Aleksei Kolosov in limbo as Phantoms near return to full heath

Reinforcements coming for Phantoms as Eetu Makiniemi and Cal Petersen near returns, and the clock ticks to figure out what to do with Aleksei Kolosov.

There’s been no shortage of drama and intrigue this season as it relates to the Flyers’ goaltending depth throughout the organization, and the situation is going to get even more interesting over these next couple of weeks.

The Phantoms, who have been pretty massively depleted by injuries at the goaltending position for much of the season — but who have also gotten pretty huge step-up performances from Parker Gahagen and Keith Petruzzelli — are set to get some reinforcements coming their way before long. As noted on this past weekend’s broadcast, both Eetu Makiniemi (out since November) and Cal Petersen (out since January) have resumed skating and maintain timelines that would have them returning within the next couple of weeks.

And while goaltending hasn’t been a huge issue for the team necessarily, it will be a big boost for them to have two players returning who have legitimately pushed (or at times claimed) the starter role and who have a longer, proven track record of success in the AHL. It’s an extra boost across the board, but one which particularly takes some of the pressure off of a defense group which has been, at times, a little mistake prone.

So the Phantoms are looking at getting a boost on a collective level with just 20 games remaining in the regular season, but this doesn’t mean things are universally smooth for them, wherever you look. Because a return to full strength for the Phantoms’ goaltending tandem also means that Aleksei Kolosov is finding himself in an increasingly difficult and complicated position.

As it stands, he’s still up with the Flyers roster, and even though the roles up there seem to have grown pretty clearly defined — that is, Sam Ersson is the starter and Ivan Fedotov has earned enough trust from the coaching staff to pretty comfortably have locked down the backup position — and Kolosov isn’t exactly staring down a huge amount of work at the NHL level, but there also hasn’t been any indication that the team aims to send him back down anytime soon (a situation which, in truth, is hard to see how it benefits him in the slightest). And the longer he stays up with the Flyers, the closer he gets to running into the returns of Makiniemi and Petersen, and another log jam to contend with.

That is, if those returns all more or less line up timing wise, there’s no leg up to be found for anyone. It would be one thing if Kolosov was sent down when the Phantoms return from their road trip this week and allowed to get in for some games with them starting this weekend — he could begin the process of knocking off close to a month’s worth of rust early and work to solidify his standing with the coaching staff again. But if much longer is waited, he’ll be getting reacclimatized at the same time as the others, and will have to work from the ground up to show well up against the other two goaltenders in the rotation. Of course, this isn’t to say that he stands no chance of stepping up and separating himself from Makiniemi and Petersen, but in a big picture situation where his development is paramount, it seems a little strange that he wouldn’t be offered a running start on that aim.

It’s a situation that’s been complicated all season, and one that doesn’t look like it’s going to be completely demystified any time soon. But there’s one thing for certain — the clock is ticking for the organization to at least begin to figure out what they’re doing with Kolosov.