Should the Flyers Cash in on the Young Russian Netminder Invasion, and if so, Then with Whom?

Change is coming with the Rangers having two young Russians- 25-year-old Igor Shesterkin, and 24-year-old Alexander Georgiev- set to take over for King Henrik in New York. Then, the Capitals are replacing Stanley Cup-winning goalie Braden Holtby with the 23-year-old Russian Ilya Samsonov. The Islanders are penciling in the 25-year-old Russian Ilya Sorokin as their starter this season. Lastly, the Predators took 18-year-old Russian goalie Yaroslav Askarov with the 11^th overall pick in the latest draft. It would seem that the league as a whole is in the middle of a Russian invasion! These young netminders will be joining an already talented group of Russian goalies who are, at the present time, well established in the NHL: Anton Khudobin, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Now, most Philadelphia fans would say NO to the titular question, saying that the Flyers already have a plethora of young, quality prospects in goal; but this guardian of the blue paint-turned-writer would beg to differ. 

Consider: Who is going to be the Flyers’ backup next season? Brian Elliott?  Elliott will be 36 years old next season and would then be starting his 16^th NHL season, which is why, after this season, the team should look to bring some new blood into the mix. The ‘21- ‘22 season will be Hart’s fourth in the NHL, and he will no longer need to be mentored by anyone. It will be time to move on from Elliott for sure. The Flyers have made it a point over the last couple of years to try and add names to the teams’ prospect pool for goalies by drafting names like Kirill Ustimenko, Felix Sandstrom, Samuel Ersson, Roddy Ross, Matej Tomek, and Ivan Fedotov, to try and find a capable, future backup option to Carter Hart; But (with one exception) that doesn’t mean that they have been successful to-date in doing so. To prove my point, let’s look at some of their recent stats- shall we? 

Alex Lyon, who is now 28-years-old and is entering his 5^th year in the professional ranks, has had moderate success in the American Hockey League (AHL) over the years but struggled majorly when called upon for the NHL. Case in point: in three games played (GP) last season with the Flyers, Lyon posted a 3.55 goals against average (GAA) and a .890 save percentage (SV%).  These numbers (as bad as they were) were much improved from Alex’s ‘18- ‘19 stats with the Flyers where, in 2 GP, Lyon posted a horrendous 5.07 GAA with a .806 SV%. Some may say that it’s hard to judge him on such a small group of games in the NHL, but his numbers while playing in the AHL last season were just as bad! Lyon’s minuscule total of just 11 wins achieved on the year in the AHL in ’19-’20 ranked him 43^rd in the league (these numbers were compared to only qualified starters and backups that played in a minimum number of games). Alex’s GAA while in the AHL ranked him 22^nd overall, and 15^th overall in SV%. So, if Lyon after 4 seasons as a professional hasn’t been able to advance his game beyond this in the minors, then why was he brought back this season? 

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Moving on to the “pride” of the crop right now, Kirill Ustimenko: A now-21-year-old ‘17 3^rd round pick by the Flyers who was signed after putting up some impressive numbers while playing in the Russian junior and minor leagues- the MHL and VHL. Ustimenko has now begun to lose the hype that he started out with in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) with the Flyers’ affiliate: The Reading Royals. This is where he averaged a 2.40 GAA with a .919 SV%, winning 19 games in 31 GP the process. Kirill was then quickly promoted to the rank of the AHL where he did not achieve the same success. In five games played with the Phantoms up in Lehigh, Ustimenko averaged an unimpressive 3.84 GAA with a .889SV%. Recently, the Flyers came out and made an announcement right before camp started this season that Kirill underwent a hip surgery that will most likely end his season before it started, so now we will not be able to see if he can improve upon those numbers from last season.    

The Flyers’ ‘15 3^rd round pick- goaltender Felix Sandström- is now 23-years-old and looked very promising before coming over from his native Sweden but has since fizzled out since strapping on the pads stateside. Felix was thought to possibly start last season with the Phantoms, but his disappointing play landed him in the ECHL instead with the Royals. Now, one would think that playing in the lesser league would have enabled Sandström to shine, but that was not the case: Felix struggled in Reading posting a 3.27 GAA with a .885 SV% in 25 GP. With a less than stellar outing last season and obvious troubles adjusting to the North American style of game and rink size, Sandström decided to take his talents back to Sweden- seeing that the leagues in the states were to have a delayed start. You would think Felix would have found a gig playing in the SHL (Sweden’s top professional league) but NO: He was playing in the minor leagues over there as well before the Flyers camp started. This season, in five games played in Sweden, Sandström had a 2.74GAA and a .921 SV%.  These numbers were better for sure but should have been off the charts in a league such as the one he was playing in, considering he was once thought to be the other goalie in the teams’ system who would give Hart a run for his money for the starting job in the NHL one day. 

Moving on now to Samuel Ersson, the Swedish goaltender who was drafted back in the ‘18 NHL entry draft in the 5^th round by the Flyers. Here is yet another player who the Flyers were high on and who looked quite promising in the Swedish junior leagues, but has since seen his GAA skyrocket and his SV% plummet since making the jump to the SHL last season where, in the ‘19-‘20 season, he posted a 2.90 GAA and .895 SV% in 35 games played: Recording a losing record that year of 14-20-0 in the process. The Flyers (and Ersson) had hoped that might have been just a rookie’s bad luck, but this season’s stats don’t seem to be much better, with Sam averaging a 3.21 GAA right now with a .903 SV% in 15 GP this season (with a record of 6-9-0 during those starts).

