Flyers’ Alexei Kolosov Working Through Visa Process; Will Join AHL Affiliate

More goalie reinforcements are on the way for the Philadelphia Flyers, though it’s not clear exactly when that will happen.

Flyers general manager Danny Briere addressed traveling media in Montreal on Thursday afternoon, discussing a few topics that included the Flyers’ injury crisis on defense.

He also offered an interesting nugget on goalie prospect Alexei Kolosov, who was recently announced to have been leaving the KHL by his club, HC Dinamo Minsk.

“We’re dealing with a lot of immigration stuff, so that’s why we don’t have an exact timeline,” Briere said of Kolosov. “It’s always tough to get him in the right places, the right visa. Our people are working on it to try and make it work.

“It seems it just gets pushed out and pushed out. We were hoping he’d be here by now. I think soon, I just don’t have an exact day for him.”

It is worth noting that the Flyers have already used all four of their post-trade deadline AHL call-ups, so if Kolosov is assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, the Flyers will have to jump through some hoops to get him back in the NHL this season.

“As far as where he’s going to play, I would say he’d probably start with the Phantoms at this point,” Briere said.

The Flyers can, however, re-call players on an emergency basis; backup goaltender Felix Sandstrom is currently with the team on an emergency basis due to the Carter Hart situation. Sandstrom replaced Cal Petersen, who was originally re-called on an emergency basis when Hart first left the team.

If this precedent stands, the Flyers should have no issues re-calling Kolosov from Lehigh Valley if they wish to bring him in. The same applies to Ivan Fedotov, who is apparently leaving the KHL for a shock return to the Flyers organization.

Kolosov, 22, finished his KHL career with Minsk with a 49-56-10 record and a .909 save percentage.