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Heading into next week’s start of training camp, the Philadelphia Flyers were faced with a roster problem that hovered through the summer.
With the summer signing of Daniel Vladar, how were they going to figure out their goalie depth chart?
But general manager Danny Briere resolved the issue on Sunday by trading Ivan Fedotov to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a 2026 sixth round draft pick.
A Clearer Depth Chart Picture
Fedotov is coming off an difficult 2024-25 NHL debut campaign. The 28 year old Russian goalie had a 3.15 goals against average and .880 save percentage in 26 games played. He struggled in adapting to North American hockey and never really challenged incumbent Sam Ersson. He also lost time to then-rookie Aleksei Kolosov.
While Kolosov had an underwhelming campaign as well (3.59 GAA, .867 save percentage in 17 NHL games), age and contract tipped the likelihood of a trade towards Fedotov.
As a result, the Flyers establish a clear order to their organizational depth chart. Samuel Ersson and Vladar will be the Flyers tandem. Pending his arrival from Belarus, Kolosov and rookie Carson Bjarnason will compete for playing time with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
However, getting Bjarnason as much time as possible in his first season is a priority.
Expect competition for the starting jobs, though Ersson and Kolosov would appear to have their respective upper hands entering training camp.
Flyers Get Salary Cap Help
The Flyers received draft capital for Fedotov in the form of the sixth round pick they received from the Blue Jackets.
But there’s little question that the true benefit of the trade for the Flyers is the salary cap relief they receive. Fedotov is entering the final season of a contract with a $3.275 million cap hit. However, he is owed just $775,000 in actual salary this season.
With Columbus absorbing the full cap hit of Fedotov’s contract, Briere gets some much needed wiggle room.
While Briere could place the injured Ryan Ellis on long term injured reserve, it’s not necessary to do so. If a team needs to use LTIR to get under the cap, any performance bonuses players hit this season impact next year’s cap space.
In conclusion, the Flyers pull off a tidy bit of work: they get a clear goaltending pecking order and crucial salary cap space to enter training camp.
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