Aleksei Kolosov isn’t the primary reason the Philadelphia Flyers lost 6-4 to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, dropping them to 4-8-1 and last place in the league standings. The Hurricanes are a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, and it was easy to see why, particularly in the third period when they outshot the Flyers 14-3 and simply wouldn’t be denied. Martin Necas scored the game winner with just half a minute to go in regulation.
Although they were held to just 16 shots, the Flyers still showed some moxie against a team that’s vastly better on paper and in practice. Guys like Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett got much-needed goals, and the power play ended a four-game goal drought. They were just 30 seconds away from getting at least one point, maybe two.
But Kolosov, who finished with 29 saves, made two key third-period errors that fueled Carolina. Just after the Flyers went on the power play with about six minutes to go in a 4-4 game, Brent Burns cleared the puck the length of the ice. Instead of playing it, Kolosov inexplicably kicked the puck out to the far side wall, putting a retreating Emil Andrae in an awkward position and resulting in the defenseman taking a holding minor to prevent a scoring chance, negating the man advantage.
Later, in the final minute, the Hurricanes pressured in the offensive zone, seeking the go-ahead goal. Kolosov seemed to have eyes on Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s wrister from the high slot, but instead of snaring it, the shot bounced off his glove and eventually found the stick blade of Necas, who slipped it through. When the Flyers needed a stop after running around trying to defend and Kolosov had a chance to give them one, he couldn’t do it.
If you’re looking for reasons why the Flyers are in the league basement after three and a half weeks, the best place to start is their misadventures with the No. 2 goalie spot. The splits are glaring. No. 1 Samuel Ersson, out with a minor lower-body injury suffered on Saturday, is a respectable 4-2-1 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. But the backup goalie position has been nothing short of an embarrassment. The Flyers have yet to win a game, or even earn a single point, in the six games that either Kolosov or Ivan Fedotov have played.
The numbers reflect the eye test: Two goalies who currently don’t look ready for the NHL are a combined 0-6-0 with an .842 save percentage (Fedotov has an .821 save percentage, while Kolosov’s is slightly better at .863).
Former No. 1 goaltender Carter Hart was charged in the Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal in January. The decisions made in the offseason about the No. 2 job are starting to look like the first major missteps of president of hockey operations Keith Jones and general manager Daniel Briere’s regime.
It starts with Fedotov, who has never looked comfortable in net and was quickly relegated to the press box after three disastrous starts.
In many ways, Fedotov is an intriguing goalie with a 6-foot-7 frame and some international success. On the other hand, who in the organization advised that he was ready to come to the NHL and deserved a two-year, $6.55 million contract? Could no one identify that Fedotov isn’t a strong skater, something former Flyers goalie and current Buffalo Sabres analyst Martin Biron noticed right away? Could no one in the organization forecast that Fedotov doesn’t seem to have much of an ability to track a puck through traffic?
The only saving grace here is that Fedotov originally wanted a four-year deal, and the Flyers held firm at two. Maybe it cost them a little more money annually, as they’re not going to be competing for a Stanley Cup before then, but it still seems like one of the worst contracts in the league.
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Further, the Flyers could have used the money they gave Fedotov to instead bring in an established NHL veteran to back up Ersson. There were some available, including a couple who have played in Philadelphia before: Anthony Stolarz inked a two-year, $5 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs and has been outstanding this season; while Cam Talbot is off to a solid start in Detroit, too, after signing a two-year, $5 million deal with the Red Wings. Others available included Ilya Samsonov, Chris Driedger and Casey DeSmith. Sure, they’re not exactly sexy names, but they would all currently be the Flyers’ second-best option if they were here, and all are making less than Fedotov.
Fedotov’s struggles relate to how Kolosov was handled, too.
Originally, when Kolosov preferred to stay in the KHL if he wasn’t going to make the NHL roster right away, the Flyers held firm in their demand that he was either going to play with the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms or nowhere, per his contract. But they also probably realized by late September after training camp began that Fedotov might not be good enough and, lo and behold, Kolosov arrived and is now on the roster.
In other words, it seems like the organization got strong-armed by a 22-year-old kid with no real North American experience. Not a great look, especially if he continues to struggle at the NHL level and proves he isn’t ready. If the Flyers want to replace Kolosov at some point with, say, Cal Petersen or Eetu Makiniemi, who signed a one-year deal in September and has played decently in two games with the Phantoms so far, Kolosov could very well end up back in the KHL per their agreement to get him over here. And if that happens, you can probably assume his career with the Flyers is over. Or, at least it should be, if the front office finds the conviction it originally had when the whole will-he-or-won’t-he-come-over drama began.
There could be a silver lining in all of this. The Flyers have three first-round picks and three second-round picks in the 2025 draft, and if they finish near the bottom of the league standings, their picks will be higher. That didn’t seem especially likely after their surprising success last season, but it could be in play now. Further, 2023 third-round pick Yegor Zavragin may be developing into a top-notch goalie prospect, as he’s currently thriving in the KHL.
In the long run, none of what happens this season in net may matter in terms of where the Flyers end up in a few years. But the front office has made it no secret that it values winning games during the rebuild while trying to establish and maintain a strong culture in the dressing room.
A backup goalie who can’t make saves, whoever it is, prevents the former. It even risks the latter, too, if the losses keep on mounting.
(Photo of Aleksei Kolosov: James Guillory / Imagn Images)
