Flyers prospect reportedly wants to leave the team after being treated poorly

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Cooper Godin
July 28, 2024 (10:32)

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A Philadelphia Flyers prospect reportedly wants to leave the team after being treated poorly when coming over to North America earlier this year.

In the latter stages of the 2023-24 season, the Philadelphia Flyers brought goaltender Alexei Kolosov over to North America from the KHL, where he played for Dinamo Minsk, his hometown team.

With Carter Hart on the sidelines indefinitely due to legal reasons, Flyers fans were expecting a tandem of Ivan Fedotov and Alexei Kolosov to be the future between the pipes, at least until Carson Bjarnason is ready to take the reigns. However, it appears that tandem may not come to fruition.

According to Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey, Alexei Kolosov told the Flyers organization that he didn't want to return next season. The Flyers reportedly put Kolosov in a hotel, isolated by himself during his time with the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

"Per AHL source, Alexei Kolosov told #Flyers at the end of his stint w/ Lehigh Valley he did not want to return

"They put him in the hotel by himself & he felt isolated, especially since his English isn't great"

Explains the AHL deals for Gahagen & Petruzzelli. @InsideAHLHockey" Androckitis said.

He added, "Put yourself in Kolosov's shoes for a minute.

You're ~5,000 miles from home in a different country where you can't speak the native language or communicate with anyone.

You're the 3rd goalie getting minimal practice reps in AHL. What do you do the other 22 hours of the day?"

It's understandable to see where Alexei Kolosov is coming from and how he feels. He left his home to pursue his dream of one day playing in the National Hockey League, but is put in a hotel all by himself, can't speak English and wasn't getting much playing time. It's going to be very interesting to see what happens on this front in the coming weeks.

The Flyers could possibly loan Kolosov back to the KHL, likely Dinamo Minsk, or they could mutually terminate the remaining two years on his entry-level contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. Either way, it seems unlikely that Kolosov will be here in North America next season and his time as a Philadelphia Flyers prospect could be coming to a close.