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Greg Wyshynski, ESPNSep 17, 2024, 12:44 PM ET
CloseGreg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
VOORHEES, N.J. — If goalie Alexei Kolosov doesn’t want to play for the Philadelphia Flyers, the Flyers don’t want him playing in Russia either.
That’s the status of the standoff between the Flyers and Kolosov, the 22-year-old Belarusian who is one of their top goaltending prospects. He didn’t report to the team’s rookie camp this week at their practice facility in New Jersey and has asked the Flyers to loan him back to Dynamo Minsk of Russia’s KHL — a request that Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said the team will not grant.
“It’s time for him to step up and respect the contract,” he said at Flyers rookie camp on Tuesday.
Kolosov signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers in 2023, who loaned him to Dynamo Minsk last season before he came to the U.S. to play in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Kolosov appeared in two games last season in the AHL.
“I guess we can still hope that he decides to show up if he wants to play hockey, but it’s not looking like it at this point,” said Briere. “It is what it is. We have to move on. We hoped that he would want to compete for a job.”
The Flyers have their goaltending tandem set for this season: Samuel Ersson, 25, who played 51 games last season; and Ivan Fedotov, 27, who appeared in three games after coming over from Russia late in the season.
The plan was to have Kolosov see ample time in with the Phantoms this season, in a tandem with 29-year-old goalie Cal Petersen. Briere said there was a chance Kolosov could have been third on their depth chart.
“When you look at the way we’re built right now, there’s an opportunity there for him,” he said.
But Briere said that Kolosov didn’t want to start this season in the AHL and wanted “to be guaranteed a spot in the NHL.” If he didn’t get that guarantee, Kolosov wanted to stay in the KHL.
Briere said that the Flyers have no interest in loaning Kolosov back to…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/41301758/flyers-goalie-prospect-alexei-kolosov-standoff
Author : Greg Wyshynski
Publish date : 2024-09-17 17:54:09
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