Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have a changing look in net, and more change could be still to come if Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere has his way.
With the Flyers bringing in goaltender Ivan Fedotov last week after his Kontinental Hockey League season ended, they were able to return Felix Sandstrom to the Phantoms. Sandstrom had been with the Flyers the past month in a tandem with Lehigh Valley graduate Samuel Ersson, and he made his first AHL appearance in more than a month on Saturday night, stopping 31 shots to help Lehigh Valley pull out a point in a 4-3 overtime loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Philadelphia might not be done redrawing the Lehigh Valley goaltending picture, either. The Calder Cup Playoffs offer a prime learning environment for prospects, and the Flyers are working to make that happen for another promising young goaltender: Briere told reporters last week that the organization is working to bring over highly regarded prospect Aleksei Kolosov, a 2021 third-round draft pick, with the intention of assigning him to the Phantoms.
This season with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL, the 22-year-old Kolosov went 22-21-3 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage in 47 games. He also has represented Belarus in international play.
Briere explained that the Flyers are trying to work their way through the visa process to bring Kolosov to North America “soon,” though he could not provide a precise timeline.
“I know our people are working on [the visa process] to try to make it work,” Briere explained. “We’re hopeful that he is going to be in the U.S. shortly. As far as where he’s going to play, I’d say he’s probably going to start with the Phantoms at this point.”
Whether or not that quest does succeed, excitement is building around the young talent both the Flyers and Phantoms have. With a roster stocked in part with players developed by the Phantoms in past seasons, the re-energized Flyers are still in the hunt to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs after finishing 26th in the NHL last season. Kolosov would be another addition to a growing group of Phantoms prospects.
TheAHL.com features writer Patrick Williams has been on the American Hockey League beat for nearly two decades for outlets including NHL.com, Sportsnet, TSN, The Hockey News, SiriusXM NHL Network Radio and SLAM! Sports, and was most recently the co-host of The Hockey News On The ‘A’ podcast. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
