL with the Phantoms, as the Flyers’ top brass had hoped for, according to several sources as well as reports from Kevin Kurz and Jordan Hall. However, the Flyers would prefer not to have to go through that ordeal and want him to remain with the Phantoms.
The former third round pick from the 2021 NHL Entry Draft had a superb run in the KHL for Dynamo Minsk and upon his arrival to the Phantoms, he was immediately set as the backup or third-string goaltender. He only appeared in 2 games, where he allowed 6 goals on 52 shots with Cal Petersen acting as the de-facto number one.
While that could be shocking based on Petersen’s performance for the Flyers at the NHL level, he played a lot better in the AHL and was a key cog as to why the Phantoms were in the hunt for the post-season to begin with. It seems and sounds like Kolosov expected a lot more run and perhaps even playoff games almost immediately.
Kolosov played parts of 4 seasons for hometown team in Dynamo Minsk, starting all the way back in 2020-21, where he earned himself 9 starts and compiling a 3-5-1 record despite a .911 SV% and a 2.69 GAA. During his draft+1 season, he earned a little more run with 22 games under belt and an 11-9-1 record with a .906 SV% and a 2.90 GAA with 1 shutout. 2022-23 was perhaps his best season in terms of his peripherals as he posted a .912 SV% and a 2.55 GAA despite a 13-21-5 record.
He finished off his 4-year stint with a 22-21-3 season last year with a .907 SV% and 2.39 GAA. While Minsk were not a great offensive club, Kolosov did his job in getting his club to the postseason at the very least in 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24.
A Belarusian news outlet started the saga with news indicating that he was unhappy and was having issues acclimating to his surroundings in North America – both game-wise and lifestyle. Following that, another report came out a month or so later that shone a damning light towards the Flyers’ brass because they were claiming that he was left to his own devices and essentially held up in his hotel room all by himself. That report blew up far more than the previous one and the Flyers – alongside many connected to the club – were very quick to dismiss it.
Which brings us to the most recent point when Flyers General Manager Daniel Brière made an appearance on Nasty Knuckles Podcast and mentioned that not only had Kolosov changed agents to Dan Milstein of Gold Star Sports Management Group from J.P. Barry of CAA Hockey, but that it’s been very hard to keep tabs with the goaltender this summer:
“Nothing has been said directly to us,” Brière said on the podcast with Riley Cote and Derek Settlemyre. “We were trying to get some answers. Alexei doesn’t speak English, so we can’t just grab the phone and call him. It was tough to get answers from his agent or clear answers, there’s always dancing around the pot. He just changed agents in the last few days, so we were just notified of that. I don’t know exactly what it means.
“You’ve just got to keep in mind, it’s not easy,” Brière continued. “You come from Belarus, you come over here, you don’t speak the language. Unfortunately we didn’t have any other Russian-speaking players [in Lehigh Valley last year], we were late in the season. The plan with him was just to give him the chance to come over, see what it’s like, to help his transition this year. That was the plan.
“It was very clear from the get-go that he was just going to play in a couple of games because we didn’t want to put him in a bad situation. He had played a full season already, didn’t know the coaching staff, didn’t know the style. The game over here is a lot more physical, even for a goalie. So we just wanted to give him a couple of games, help his transition going into this year. That was the plan all along.
“We had people checking on him every day, guys were trying to get him. He’s shy, he didn’t speak a lot of English. So going into the season, we wanted to help him out and put him in the best possible position to succeed this year. We’re hearing all these rumors, we haven’t had a full or clear answer at this point. But if he wants to play hockey, he has to come over here. He’s under contract with the Flyers, he’s not allowed to play anywhere else, we want him here. So we’ll see. In our mind, he has to report.”
So much is still up in the air but things will become a lot more concrete once training camp starts and whether or not Kolosov reports. While he seemingly has his heart set on returning to Minsk on a loan this year, the Flyers are reportedly opposing that and not at all interested, for good measure as well.
Kolosov will get plenty of run with the Phantoms this year and just because Ivan Fedotov and Samuel Ersson will start in the NHL, it doesn’t mean that will be the case for the entire season. A lot can happen and if Kolosov remains patient, his time could be coming.
