Summer of 2025, he'll get traded to Edmonton for Campbell.

This is an overpay for sure, but really inconsequential in the long scheme of what the Flyers are trying to do. We needed a goalie, to backup/tandem with Ersson. Fedotov checks that. It's rumored he would only come over to NA at a certain number, and if this is the number and term that get's him here it's fine with me. Much prefer this scenario than him signing for >2 years.

Perfect term for him to serve as stop gap for Kolosov. Find it unfair to judge Fedotov off of the few games he did play. Flyers were playing worst hockey of the year through that time, and Fedotov's equipment was new and yet to be broken in which can be a struggle for goalies, stiff equipment is hard to play in.

*In fact Fedotov came in relief of Ersson in 2/3 games.

Its believed that he preferred the Flyers, and didn't want the Coyotes or Capitals. I can only assume he had not wanted to Caps because he wanted to be known as his own person rather than "Ovi Jr."

I knew that he didn't want to go to Arizona or Washingon, but I have no idea about other teams.

As long as he was okay with the Sharks. We got good weather here. Not much else.

Do you think the Flyers have a legit starter right now? Ersson has been pretty good given the circumstances but do you think the Flyers would be smart to just lean on him for the future? Or would it be smart to try to find another goalie from somewhere? You might think he deserves less but this is evidently the money he wanted to come over to NA. 3.25 isn’t really that much and it’s basically nothing considering we now have less that 5 million for our goalies for the next 2 years. Thinking Briere could lose his job over this is a quite laughable.

if you wanted a goalie go talk to FL, I'm sure they would trade you Knight at a very reasonable deal. It's better than this gamble.

This deal makes a lot more sense to me than the Chicago overpays for vets. They're taking a two year bet for about 2 mil of cap space while they rebuild to hopefully get a goalie. Pretty good use of cap space during a rebuild.

Let's see how he looks after and off-season & training camp. I'd give him until the 15 starts mark next year to judge this. Could still be a solid goalie. You people are nuts.

I think Errson could be a solid starter moving forward. Fedotov probably won't be better than him. BUT he could be. And if he is, this contract is a steal. Period.

big Danny Briere L

Lmao it’s a two year deal for a guy who performed great in the KHL. It’s far from the end of the world, especially for the Flyers who needed a starter and have ample cap space.

Paying him that for 2 years is not an “insane bet” for a team that needs a starting goalie for the foreseeable future. Also, PHI is very much still in a rebuild. This year was a massive overachievement based on expectations. It’s not like he is the missing piece that will ruin or perfect a team on a cup run. If this contract had longer term then it would be an “insane bet”.

Very reasonable? Yeah I doubt they are ready to give up on a goalie they picked in the first round in 2019. That would actually be really poor management, and that’s not what they have in Florida.
The Flyers giving up assets for a goalie would not be a smart move right now. He’s not the magical missing piece the Flyers need. He might have more upside than Fedotov, sure, but I’d bet he would have had similar numbers to Knight if he was in the AHL. I’d rather give up nothing at this point…

after 3 years in the league and costing over 3 mil toward the cap sitting in the AHL. With so little faith in him they signed Stolarz as a backup.
At some point all teams part with a prospect not performing well. It's not like he's 21. As far as the cost, how many people you know want a 3+ mil ahl goalie? who if they are a backup cost a team 4.5 mil.
Especially when they are a team fighting to get to the cup the last few years. At some point you want that cap for your window not sitting in the AHL.
Yeah might cost you a 2nd or a 3rd. But who cares. Those are low value picks anyway. 25% and 15% chances of turning into an NHL player. It's not some major loss if you need a goalie.

Two things can be true:

This is a "bad" contract from a general point of view; as in it is an overpay compared to market.

This was a necessary contract to get him out of Russia for the Flyers; who have other higher priority players that they need to get out of Russia in the future.

So he has a bad contract, hasn't played well in his time in the NHL and his current team has no faith in him? You aren't making a very good case that he would be a good guy to trade for lol. And you aren't even mentioning that he's been in the player assistance program before. I'm all for reclamation projects but I don't honestly see Zito being interested in trading him. Goalies take longer to develop and he's played less than 60 NHL games. Plenty of time for him to put in work in the AHL and eventually earn the backup spot again. I agree the contract is a pretty big problem but they would be selling extremely low, don't really see it happening. If he's actually available for a 3rd? Yeah, maybe...

If you say that, then you are admitting it's a bad deal.

Knight is 24 next season, that's gong on 6 years of development.
At that point you either are or you aren't. At some point in the mid to mid-upper 20s players hit their peak aka 25-27 range. So it's kind of now or never.
Like many guys he might just need a new start some where. It's pretty clear Bob is the guy in FL. I don't see that changing for awhile. So at some point it just makes sense to move the cap out.
While you might not think it's the best gamble on a guy. 4.5 isn't bad for a guy actually on an NHL roster as opposed to guy sitting in the AHL, and the contract is only 2 years.
It's a better gamble than, played in the KHL and just handing him 3.3 mil for 2 years. The quality of play over there is not very high, especially the last 2 years as every international player has run for the exits.
The level of play over there currently is like slightly better than the CHL, probably lower than the NCAA.

