It was just under a month ago that Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Ivan Fedotov had his contract with CSKA Moscow terminated — and the 27-year-old already has a new deal. The Flyers signed the Russian to a two-year, $6.5 million extension on Tuesday, keeping him under club control until at least the end of the 2025-26 campaign, according to TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger.
Although Fedotov will start next season as the backup to Samuel Ersson — who himself is making just $1.45 million next season — he was excellent in the Kontinental Hockey League and has potential once he's more acclimated to the North American game.
Fedotov did struggle in his short debut as an NHLer, appearing in three games for Philly in April and going 0-1-1 while allowing 10 goals on 53 shots. He only started in one of them, a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres back on April 5. He finished the campaign with a 4.95 goals-against average and .811 save percentage.
Although those numbers aren't encouraging, they should improve once Fedotov has a full season of training in Philadelphia under his belt. And with a new contract out of the way, he'll be motivated to challenge Ersson for the starting job in 2024-25.
Ivan Fedotov happy to be with Flyers
After a challenging couple of years for the netminder, Fedotov is looking forward to beginning his NHL career in Philadelphia.
“I'm feeling really good,” Fedotov said when he joined the team at the end of March, according to NHL.com's Adam Kimelman. “I'm looking forward at my career starting here. I hope it will be a long road together with Philly. It's great feelings because it's been a really difficult last two years for me. Now I'm here and I'm be happy to be here.”
Flyers general manager Danny Briere made it clear that Ersson is still the starter, but he's encouraged by what the front office saw from the Russian in the KHL.
“The game is played on the outside a lot more [in the KHL],” Briere explained. “But the good thing is because of his size (6-foot-6, 191 pounds), playing in traffic might serve him better then the little guys.”
“Sam was kept in the loop, Felix was kept in the loop,” the GM added. “We tried to be as open as we can with our players and how it was going to affect them. But at the same time, we told Sam, ‘You've earned the right to be the No. 1, we believe in you, we trust in you.' But we've been upfront with both of them.”
Fedotov was selected by the Flyers in the seventh-round of the 2015 NHL Draft (No. 188 overall). He was named the KHL's top goaltender after accumulating a sparkling 14-10-2 record in 2021-22, along with a 2.00 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and two shutouts in 26 games.
The team went on to win the Gagarin Cup championship that year, and the Russian was instrumental, going 16-6 with a 1.85 GAA and .937 save percentage in 22 playoff games.
But after missing the entire 2022-23 season for trying to evade military service in Russia, Fedotov's NHL contract moved to 2023-24. Instead, he re-signed with CSKA in July of 2023. He went 21-22-1 over 44 regular-season contests with the team this season, and played to a .916 save percentage in five playoff games.
With that contract now terminated — and his future with the Flyers secure for the next two years — Ivan Fedotov can focus on helping Philadelphia in its quest to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2025.
Follow Us
Subscribe