The still unsigned Slovak goaltender Matej Tomek, who is now 23 years old, was the teams’ ‘15 3^rd round pick- and is in much of the same position as his draft-year cohort Sandström when it comes to his play while stateside. In fact, his numbers this season don’t look too bad at all playing in the Liiga (Finland’s top professional league), with Tomek posting a 2.50 GAA with a .913 SV% in 8 GP. Though his 2-5-1 record hasn’t done much for his team’s fans in Finland, his play has improved: But it is a totally different situation when Matej plays over here. For example, in the ‘18-‘19 season while playing in 5 games for the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the NCAA, Tomek posted a 4.73 GAA with a .845 SV%. Now, before you think those numbers are bad, just know that they are exemplary to those he posted back in the ‘16-‘17 season while playing in 2 games for one of the best teams in the NCAA: The University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks. This is where he posted an atrocious 7.46 GAA and .692 SV%. 

That takes us to the unsigned goalie Roddy Ross, the Flyers’ ‘19 6^th round pick. Ross previously played for the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League (WHL) where, in his draft year of 2019, he posted a 2.76 GAA with a .919 SV% in 25 GP while also going 16-5-3 in that time. As promising as those numbers would seem, Roddy had an off-year last season averaging a 3.17 GAA and a .908 SV%. Which as you can imagine with those numbers, his record suffered as well going 20-21-7 last year. Now playing with the Regina Pats, Ross will look to show the Flyers that last season was not his best work and he can return to the kind of player that the Flyers thought they were getting when they selected him. 

Last but most certainly not least is Ivan (The Great) Fedotov of Russia. This 6’8 203 pound ‘15 7^th round pick of the Flyers, who is now 24 years old, is the real deal. Ivan (currently playing in the KHL) is signed through this season. Fedotov is the one and only goaltending prospect in the Flyers’ system right now that is deserving of an entry-level contract from Philadelphia that does not have one. Unlike the others previously mentioned, Ivan is posting numbers that are among the league’s best- not in the junior ranks or the minors for his respected country, but in the 2^nd toughest league in the world: The KHL. This year in 16 GP, Fedotov has a 2.19GAA and a .920SV% with a record of 9-5-1.  These numbers are on pace with his totals from last season in the KHL where- in 32GP- Ivan had a 2.10 GAA and a .931 SV%. But even with his great play, this writer thinks that (if signed to an entry-level deal after this season) Ivan would still need a year in the AHL to learn the North American game, which still leaves no one in the system that could step in and play back up to Carter Hart next season. So where does that leave us? 

Well, if the Flyers wanted to find one of these great young Russian netminders who could step in and be a suitable backup option for the ‘21- ‘22 season like everyone else around the league has seemed to find, then they’d best send their scouts to Russia. More specifically to Kazan, where a 25-year-old goaltender by the name of Timur Bilyalov currently plays for the AK Bars. Not familiar with this name? Well I assure you soon will be; because Bilyalov’s name has already been linked to a few NHL teams. The most serious suitor being the Toronto Maple Leafs as late as the end of last season, and here’s why: In the’19- ‘20 season with Kazan, Timur was able to put up some unheard-of numbers in the KHL, such as a infinitesimal 1.45 GAA with a .943 SV% over 32 GP. Yes, you read that right. To go along with that, Bilyalov’s record last season was 19-4-4, which included 8 shut outs on the year! But wait, there’s more: In the playoffs last year, Timur’s numbers got even better! Playing in just four games, Bilyalov was able to go undefeated- shattering KHL records in the process with him averaging a ridiculous .071 GAA with a .975 SV%! What other goalie do you know that can say that he went an incredible 316 minutes and nine seconds playing in the pros without letting in a goal?  

Now, as far as an eventual move to the NHL is concerned, Timur was said to be receptive to the teams that were inquiring on the possibility of his services and was willing to make the trip to North America as early as this season, but with the delayed start and the uncertainty if the NHL was even going to have a season at all this year Timur decided to re-sign a one-year deal with his club in the KHL.  Now out to prove that last season was no fluke, Bilyalov has been impressive once again, averaging a 1.87 GAA and a .936 SV% in 19 games played thus far this season and posting a record of 11-3-4 on the season thus far.  The only knock on Bilyalov most people can come up with is that he stands at just 5’10, but don’t let his diminutive size fool you: Timur makes up for it with his sharp-angle play, his quick reaction time (which allows him wait until the last possible second to respond to a shooter’s advances), and his ability to stand tall in the net when needed. Here- just watch these videos and you’ll see what I mean. 

Still not sold on the fact that he could make it in the NHL given his size (or lack thereof)? Well, what if I told you that Stanley Cup champion (with the Bruins) Russian goaltender Anton Khudobin (now of the Dallas Stars) who took his team to the Stanley Cup Finals last season is only 5’11. 

The Flyers should always be looking to the future: With Elliott’s age steadily increasing and Hart’s impending restricted free agency looming just mere months away, Philadelphia should take this suggestion to “Hart” and sign Timur Bilyalov after this season to prevent themselves from having to scour the globe looking for a both a capable but affordable replacement for Elliott next season. Bilyalov is that good that he could come in on day one and take over the backup position in net- possibly for a long time to come- but definitely for next season. Seeing that no other goaltending prospect in the Flyers’ system right now will have been able to elevate his game to that level needed to do so in time, hopefully the Flyers’ brass have their eye on Bilyalov and make a move quickly. 

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