Seems like we're just going around and around here so here's some of my main points.

1. Knight could be a nice reclamation project but would cost assets
2. I honestly don't think Zito would want to trade him. Florida is arguably the best team in the league and that's with Knight buried. So we would probably have to overpay to get him as there's really no need for them to force a trade.
3. Knight is actually in a good position to just develop as he's still relatively young, especially for a goalie. Bob is still playing at a high level with 2 years left, so again, no need to rush anything with Knight.
4. Zito spent a pretty high pick on him and Knight still has tremendous upside. That's probably why you think it might be a good trade and why Zito gave him that contract. But also a reason for them to either make a team overpay for him or just keep him developing in their system.
5. The "gamble" with Fedotov is much smaller than this imagined scenario of trading for Knight, which we have to speculate what the cost would even be in the first place. They are not just giving him away.
6. The talk about the KHL not being any good now is very overblown. Every international player has not run for the exits lol. Many Americans and Canadians still there but they did lose a decent amount of guys from the EU countries. Most of the really good players and prospects from Sweden and Finland usually stay in their countries own pro and junior leagues anyway so it's not super significant imo. If you think it's any where even close to comparable to the CHL then you are lost. It's probably most comparable to the AHL, which is a pretty good hockey league to pull talent from as well. Plenty of guys have and will continue to come from Russia. Some are good, some aren't. Don't blanket every guy playing there. The best player in the next draft might be the Russian kid..
7. If we brought in Knight, and paid a decent amount which I think we would almost have to, there would be pressure for him to become the starter, maybe right away. With Fedotov that is not the expectation. That scenario seems like a completely unnecessary risk to take at this point.
8. We are rebuilding so spending a little more on a guy that has played plenty of pro hockey over the last 5 or so years is super low risk and will take the load off Ersson, who played really well but was clearly gassed at the end of the season.
9. IMO the Flyers would benefit from being bad over the next few years before Michkov comes over anyways. Another top 10 pick or 2 could go a long way. We need more high end talent, plain and simple. Maybe Fedotov helps us stay down there a little further lol...

you seem to thing there is this high price on Knight.
he's getting paid 4.5 mil in an AHL. Costing the main club over 3 mil per year.
It's like carrying dead cap space for FL.
Look at the roster and ask if they try to keep that team together how they are doing it with only 21 million in cap.
He could very well be a cap casualty for FL, and the cost not nearly what you think.
Free is not always better. remember that.

I've said several times now that Zito isn't giving him away for cheap. Sure that's my opinion but I see no reason for them to sell extremely low on him like you're suggesting just to dump 3m.
Zito gave him that contract for a reason, he likes him. Like damn man he just turned 23. Came back from fighting whatever in the player assistance program and played a decent full year in the AHL.
I wouldn't be surprised if he's Bob's backup next year again as they obviously want him to be the goalie of the future.
The "casualty" if you want to call it that will probably be Stolarz. They likely won't be able to afford him as he will get a lot more than the 1m he's making now after being one of if not the best backups in the NHL this past season. He's obviously on a pretty good team but he'll get a couple million more over a few years I'd bet. A team like New Jersey could even come in and give him a chance at a starting spot too so Florida will need a different backup next year most likely.

I'll throw one more thing here that's actually being mentioned by some people right now. Fedotov and Michkov have the same agent. There's been rumors coming out now very recently that Michkov could potentially come over this coming season, but most likely next, and that the relationship between the Flyers and SKA is on really good terms. So we just slightly overpaid a player and essentially put money directly in the pocket of the guy working to get Michkov over to the Flyers. Let that sink in and then tell me it's not worth a couple million bucks lol..

if you think you need to sign one player to bring another over you are kidding yourself. If they want to make big money, they come to the NHL to try. It is what it is.

As for the goalie, as I said, if FL wants to keep the team together it will need cap space. Backup goalies at 4+ million are a luxury item for teams that don't have cap issues.

Wow man you just refuse to give even an inch on any of this lol it's kinda funny actually. All for a goalie you think is getting overpaid by us but you want us to give up assets for a different goalie that makes over a million more and was below average in the minors last season.

We obviously didn't "need" to sign Fedotov just to help facilitate a move to NA for Michkov. But you also can't deny the connection and the fact that we're now hearing Michkov is likely going to come over before his contract is actually up, which we hadn't heard until very recently. Again, it doesn't hurt putting money in the pocket of the guy trying to help you. Ad you're the one kidding yourself if you think otherwise, especially when talking about Russia.

You also seem to be acting like Fedotov is this nobody that came out of nowhere that we decided to sign for no reason. Like you know we drafted him all the way back in 2015 right? It wasn't random. We've maintained contact and his rights for almost 10 years now. Even tried to get home over here in 2022 when he became a free agent but was caught with false documents and punished for trying to evade military service. This was all after being one of the best goalies in the KHL for 3 straight seasons from 2019-2022. He's a very good goalie believe it or not. Not sure why you think the only outcome here is a bad one. This is super low risk at a time when Briere is trying to rebuild the Flyers.

I could also point out that the Flyers have arguably the top goalie prospects of all NHL teams right now but you'd probably just discount that as meaningless too lol...