Prospect Watch: Aleksei Kolosov

Drafted by the Flyers in the third round (78th overall) of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, Belarusian goaltender Aleksei Kolosov's stock as an NHL prospect has risen rapidly over the last two years. He made his KHL debut at 18. By age 19, he established himself as a starting goalie at the KHL level.

On many nights over the past two seasons, Kolosov has been his Dinamo Minsk team's best player. Dinamo is far from a powerhouse in the KHL but the young goalie has consistently kept his team competitive in games. In 2022-23, Kolosov appeared in 42 games with a 13-21-5 record, 2.55 goals against average and .912 save percentage.

On July 9, 2023, the Flyers signed the 21-year-old Kolosov to a three-year entry-level contract. The plan is to loan Kolosov to Dinamo for the 2023-24 season before bringing him to North America.

Kolosov is widely considered to be one of the top young goalies playing in Europe, and a player with future No. 1 NHL goaltender upside. He's not especially big (6-foot-1, 190 pounds) but he's athletic, and technically sound. His feet and lateral movement are well above-average and he makes fast recoveries.

The Flyers currently have a crowded goaltending situation in the NHL and AHL, between No. 1 goalie Carter Hart, fast-rising prospect Samuel Ersson, recently acquired veteran Cal Petersen, and Felix Sandström. This is one reason why it made sense to loan Kolosov to Dinamo in 2023-24. Additionally, Flyers goalie development coach Brady Robinson will have the ability to communicate regularly with the prospect.

Kolosov is a very fluid goalie who is adept at staying square to the shooter. When he has to make a desperation save, he comes up with some dandies. This post-to-post save from last season shows off some of the Kolosov's quickness as well as poise under the pressure of a grade A scoring chance.

In this 2022-23 season clip, Kolosov makes a pair of saves, including a full-extension pad save on a rebound at the doorstep. The save was featured on several leaguewide season highlight clips on the KHL YouTube channel.