The Philadelphia Flyers have signed goaltender Aleksei Kolosov to a one-year contract extension, the team announced today. The deal carries an $850K AAV, though it is unclear at this time whether the extension is of a one-way or two-way structure.
Kolosov’s three-year entry level contract, a deal he signed in July 2023, was set to expire next month. He was slated to become an RFA with arbitration rights, assuming he had received a qualifying offer from the club.
Now, Philadelphia has avoided the (admittedly unlikely) prospect of Kolosov heading to arbitration, while Kolosov has secured his place in the Flyers organization for another season.
A 2021 third-round pick, Kolosov’s time with the Flyers organization has been somewhat uneven. His first of three years on his entry-level deal was spent on loan in the KHL, where he got to play for his hometown team, Dinamo Minsk.
Kolosov’s final two campaigns in the KHL were spent as the No. 1 goalie in Minsk. In 2023-24, he went 22-21-3 with a .907 save percentage in 47 games played. Seeing as Kolosov was already an experienced KHL starter, there was some hope that he would be able to hit the ground running in North America.
That did not happen. He began the 2024-25 season in a “standoff” with Flyers management. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski wrote at the time that Kolosov failed to report to Flyers rookie camp and had “asked the Flyers to loan him back to Dinamo Minsk of Russia’s KHL.” There were conflicting reports in prior months that Kolosov’s adjustment to North America had proven challenging. Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis cited an AHL source saying that Kolosov “felt isolated” living in a hotel by himself and without the ability to speak much English.
Amid the reported standoff, GM Danny Briere said of Kolosov that it was “time for him to step up and respect the contract” he signed. A little over a week later, the Flyers and Kolosov’s camp found a solution. Kolosov stayed in North America for 2024-25, and did the same for 2025-26. In October of 2024 Kolosov’s agent, Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey, told Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer that “all previous concerns” related to his client had “been thoroughly addressed and are now resolved.”
Although that proved to be the end of the off-ice controversy surrounding Kolosov, his on-ice play did not immediately pay dividends for the Flyers. He got into 17 NHL games for the team but struggled to the tune of an .867 save percentage. In 12 AHL games, Kolosov went 5-6-1 with an .884 save percentage.
This past season, Kolosov settled in as Philadelphia’s organizational No. 3 goalie. While his NHL struggles persisted, (.830 save percentage across four games of action) Kolosov showed improvement in the AHL, posting an .895 save percentage in 38 games played. Though he has struggled in North America, his improvement this past season has kept him on the board as one of the Flyers’ better prospects. He recently ranked No. 15 in the team’s system by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler.
The goal for Kolosov on this one-year extension will, undoubtedly, be to push for more NHL time. The Flyers have Dan Vladar entrenched as their No. 1 goalie, but their backup spot could open if the team chooses not to qualify or extend Samuel Ersson. Ersson’s 2025-26 season was a struggle, though he did improve over the Olympic break. The Flyers will most likely sign a goalie to be the front-runner for the backup job, but with this extension, Kolosov should get the chance to at least push whoever the Flyers sign for that NHL spot behind Vladar.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images