Ivan Fedotov officially joins the Flyers, is already in Philadelphia

MONTREAL — As Flyers general manager Danny Brière chatted with the media in Quebec and was asked about one of the team’s KHL-based netminders, the other was making news.

The KHL announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, that CSKA Moscow has terminated Ivan Fedotov’s two-year contract after the first season.

Asked for comment, Brière said that he had heard something about it but declined, saying: “I need to know a little bit more.”

But Brière likely knew more than he let on, as less than 24 hours later, Fedotov is not only a Flyer but is in Philadelphia. The Flyers goaltender and GM are scheduled to talk to the media from the Flyers Training Center at 10:45 a.m. on Friday.

Friday’s news comes a day after Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweeted: “Everyone’s being very careful here for obvious reasons, but it is believed Fedotov is en route to beginning his NHL career for the Flyers. Wasn’t aware until news broke this morning, but all sides have worked on a solution for the last few weeks.”

Selected by the Flyers in the seventh round of the 2015 NHL draft, Fedotov signed a one-year, entry-level deal with the team in May 2022. But that July, as he poised to travel to compete for the Flyers’ backup goalie job, he was arrested in St. Petersburg, Russia, for alleged evasion of military service.

He allegedly had purchased a fake military ID years earlier to evade having to complete one year of service — a requirement for all males between the ages of 18 and 27 in Russia.

At trial, it was determined that Fedotov would need to fulfill his mandated military service, and Fedotov did not play hockey in the 2022-23 season.

After the goalie completed his service, CSKA announced last July that it had signed and registered Fedotov as a KHL player. Then in September, Fedotov started in goal for CSKA despite an Aug. 15 ruling by the International Ice Hockey Federation that he had a valid contract with the Flyers and not with the KHL club.

Ahead of that first game, the KHL and CSKA released a defiant joint statement against the IIHF’s ruling.

“The CSKA team applied for the match and included Ivan Fedotov in the list to participate in the match,” KHL president Alexei Morozov said. “The KHL accepted the application, the application went through the CIB database, so he will take part in the match. The KHL and the club do not agree with the IIHF decision, which infringes on the constitutional right of a citizen of the Russian Federation to work.

“The General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation came out in defense of the player and sent a warning to the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, the club, and the league about the inadmissibility of violating the right to work and ordered Fedotov to be allowed to participate in the competition.”

CSKA and the KHL appealed the IIHL decision, arguing that the goalie’s contract with the Flyers had expired and his new contract was valid, but the IIHF upheld the decision this past December. In July 2023, the Flyers had announced that the NHL contract was “tolled,” or rolled over to the 2023-24 season.

“Based on the evidence provided to the IIHF by the involved parties, the IIHF has determined that Ivan Fedotov has a valid NHL contract with the Philadelphia Flyers hockey club for the 2023/2024 season,” the IIHF said in its ruling last year.

“Accordingly, the IIHF has determined that Ivan Fedotov was in breach of a Professional Player Contract per Article II.4.1 of the IIHF International Transfer Regulations when he signed a contract with CSKA hockey club for the 2023/2024 season,” the ruling stated.

Fedotov, 27, will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He went 21-22-1, with a 2.37 goals-against average, .914 save percentage, and four shutouts for CSKA in the regular season. In the playoffs, he posted a 1-4 record with a 2.57 GAA and .916 save percentage. The one win was a shutout.

The Flyers have struggled to keep the puck out of their net of late, surrendering at least four goals in six of their past 10 games. Backup goaltender Felix Sandström, has especially struggled, so Fedotov likely will be an immediate option to back up Sam Ersson.The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco reported that the plan is for Fedotov to start in the NHL with the Flyers.

As for the other goalie, Alexei Kolosov, his loan with Dinamo Minsk ended last week. The KHL team posted across social media that he was leaving the team to continue his career in the Flyers system. Kolosov, 22, is expected to make his way to the United States in the coming weeks.

“We’re dealing with a lot of immigration stuff, so that’s why we don’t have an exact timeline,” Brière said. “It’s always tough to get him in the right places, right visa. I know our people are working on it, to try to make it work. It seems that it gets pushed out and pushed out. We were hoping he’d be here by now, but I think soon. I just don’t have an exact date for it.”

» READ MORE: Flyers assistant GM Brent Flahr talks prospects Matvei Michkov, Alexei Kolosov, and more

Brière said the team is hopeful that Kolosov will be in the U.S. shortly and the expectation is he will start with Lehigh Valley. The Phantoms’ last regular-season game is set for April 21.

But the question remains whether the Flyers could even recall him to the big club, as they have reportedly used their four post-deadline call-ups.

“That’s the one thing we need to get clarification from the NHL,” Brière said. “I think Felix is still on an emergency recall, so how does that work? Are you able to switch an emergency recall or not? So that’s where we need to get clarification. But most of our energy has been mostly spent on trying to get him here first.”

Selected in the third round of the 2021 draft, Kolosov signed a three-year entry-level contract in July. He went 22-21-3 with a 2.39 GAA, .907 save percentage, and four shutouts this season. The netminder won two of six games in the postseason, posting a 2.21 GAA and .925 save percentage.

“The one thing with him, it’s kind of a freakish thing, is he’s played almost four years, I think, in the KHL. He played as an 18-year-old, which is unheard of,” assistant GM Brent Flahr recently told The Inquirer.

“So, he’s got lots of experience, played at a high level, has played big games. He doesn’t play for the strongest team in his league — and he gets peppered a lot of nights, and it’s been really good. I think he, realistically, will need time in the American League, just to adjust to the pro game over here, with all the traffic and the arena size and all the different things. But he is highly athletic, he’s competitive.”