VOORHEES, N.J. — If goalie Alexei Kolosov doesn’t want to play for the Philadelphia Flyers , the Flyers don’t want him playing in Russia either.
That’s the status of the standoff between the Flyers and Kolosov, a 22-year-old Belarusian who is one of their top goaltending prospects. He didn’t report to the team’s rookie camp this week at their practice facility in New Jersey and has asked the Flyers to loan him back to Dinamo Minsk of Russia’s KHL — a request that Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said the team will not grant.
“It’s time for him to step up and respect the contract,” he said at Flyers rookie camp Tuesday.
Kolosov signed an entry-level contract with the Flyers in 2023, who loaned him to Dinamo Minsk last season before he came to the U.S. to play in the American Hockey League with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Kolosov appeared in two games last season in the AHL.
“I guess we can still hope that he decides to show up if he wants to play hockey, but it’s not looking like it at this point,” Briere said. “It is what it is. We have to move on. We hoped that he would want to compete for a job.”