Ivan Fedotov has officially arrived in Philadelphia, capping off a whirlwind 24 hours from the time it was first announced that his KHL contract had been terminated.
The Philadelphia Flyers caught everyone off guard when they announced Friday morning that Danny Briere would be holding a press conference at the Flyers' practice facility, before posting pictures of Fedotov walking into the building, confirming that he would be officially be in the Flyers system less than a day after his KHL contract with CSKA Moscow had officially been terminated.
"It's been a long time [since getting drafted in 2015], but now I'm here," Fedotov said. "I'm so excited and so happy to be here. It's a great feeling because it's been a difficult two years, but I want to help the team struggle for the playoffs and be one of the best teams in the playoffs."
Flyers GM Danny Briere said that the adversity Fedotov has faced in his career is "what gives us confidence that he can come and help us."
"He's been through a lot in his career [and] in his personal life," Briere stated. "He keeps fighting, he keeps getting better and working his craft...Hopefully it's a new chapter for him and he gets to start his NHL career off on the right foot."
Fedotov is also raring to get his career started, expressing an eagerness to face the NHL style of play: "It's more deflection and more scorers. In Russia, you have to be focused on the puck, don't think too much...[In the NHL], it's more faster, but for me, it's very good. I like when the game is fast."
The arrival of the 6-foot-7 goaltender raised some questions regarding the Flyers' current goalie tandem of Sam Ersson and Felix Sandstrom, but Briere confirmed that Fedotov would be moving directly into the Flyers squad to back up Ersson while Sandstrom would return to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
"We were up front," Briere said. "Sam was kept in the loop, Felix was kept in the loop. We try to be as open as we can with our players. It was going to affect them. At the same time, we told Sam, 'You've earned the rights to be number one. We believe in you.' But we've been up front with both of them."
Fedotov added that his focus will be on getting integrated into the team and improving his play to give the Flyers a boost in their playoff push, saying, "I want to get better every day."
And as for how the Flyers will handle photo ops with their new giant of a goalie?
"We'll ask him to bend down!" Briere joked.
