The Philadelphia Flyers have traded goaltender Ivan Fedotov to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a sixth-round pick in the 2026 draft, sources from both teams confirmed on Sunday morning.

The Blue Jackets take on Fedotov’s full $3.275 million salary-cap hit, although the goaltender is owed just $775,000 in base salary. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the trade.

Fedotov, 28, is 6-14-5 with an .874 save percentage and 3.29 goals-against average in 29 career games with the Flyers over the past two seasons. The 6-foot-7, 214-pound Fedotov joined the club late in the 2023-24 season after he was forced into the Russian military for one year, and signed a two-year, $6.55 million extension shortly after the season ended. He was drafted by the Flyers in the seventh round in 2015.

What it means for the Blue Jackets

It means that general manager Don Waddell and his staff can get a good night’s sleep for the first time in a while. The pursuit of a third goaltender had created a major stress point as the start of training camp neared.

The Blue Jackets expect Elvis Merzlikins and Jet Greaves to share the net in Columbus, but they had nobody on the depth chart with NHL experience who could be a viable choice for recall if either of them were injured, ill or otherwise unavailable.

When you consider how often Greaves was recalled the past two seasons when Merzlikins or former Jacket Daniil Tarasov were unavailable, that’s a very important role on the club.

The hope is that Fedotov’s salary cap hit ($3.275 million) will be a deterrent to any club that considers claiming him on waivers should the Blue Jackets send him down to Cleveland toward the end of camp.

But that figure is more palatable for the Blue Jackets, who have plenty of cap space. Also, Fedotov was paid a $2.5 million signing bonus by the Flyers on July 1, meaning the Jackets are responsible for only $775,000 in salary.

Fedotov, set to be an unrestricted free agent when his contract expires next summer, will likely make his AHL debut with Cleveland. A Columbus team source told The Athletic that Fedotov is committed to playing in North America, that he’s no risk to seek a return to Russia.

What it means for the Flyers

The Flyers signing of free agent Dan Vladar to a two-year, $6.7 million contract in July all but ensured that Fedotov would be reassigned to Lehigh Valley to start the 2025-26 season, with Vladar and Sam Ersson as the NHL tandem.

Had that happened, there would have been a logjam at the goaltender position in the AHL, with Fedotov, Aleksei Kolosov and 2023 second-round pick Carson Bjarnason all competing for playing time.

Fedotov’s departure also probably means that the Flyers have assurances from Kolosov that he is willing to play for the Phantoms this season, which he was essentially unwilling to do in 2024-25. The 23-year-old Kolosov still has potential as a prospect, but he was clearly not ready for the NHL last season, posting an .867 save percentage and 3.59 goals-against average in 17 games.

While some may speculate that this opens the door for the Flyers to re-sign goalie Carter Hart, that seems unlikely. The Athletic’s Chris Johnston reported on Friday that Hart, who was found not guilty of sexual assault in July, is “looking for a fresh start, which effectively rules out a return to Philadelphia.”

(Photo: Cameron Bartlett / Getty Images)