He is finally here. Alexei Kolosov will take the ice for the first time wearing a Philadelphia Flyers jersey as the team visits the New York Islanders in their fourth preseason game. The 22-year-old netminder won’t take the starting role — that is for Ivan Fedotov — but it has been confirmed that Kolosov will be playing some part in the game, whether that’s taking over halfway through or for the final period.
After dodging a couple rookie camps and the beginning of training camp, Kolosov finally made his way overseas and will hopefully be getting some more looks and maybe even an exhibition start before the Flyers start their season on October 11 in Vancouver. If he looks good enough, he will either be granted the starting position for AHL Lehigh Valley, or be even a third goaltender on the NHL roster (that could get messy).
But how is the team looking ahead of Kolosov? Can they stand a chance as these two unproven goaltenders stare down the Islanders? Well, this game is featuring two lineups on opposite ends of the spectrum of being established.
There will be no exciting rookie in the Flyers lineup, as both Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko are most likely taking this one off to then dress for Tuesday’s game in Boston. Instead, the Flyers are essentially rolling four fourth lines up top and then three third pairs on the blue line. A roster full of players either trying to warm up for depth NHL roles, or battle it out to get noticed and potentially be the first call-up after an injury happens. That’s it.
And facing the Flyers is an Islanders lineup that looks almost complete. Since they are at home on a Monday night, they decided to respect their fans and essentially ice the entire NHL roster, according to Stefan Rosner. All their stars will be on the ice at UBS Arena — Barzal, Horvat, Lee, Dobson — and the Flyers will be led by Scott Laughton.
Please note, we should not take anything of importance from this game if the Flyers end up getting killed.
Players to watch
Olle Lycksell
Certainly the most interesting player in the Flyers lineup that is not guaranteed a spot on the starting roster. Lycksell has fought his way through the preseason to make a strong impression and certainly succeeded in some portions of the fan base.
He has looked shockingly good on the power play, at times, and continues to not be a disaster at even strength. The key to look out from the 25-year-old is if he can be in a checking role. He has some skill, but does he have the right tools and do the right things to be an adequate Garnet Hathaway replacement, if the veteran gets injured, for example. That’s what needs to be found out.
Noah Cates
At the beginning of training camp, we all assumed Cates would be on the NHL roster. But, unfortunately, he has not looked good enough and has just passively glided through the preseason, being a non-factor and not what he typically provides even in his worse performances. We should consider Cates’s role on the team really up for grabs (for someone like Lycksell, for example) because there are certainly some hungry tweeners out there.
Cates really needs to take this opportunity to maybe provide some jump offensively, and on a line with speedy Ryan Poehling and trigger-man Joel Farabee; there could be something cooking.
Emil Andrae
Andrae is currently fighting to stick in the NHL. After making the team out of camp last season, and then being sent down, the Flyers’ blue line is in a similar situation. They already have their six defensemen locked in for opening night, and then Erik Johnson as the seventh — but can Andrae make a good enough impression to be viewed as a potential replacement for a top-four blueliner? Can he fight through wave after wave of talented Islanders forwards, and demonstrate his ability to hang in this league?
The lineups
Philadelphia Flyers
Olle Lycksell — Scott Laughon — Anthony Richard
Noah Cates — Ryan Poehling — Joel Farabee
Nic Deslauriers — Rodrigo Abols — Oskar Eklind
Rhett Gardner — Sawyer Boulton — Brendan Furry
Egor Zamula — Rasmus Ristolainen
Emil Andrae — Erik Johnson
Adam Ginning — Helge Grans
Alexei Kolosov
Ivan Fedotov
New York Islanders
Anthony Duclair — Bo Horvat — Mat Barzal
Maxim Tsyplakov — Brock Nelson — Kyle Palmieri
Anders Lee — J.G. Pageau — Simon Holmstrom
Kyle MacLean — Casey Cizikas — Julian Gauthier
Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov — Noah Dobson
Mike Reilly — Scott Mayfield
Marcus Hogberg
Jakub Skarek
