Flyers Prospects
Flyers Add Alexei Kolosov, Top Prospect to NHL Roster; What it Means
After much anticipation over the last 24 hours, the Philadelphia Flyers have made two key additions to their NHL roster: top goalie prospect Alexei Kolosov, and top defense prospect Emil Andrae.
Emil Andrae, 22, was on the Flyers roster as recently as five days ago, when he was re-assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL after fellow defenseman Nick Seeler returned from his lower-body injury.
Now that Cam York is on injured reserve, Andrae has made his return to the big club.
The 22-year-old Swede did not play in any games for the Flyers when filling Seeler’s spot on the NHL roster, but we’ll see if John Tortorella changes his approach now that we know York is expected to miss a few weeks compared to Seeler missing 10 days.
It is undoubtedly very difficult for the Flyers to replace York, even by committee, but Andrae is the best the organization has when it comes to matching York’s puck-moving capabilities and willingness to activate in the rush to create offense.
In a nutshell, Andrae is much closer to York as a player than he is to Seeler.
As for Alexei Kolosov, well… the Flyers did not call him up to the NHL so he can sit hang out and watch.
The 22-year-old Belarusian has played in each of the Phantoms’ first four games in the AHL this season, posting a 1-2-1 record, a 3.29 GAA, and a .875 percentage.
Those are objectively bad statistics, but the pressure has turned against incumbent Flyers backup goalie Ivan Fedotov, who has played even worse in his three starts at the NHL level this season.
Fedotov will turn 28 on Nov. 28 and has allowed 14 goals in just three starts this season. Overall, he’s 0-3-0 with a 5.35 GAA and a .821 save percentage, which is just not NHL-caliber goaltending right now.
Given his age, it’s fair to wonder how much time the Flyers can afford Fedotov to try and turn things around.
Perhaps one point of view in the organization is that Kolosov is the more polished goalie of the two, so that would make it possible that they swap places in the AHL and NHL, at least temporarily.
With York on injured reserve and Jett Luchanko off to the OHL, the Flyers have plenty of time to analyze, assess, and debate before doing anything drastic like that.
It is truly unclear what the organization plans to do with three goalies on the roster, but more competition never hurts.
The big Russian goalie just looks green and raw . Ersson has been fine . I think the middle of ice is the main issue still. Coots had good game today but lunchenko got sent down so center will still pressure us for this hopefully 🙏 last season .
we are a little undersized at wing overall but that will also change in due time . Tippett needs to bypass centers and just create when he’s without coots .
our defense has been great . Give drysdale this year . Give michkov this year with free pass but he looks every bit of hype and more . Best sniper wing since 1994-95 recchi we have had . Pre leclair trade recchi when him and lindros were unstoppable
im happy . Wasn’t happy with capitals games but we are young too. Like I’ve been saying give them this year , then raise bar for next year once another center shows up somehow
Anxious to see how Kolosov handles the big show lights. Watching a few of the games at LHV, he certainly has the physical abilities and great quickness side-to- side….though Phantoms defense was suspect at times in front of him so his GA suffered.
Also assume JettLu will be coming back in March…..Storm sits in last place and do not see them making the OHL play-offs at this moment. Unless Luchanko throws a real spark into the team.
May also see Barkey coming back up, more than likely with the Phantoms on an ATO, though the Knights have a strong squad and probably make the play-offs, so who knows if Barkey will see professional ice time this season..