Alexei Kolosov Flyers

Alexei Kolosov leaving the Flyers?

Life giveth one top Russian prospect in Matvei Michkov; life taketh another away in the form of Alexei Kolosov. At least, that’s where all trends are pointing.

I think most reasonably speculating fans were open to this possibility when Danny said Kolosov failing to attend development camp was simply a matter of him being tired after a long season or some other hogwash. As I, among others, pointed out at the time? That’s exactly what he said when William failed to attend development camp.

Now, an updated report is coming out from Belarus hockey. The real reason Kolosov missed development camp? He missed his flight by oversleeping. And then just decided not to schedule another flight, I suppose.

Yeah, definitely. Okay, I mean… I guess?

Alexei Kolosov reportedly leaving the Flyers

But the real crux of the report came in the form of Alexei Kolosov–reportedly–told Dinamo Minsk to take any possible action to get him out of his NHL contract so he could return and play for the KHL. He has been training for Dynamo over the last few weeks.

The Liberty Yell is not awash with sources, but with the few connections we do have… I’ll say that the reports we’ve gotten are that it wasn’t looking great.

And we aren’t the only ones.

A reasonable assumption, at this point, is that Alexei Kolosov will not be suiting up for the Flyers… ever.

As a few astute observers among us have pointed out? This is now the second top prospect to leave under Briere’s watch. And it’s entirely possible that both situations were totally beyond his control, but the truth remains: this is an exceedingly bad look.

Apparently, the culture that you’ve been building so obsessively is absolutely repulsive to your top prospects. They hate it, and they’re jumping ship at an alarming rate. At least, that’s a possibility I’m forced to entertain.

You can’t preach culture-building and have this crazy shit happen to you on a regular basis. Shouldn’t the culture protect against that?

Stop losing top prospects. And start racking up some damn organizational wins.

If you want my actual assessment as far as how much the Flyers are to blame? My guess would be only a little, if at all. I don’t think something like this can happen and the organization is 0% culpable, but really, a kid getting homesick is hardly something unique to a Philadelphia hockey team. And that does seem to be a leading factor in what’s happening.

Any role the Flyers played? Tertiary motivators, at best.

In an ideal world, you wouldn’t even be tertiary motivation to your prospects leaving. But we don’t live in the ideal world. We live in the real world, so we play the hand we’re dealt.

Just because I don’t blame Danny for losing Kolosov, however, does not mean I think he’s free of blame. For one thing, the lying has reached truly absurd levels.

Seriously? This is now a second time he’s outright lied about a top prospect wanting to leave. And he didn’t just omit information as is more traditional for a general manager under a spotlight. No, he made provably false statements to fans.

Seriously? You’re just making crap up now. Can you operate with even a shred of dignity?

Maybe I’d believe Danny was being lied to, if he didn’t already lie about one prospect not attending dev camp having nothing to do with the organization alienating them.

Instead, he already lied about William. And he lied about Jamie Drysdale when he said that the kid was 100% healthy while he was playing through a damn sports hernia. And Jamie didn’t lie to him because Danny was the one who originally told us after the season, “Oh, yeah, he’s playing through something.”

Come on, man. I understand that the general manager isn’t going to tell fans everything. They’re going to dodge questions. They’re going to be evasive in interviews. They’ll even lie by omission sometimes.

But saying knowingly false crap to your fanbase is craven and ridiculous. That is no way to earn someone’s sympathy.

The lying has to end.

Actually. Scratch that.

There’s one more lie I’d like to discover Danny has told.

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