Goalie prospect Alexei Kolosov will not report to Flyers training camp; his future remains uncertain

The writing was on the wall, and now it has been lacquered over.

Flyers general manager Danny Brière announced Tuesday that goaltender Alexei Kolosov will not report to training camp, which opens with physical testing on Wednesday before the first on-ice session Thursday.

“All we know is he’s under contract with us,” Brière said Tuesday from the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees. “And, you know, the way we see it, if he wants to play hockey, he has to respect his contract for us. Yeah, we have no interest in loaning him back. We want him to develop here.”

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Drafted in the third round of the 2021 NHL draft, Kolosov signed an entry-level contract in 2023 before returning to the Kontinental Hockey League on loan last season with his hometown team, Dinamo Minsk. Although Sam Ersson and Ivan Fedotov are expected to be locked into the top two spots, Brière was quick to point out that most NHL teams use their third and fourth goalies during the season for various reasons. Last season, Cal Petersen and Felix Sandström were called up before Fedotov came to the U.S.

“I think on his end, it’s more about he wants to be guaranteed a spot in the NHL. If not, he prefers to stay over there, and that’s not the way we see it,” the GM said. “We agreed last year to loan him back for one year because he wanted to stay home. But at some point, you signed a contract, and we want him here. We want him to start integrating himself with the game the way it’s played here in North America, the smaller ice, and learning the language and all of that. And I guess he doesn’t see it that way at the moment.”

Does Brière think he’ll ever come over? He doesn’t know anymore.

“It’s a good question, and, yeah, we do wonder at this point because he doesn’t show that he wants to come,” he said. “That was the understanding last year, when he signed the contract, he asked us to loan him back for one year so he can keep developing one more year, and then he would come over. And then we’re here now, and he’s still saying the same thing. So, you know, that’s part of the reason it’s time for him to step up and respect the contract that he signed.”

The official announcement that he will not report is a few months in the making. There was smoke in May, following the end of the Phantoms’ playoff run, that the Belarusian was homesick and wanted to return to the KHL. Kolosov, 22, appeared in two games with Lehigh Valley after compiling a 49-56-10 record with a 2.56 goals-against average and .909 save percentage in 120 career KHL games for Minsk.

Brière told The Inquirer at the NHL scouting combine in early June that Kolosov did tell the team there was “an adjustment at the end of the year” and that “it was tough coming over by himself.” But rumors continued to spread, and aside from being homesick, Kolosov felt isolated as he did not speak English and was living in the hotel attached to the rink.

Could the Flyers have done something different? Perhaps, Brière said Tuesday, before adding that it was tough to get another player who spoke the language that late in the season. But he stressed the purpose was to bring him in after his KHL season ended to see what it is like playing in North America and to set him up for this season, but “no promises were made.”

“With all the rumors that are out there, I have to say something about that, because, some of our players and coaches, development guys, went above and beyond to try to help him integrate with the team,” Brière said. “I feel bad for some of the leaders, [Phantoms captain] Garrett Wilson especially, Louie Belpedio, and I could go on and on. These guys went out of their way to try to help him fit in. They would ask him to go to dinner and stuff like that.

“I talked to some of the guys, and they all said that he was fine; he was great around the rink. ... So when you hear things like that, you have to take it with a grain of salt a little bit. He had some really good people to work with around him. I get it, might be homesick, but that’s the life of a professional hockey player. You’ve got to adapt. If you want to play hockey, that’s just how it is.”

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When asked if Kolosov will have his contract tolled, or paused, the GM said that they are “far from that” and that “we hope that he changes his mind and decides to come, but it’s not looking like it at this point.”

Fedotov, who made his NHL debut in April and signed a two-year contract after the season, had his entry-level contract tolled when he was required to fulfill a year of military obligations. The tolling of a contract would allow the Flyers to retain the player’s rights without burning a year off his deal. But for now at least, the Flyers are waiting before they make any such decision with Kolosov.

Kolosov was represented by CAA Sports when rumors began to swirl, but switched to Daniel Milstein of Gold Star Sports Management during the summer. Around that time, Brière revealed on the Nasty Knuckles podcast that he was unsure whether Kolosov would report to training camp but noted that “nothing has been said directly to us. We were trying to get some answers. ... And it was tough to get answers from his agent or clear answers. There’s always dancing around the pot.”

Those rumors that Kolosov did not feel welcome also surprised Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière, who Brière backed on Tuesday with his handling of the young goalie’s time in Allentown.

“I was as surprised as everybody behind those doors when I read what I read,” Laperrière said Monday. “And to be honest, like, maybe I’m the worst coach in the world, but I make people around me comfortable. You know, I’m a friendly guy; you guys [the media] know me for 15 years.

“I don’t know. It was weird to read the stuff. And, again, I don’t think it’s coming from the kid. Stuff got translated. Who said what? Yeah, it’s frustrating, because he looked really good in practice. He came to us, and he hadn’t skated for three weeks or a month, so he had some catching up to do. And we were in a playoff race, and Cal Petersen played unbelievable down the stretch, so it was a tough spot for him.

“But guys asked him to go out every night for dinner. He said, no, and I get it, [he] doesn’t speak English, so that’s going to be tough. But, again, I know my English is not great now, but I didn’t speak English when I moved to Peoria, [Ill.], when I was 20. So it’s part of pro hockey when you go from one country to the other, you got to learn the language. But, again, I don’t know. I really don’t know what to believe what’s out there, because the kid never told us that. So I wish him luck. Hopefully, we’ll see him soon, because he is a talented kid. But I’ll play the guys that I have.”

The Flyers signed goalie Eetu Mäkiniemi to a professional tryout offer on Aug. 29, according to his agency, WD Sports and Entertainment. The Finn has two career NHL starts and has spent the past two seasons in the San Jose Sharks organization, primarily playing for the AHL’s Barracuda, who also play in San Jose. Last season, Mäkiniemi compiled an 8-8-0 record with a .900 save percentage and 3.14 goals against average in 18 AHL games.

With Ersson and Fedotov signed to NHL contracts, Kolosov would have all but certainly begun the season with Lehigh Valley. Petersen, Parker Gahagen, and the recently signed Keith Petruzzelli are the goalies currently listed on the Phantoms’ roster.