The Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday signed goaltender Ivan Fedotov to a two-year contract, keeping him out of free agency this offseason.
The 27-year-old Fedotov will have a more than $3 million cap hit.
The Flyers waited nine years for the 6-foot-6 goaltender to leave Russia and join the NHL. Fedotov was selected 18th overall in the 2015 draft but remained with the Kontinental Hockey League for the next eight seasons.
Fedotov signed a deal with the Flyers in May 2022 but his attempt to come to North America that summer was thwarted when Russian authorities took him to a remote military base in the Arctic Circle for a year of service. After completing that service, he signed a two-year deal with CSKA of the KHL. That allowed the Flyers to toll his contract to this season.
After CSKA was eliminated from the Gagarin Cup playoffs, the team announced it had terminated the final year of his KHL contract but retained his Russian league rights. Fedotov finally arrived in the NHL and made his debut on April 1. He appeared in three games for the Flyers last season, going 0-1-1 with an .811 save percentage.
The Flyers now have their goaltending tandem secured for the coming season, with Fedotov joining 24-year-old Samuel Ersson, who also earned an extension through 2026.
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