The Philadelphia Flyers went into this offseason with a number of needs, but limited salary cap space restricted the degree to which the team could address those needs.
One of the organization’s greatest needs, though, actually lies in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
After just barely qualifying for the Calder Cup playoffs, the Phantoms needed to make some upgrades, especially at the forward positions and in goal.
For virtually the entire summer, it was unclear whether Flyers goalie prospect Alexei Kolosov would return to North America and play for the organization or not.
One of the main talking points with Kolosov was his perceived homesickness, as the 22-year-old was frequently withdrawn to his teammates due to the language barrier and his quiet personality.
The good news is that, this time, the Flyers and general manager Danny Briere have managed to work around those obstacles with Kolosov and his camp.
“We didn’t have a Russian speaking player around. Everything was kind of rushed. It was tough situation for him. Seeing him now, he’s really engaged,” Briere explained during his Oct. 7 press conference. “Our goalie coaches, both here and in Lehigh, were raving about him, his work ethic, how engaged he was, and I know yesterday the guys took him out.
“They didn’t tell me where they went with him, but they had a good time,” Briere added with a laugh.
As for the language barrier, it’s still a work in progress, but the Flyers and Kolosov’s agency, Gold Star Hockey, have steps in place to create an even better environment for the Belarusian netminder this year.
They even signed a Russian-speaking player, but nobody realized it because he isn’t Russian or Belarusian.
“We have some people that work in the organization that spend more time in Lehigh, and we also have Rodrigo Abols that speaks the language,” Briere explained further. “But, you know, one thing that was surprising with him is how much he understands. He’s not comfortable speaking much, but he could understand quite more than I expected when when I spoke to him.
“It’s good that he’s he’s making efforts to try to learn the language.”
