Philadelphia Flyers goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov is making things exceptionally difficult for Danny Briere heading into training camp.
Kolosov is refusing to report to the team as he has no interest in playing for the team's AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. As Kolosov alleges, the team left him stranded in a hotel room by himself during a road trip. He felt isolated and with limited knowledge of the English langue, it was as if he was left on an island.
While Briere refutes the story, the team is now being hit with a dilemma. Kolosov wants to play in the NHL and if he cannot get that guarantee, he wants to go play for Dynamo Minsk in the KHL. However, the Flyers don't want to loan him out. Needless to say, this is a bad situation for both parties.
'We agreed last year to loan him back for one year because he wanted to stay home. But at some point, you sign a contract and we want him here and we want him to start integrating himself into the game the way it's played in North America.' Briere said. 'We can still hope he shows up at some point if he wants to play hockey. We hope that he changes his mind and decides to come, but it's not looking like it at this point.'
No matter what, the Flyers will likely be fine without Kolosov's cooperation. However, it obviously puts a huge damper on their ability to integrate Kolosov into their system, which appears to be the goaltender's problem in the first place.
