Flyers prospect arrested under horrifying circumstances.

This is bad news.

Jonathan Larrivee
Jonathan Larrivee
Published 1 year ago
Flyers prospect arrested under horrifying circumstances.
Peter David Josek/AP

The Philadelphia Flyers appear to have a relatively solid goaltender available to them in their pipeline of prospect, but after a rather terrifying situation this week his future is anything but certain.

On Friday, reports began to emerge from Russian media outlets indicating that 25 year old Finnish-Russian goaltender Ivan Fedotov had been arrested by military police after expressing a desire to the coaches of his current team, CSKA Moscow, to leave both the team and the country in order to join the Philadelphia Flyers organization. Some outlets are reporting that this was done as revenge for Fedotov signing a deal with the Flyers organization, although those reports have not been confirmed.

Fedotov has long since been someone that the Flyers have been keeping an eye on after being drafted in the 7th round (188th overall) of the 2015 National Hockey League Entry draft by that organization. Unfortunately for Fedotov, as a member of CSKA Moscow, the Russian military team, he is considered a member of the Russian military and this in turn has led to him being charged.

What makes this even more unfortunate for Fedotov is that this most recent season was his first and only season as a member of the CSKA Moscow organization, having played 5 other seasons in the KHL but as a member of Chelyabinsk Traktor (2), Ufa Salavat Yulayev (2) and Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik (1).

Effectively Fedotov has been arrested and is being detained for attempting to evade his duties to the military, the same way a draft dodger would be. This comes at a time when both political and militaristic concerns in Russia may be at an all time high given the context of their ongoing conflict with Ukraine, and now many fear what may come next for Fedotov. If convicted of these charges he could face up to 2 years in a Russian prison, a sentence that could effectively put an end to his career as a professional hockey player.

This is also a disappointing outcome for the Flyers who could certainly use another goaltender to help push Carter Hart who has been inconsistent since becoming a full time NHLer. In his most recent season in the KHL, Fedotov appeared in 26 games for CSKA Moscow and recorded a 2.00 goals against average and a .919 save percentage over that stretch of play.

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