Latest KHL ruling means Flyers will have to wait at least another year for Ivan Fedotov

Flyers fans will have to wait at least another year before they see Ivan Fedotov in Orange and Black.

The Kontinental Hockey League registered Fedotov’s contract with Russian team CSKA Moscow on Saturday, opening the door for the goaltender to return to the KHL this season. Fedotov recently completed his year of mandatory military service, which prevented him from playing last season. The KHL’s decision basically validates CSKA’s two-year contract with the 26-year-old, despite Fedotov having a valid NHL contract with the Flyers. Fedotov is now under contract with CSKA through the 2024-25 season.

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The Flyers signed Fedotov, a seventh-round pick by the team in 2015, to a one-year, entry-level contract on May 7, 2022. Fedotov, who was one of the KHL’s top goaltenders and had won the Gagarin Cup (the KHL’s championship) in 2021-22, was expected to make the move to North America ahead of last season and challenge for the backup role behind Carter Hart. The Flyers were primed to add an Olympic silver medalist and one of the top goaltenders in the world outside of the NHL. That’s when things began to get complicated.

Before leaving for North America, Fedotov was arrested by Russian law enforcement in St. Petersburg last July for alleged evasion of military service. In Russia, all males aged 18-27 (with rare exceptions) are required to serve one year in the military in some capacity if they are conscripted. Fedotov was detained for allegedly purchasing a fake military ID years prior to evade having to complete his service. The government’s decision to act on the alleged falsified ID and timing seemed to directly correlate with Fedotov signing with the Flyers and preparing to move to North America.

After standing trial, Fedotov was sent to a remote military base in northern Russia last July to begin his service training. He recently completed his service, and now can return to hockey. The Flyers announced on June 14 that Fedotov’s contract from last year will be tolled or applied to this season. In other words, they still hold his NHL rights this season.

There was a glimmer of hope that Fedotov could have come to North America this season. That hinged on the KHL not registering his recently signed contract with CSKA. The KHL and NHL previously had a “memorandum of understanding” that required each league to respect the other’s player contracts. That memorandum was suspended in March 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but both the NHL and KHL have acted in good faith with each other’s contracts since.

The KHL’s decision to recognize Fedotov’s new KHL contract and not honor his NHL one with the Flyers no longer violates any rules but it does open up a new can of worms when it comes to NHL-KHL relations. This change of tact will be especially relevant for the Flyers, who drafted two Russian players this year in promising winger Matvei Michkov and goaltender Egor Zavragin.

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Michkov, the No. 7 overall pick, is signed through the 2025-26 season with KHL team SKA Saint Petersburg. But the NHL could potentially look at the KHL’s handling of the Fedotov situation and choose to act in a similar manner toward existing KHL contracts and try and bring players over earlier. This will be a fascinating development to watch over the coming months and years.

For now, it looks as if Fedotov will return to CSKA and play this season out. Whether he will ever join the Flyers and live out his NHL dream is anybody’s guess at this point.