Brière defends Flyers despite Kolosov’s absence, believes it’s time for prospect to ‘progress’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
VOORHEES, New Jersey — Danny Briere he looked as puzzled as everyone else, and even slightly annoyed as the questions piled up.
Flyers open 2024 training camp Thursday and potential franchise cornerstone Matvei Michkov arrived two years earlier than expectedThe team competed for the playoffs last season until game 82 without losing sight of its reconstruction.
But, understandably and inevitably, the first topic of discussion on Tuesday revolved around a player who was not there.
Alexei Kolosov, one of the Flyers’ top goaltending prospects, did not attend rookie camp and will not be in the main camp either. A confusing situation that has been brewing since May Tensions essentially reached their peak during the Brière press conference.
And the CEO was direct. Hard to blame him.
“All we know is that he’s under contract with us,” Briere said. “Our view is that if he wants to play hockey, he has to respect his contract.”
Belarus’ 2021 third-round pick signed his three-year entry contract in July 2023He played last season on loan in the KHL, Russia’s top professional league, with his club Dinamo Minsk. After playing 53 games, including the playoffs, Kolosov joined Lehigh Valley, the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, in early April.
The Flyers thought having the 22-year-old spend more than a month with the Phantoms would help ease his full-time transition to North America in 2024-25. But apparently, that plan didn’t go as planned.
“For us, we have no interest in loaning him out, we want him to develop here,” Briere said. “There’s a great opportunity in front of our goalies right now. We have young goalies in net, we have Cal Petersen “He’s also fighting for a place. We just thought it would be a great opportunity for him at this time. It’s a shame he doesn’t want to come.”
In May, five days after Lehigh Valley was eliminated from the playoffs, Belarushockey.com According to some sources, Kolosov may have wanted to return to the KHL for the 2024-25 season due to issues adjusting to North America. At the time, the Flyers believed he was homesick, according to one source, but were hopeful he would be healthy by training camp. Tony Androckitis of InsideAHLHockey.com In July, it was reported that Kolosov felt “isolated.”
“To be honest, I might be the worst coach in the world, but I make people around me feel comfortable.” Phantoms head coach Ian Laperriere said Monday:“I’m a nice guy, you’ve known me for 15 years.
“It was a tough situation for him, but the guys asked him to go out to dinner every night, he said no.”
When European players pursue their NHL dreams in North America, it’s a challenge. They have to adjust to a different culture and language. Kolosov doesn’t speak English, and Lehigh Valley didn’t have a Russian player on its roster. The Flyers and Phantoms were both in the playoff race. Briere understood Kolosov’s homesickness, but the general manager defended Lehigh Valley’s management group and coaching staff.
“I have to say something about that because some of our players, coaches and developers have gone above and beyond to help him integrate into the team,” Briere said. “I feel bad for some of the leadership, Garrett Wilson especially, Louie Belpedio and I could go on and on. These guys went out of their way to help him fit in, they asked him out to dinner and things like that.
“I talked to some of the guys and they all said he was doing great, he was great on the ice, they liked him as a person. I just want to make it clear, with all the rumours, there doesn’t seem to be any issues and I believe in the leadership of those guys. It’s the same with our coaches.
“You’ve got Jason Smith and Ian Laperriere, two of the greatest leaders who would do anything for their teammates, on the coaching staff. So when you hear things like that, you have to take them with a grain of salt.”
The Flyers’ current and future goaltending landscape is far from sacrosanct. It’s rife with opportunity. Kolosov was expected to start the season with the Phantoms and would have played a lot alongside Petersen. Depending on the performance and health of the Flyers’ Samuel Ersson-Ivan Fedotov tandem, Kolosov had a chance to make his NHL debut.
“Most teams in the league are using their third or fourth goalie,” Briere said. “He would be competing with the guys we have to play some games with this year. I think for him, he’s more interested in securing a spot in the NHL. If not, he’d rather stay there. And that’s not how we see it.”
“We agreed last year to loan him out for a year because he wanted to stay home. But at some point, you sign a contract, we want him here, we want him to start integrating into the game the way it’s played here in North America, with a smaller rink, learning the language and all that.”
The Flyers seem to have a faint hope that Kolosov will change his mind and want to come back. But it all seems precarious. It is seriously questionable whether this can ever be fixed, whether Kolosov will ever play for the Flyers.
“We’re asking ourselves questions at this point because he’s not showing that he wants to come,” Briere said. “That was the agreement last year when he signed the contract, he asked us to loan him for a year so he could continue to develop one more year and then he would come. And then we’re here now and he’s still saying the same thing. … It’s time for him to take charge and respect the contract he signed.”
Kolosov’s development comes eight months after the Flyers were forced to trade Cutter Gauthier in January because the fifth overall pick in 2022 did not want to play for the organization.
“We always look at ourselves and see how we can do better,” Briere said. “But remember, we’re talking about two players on the outside. When I look at the culture we’re building here on the inside, the players that are on the inside want to be here.”
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