April 23, 2024
Eric Hartline/USA TODAY Sports
Ivan Fedotov should help form the goaltending tandem with Sam Ersson next season.
UPDATE [3:35 p.m. ET] – The Flyers made Ivan Fedotov's new contract official:
DONE DEAL: We've inked goaltender Ivan Fedotov to a two-year, $6.5 million contract ($3.25 million AAV). #LetsGoFlyers https://t.co/JSKiDYKPDw
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 23, 2024
He'll be locked in through 2026 at $3.25 million per.
Sam Ersson is also under contract until then with an extension that kicks in next season at a cap hit of $1.45 million.
They'll be the Flyers' goaltenders going into 2024-25.
EARLIER...
Ivan Fedotov looks like he will be sticking around in Philadelphia.
The Russian goaltender, who finally joined the Flyers late this past season after a highly tumultuous couple of years in his home country, has reportedly agreed to a two-year, $6.5 million contract to stay with the team – this per The Fourth Period's Anthony Di Marco and TSN's Darren Dreger.
The deal will carry an average annual value of $3.25 million.
Fedotov, who will turn 28 in November and stands at a towering 6-foot-7, is expected to fill out the Flyers' goaltending tandem for next season alongside Sam Ersson.
Fedotov joined the Flyers at the end of March, and with the team chasing after a playoff spot but stumbling down the stretch, he got thrown right into the NHL fire to cover for an exhausted Ersson only days after arriving over from Russia.
It was a tough spot, head coach John Tortorella would go on to admit both in the moment and at season's end, and across three games (one start), Fedotov posted an underwhelming .811 save percentage and 4.95 goals against average.
It had to be accounted for, however, that he had only been in North America for a couple of days by the time he played and had little time to get acclimated to a new team, new league, different ice, and different gear.
The hope now is that a full summer will give him time to settle down and make those adjustments, on top of building off the signs of promise that he did show, particularly in his appearance against the Islanders on April 1, when he subbed in for Ersson and stopped 18 of 20 shots in the overtime loss, which included a big save on a Mathew Barzal breakaway.
Fedotov's first save is on a Mat Barzal breakaway and Flyers fans are LOVING it pic.twitter.com/eqxmcj4mYZ
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 2, 2024
Fedotov was picked up in the seventh round of the 2015 draft by the Flyers and was originally supposed to join them in the summer of 2022 after posting some strong performances in the Olympics and the Russian KHL.
He signed an NHL contract with the team but was detained as he tried to leave Russia under allegations of evading mandatory military service.
Fedotov lost a year of playing time fulfilling that service, then returned to his Russian pro club on a new KHL contract, which drew the ire of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) as his Flyers contract was still valid during that entire time. But that was handled with little regard from CSKA Moscow and made it seem like any plans for Fedotov in Philadelphia were no longer in the cards.
Of course, until word suddenly went around that Fedotov's KHL contract had been terminated, and then the very next day, he was at the Flyers' facility in Voorhees.
Follow Nick on Twitter: @itssnick
Like us on Facebook: PhillyVoice Sports
