The Philadelphia Flyers have only three preseason games remaining, including an away back-to-back against the Bruins and Islanders on Monday and Tuesday. This means that, realistically, Alexei Kolosov, who arrived late to training camp, has two preseason games at most to try to make an impression and fight for an NHL roster spot.
Incumbent starter Sam Ersson played the full 60 minutes against the Islanders in a 1-0, 37-save shutout win on Thursday, while Ivan Fedotov played 63:52 in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Bruins.
Unless John Tortorella and Flyers goalie coach Kim Dillabaugh are planning to give Ersson one last tune-up before the start of the regular season, it looks like the last three preseason games to some combination of Fedotov, Kolosov, and Cal Petersen, especially now that Eetu Makinemi was assigned to the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday morning.
In the event that Ersson and Fedotov are done for the preseason, it seems likely that Kolosov would play in two of the Flyers’ final three exhibition games. Playing on Monday against the Islanders and Thursday against the New Jersey Devils would give Kolosov the experience of playing one away game, and one home game in front of the Flyers faithful at Wells Fargo Center for the first time.
And, because the Devils left on Sunday ahead of the 2024 Global Series in Prague, that game would present a soft matchup for the Flyers and give Kolosov the perfect opportunity to get his feet wet and garner more experience against NHL (well, AHL) competition.
It is, of course, possible that Petersen or the others play a game, but the Flyers have made it clear after signing Makiniemi that Petersen is no longer a priority and does not have a future in the organization.
Therefore, the former Los Angeles Kings goalie will not take valuable minutes away from Kolosov or any of the other Flyers goalies.
Thursday’s game against New Jersey at Wells Fargo Center seems like a given, but it remains to be seen whether Kolosov’s Flyers debut will come before that.
