KHL Team May Pursue Avalanche Goaltender To Replace Fedotov

Some big news on Thursday, as Ivan Fedotov’s had his contract terminated in the KHL, signaling an arrival to the NHL is imminent. His story is long and complicated, but he’s finally making his way across the pond. As it turns out, his KHL team, CSKA, might have their eyes on a goaltender from the Colorado Avalanche to replace him.

According to MetaRatings.ru, CSKA is targeting Ivan Prosvetov to replace Fedotov next season for their team. The 25 year old goaltender is currently playing (and playing very well) for the Colorado Eagles, where he has a .930 save percentage in his 13 games. In 11 NHL games this season with the Avalanche, he put up an .895 save percentage. He was pulled in his final start against the Florida Panthers before being placed on waivers in February.

Prosvetov currently does not have a contract for next season, and is set to be a restricted free agent. If he did sign in the KHL, the Avalanche could tender him a qualifying offer just to retain his rights, if they wanted to. Prosvetov has not played in Russia since 2016, as he came over to North America at a young age. He told me back in November that the team he belonged to didn’t have a junior team, which is part of the reason why he came to the US as a teenager.

Everything worked out alright for him, though.

“You know what? It was okay,” he said. “I was the starting goalie for four years, so I got to play a lot. When you play a lot, you feel way better, so it wasn’t too hard on me.”

Prosvetov will likely play a key role for the Eagles down the stretch, who look like a team locked into a playoff spot. As a matter of fact, they’ll likely clinch a playoff spot here very soon. While the Avalanche decided on Justus Annunen as their backup down the stretch, Prosvetov is a quality third goaltender, so they would need to replace him if he does sign in Russia.