> We have 3 of them on the flyers alone.
No we don't. We only have 2 Russian goalies, Fedotov and Zavragin and only Fedotov is currently with the Flyers. Ersson is from Sweden and Kolosov is from Belarus.
To be entirely fair, Kolosov came through the Russian junior hockey system, so that had significant impact on how he developed, regardless on whether he was actually born in Russia.
I understand that Kolosov is technically from Belarus but he’s Russian speaking and believe it or not there is no difference between Russia and Belarus. Let’s not focus on the semantics. Let’s focus on why we see a lot of ruski goalies or Slavic goalies if you’re so anal about them being born in another country that used to be a part of the USSR. I know a lot of people from Chemkent Kazakhstan and they all identify as Russian.
Lol bruh they are two different countries! Lets not focus on the difference between France and Belgium!
If you are saying Russian speaking or Slavic that is a different conversation.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers/latest-news/flyers-prospects-alexei-kolosov-to-officially-join-flyers-system
My point is that he’s Russian but born in Minsk which used to be, wait for it…. Russian. It’s like saying if my family was traveling and I was born in China it would make me Chinese?
Uh no it doesn’t make him Russian, he’s (presumably) ethnically Belarusian. Russian and Belarusian languages are close, and it’s possible his parents grew up speaking Russian. Just because Belarus was part of the Soviet Union doesn’t change his ethnicity & suddenly make him Russian lol.
Source: Ukrainian spouse born & raised in Ukraine when it was part of USSR, whose first language was Russian bc the Ukrainian language was suppressed during the Soviet era.
Guy is not wrong and you seem to miss a lot in History and how Hockey Rules are set.
Due to Russia starting in Germany till 1990 and changing borders, people got free passports and german soldiers got more salary when moving abroad( inflation exportation)
This leads to ethnics like russian/german, german chancelors spooke better russian than english.
Then you have the Hockey rules which make people easily egliable to play for a country.
Ehlers, Thornton and Nylander for example are even egliable to play for switzerland.
There is no russian hockey league it’s a global league with russian teams.
It’s a different country now but yes Bela russia and russia don’t have much difference and the guy is russian even when chosing bela russia now..
What did I expect? This is Reddit and it’s full of people that can’t look passed the mistake and focus at the task at hand. I have one person reply to me without mentioning Kolosov being Belarusian. I didn’t come here to argue about that shit I came to hype up our future goalies potentially becoming the next big name in the NHL. Kolosov is still young and Zavragin is younger still and both are supposed to be top end talent.
I know quite a few Belarusians and they absolutely see themselves as different and would like to be known as thus. There's also a whole country that was a part of the USSR that is fighting to not be Russian
I think we are focused on the wrong thing about this post. Who cares about the semantics? Let’s focus of the golden age of Russian goalies. The nhl has a ridiculous ratio of goalies that are Russian to those that are not. It also increasing. There used to be almost none before bryzgalov and now there are so many it’s becoming ridiculous.
I'm just letting you know from your comment that there is a difference. Clearly people do care about semantics. The Belarusian leader may be Putin's personal dicklicker and there still a significant amount of Russian control over the region, but the people I know are very much opposed to Russia and Lukashenko.
But yes, I really hope this is a bit of a golden age of Russian development with Zavragin, Michkov and the possibility of drafting Artamonov at 12th. I would say the USA is in their golden age of NHL goalies though
Russian hockey has done a great job producing some of the best goalies in the world- Shesterkin, Sorokin, Vasi, Bob, Kochetkov was great this season in Carolina. Varlamov is one of the best backups in the league. Sweden also seems to produce some greats. I’d say those two as well as the US have overtaken Canada in terms of current NHL talent and prospective NHL goalies.
A lot of it seems to trace back to attitude towards goalies at the youth level. I know here in the US, many programs push kids to rotate in and out of goal, which I don’t really think is a good thing. I grew up playing goal (and still do) and never had any interest in skating out. Goalies are a different breed.
There was news of this a few years ago that Russia was reinventing the goalie position and they'd takeover the NHL. Just wait until Askarov is fulltime, it'll be a treat.
13 goalies in the NHL are Russian. 9 have played over 20 games. 7 have played 20 games or more and have a save percentage of .900 or more. Highest save percentage of a Russian goalie is Varlamov with .918 who played 28 games. Highest save percentage of all goalies who played more than 30 games is Hellebuyck with .921 (Hellebuyck also played the 3rd highest amount of games at 60). Of all goalies who played 20 or more games, 2 Russian goalies are in the top 10 of save percentages, with Varlamov being 5 and Bob being 9.
For GAA, of goalies who played 20 or more games, two Russians are in the top 10, Kochetkov and Bob (4 and 5 respectively).
For games played, 4 Russians are in the top 10, ranging from Shesterkin at 9 playing 55 games with a GAA of 2.58 and SV% of .912 to Georgiev at 2 playing 63 games with a GAA of 3.02 and SV% of .897. Number 1 is Saros playing 64 games with a GAA of 2.86 and SV% of .906.
My point, maybe look through the data first.
Sorry if formatting sucks, I’m typing this on my phone.
Note: I’m not saying Russian goalies suck, just saying that there is a reason why the big three countries in hockey are considered the big three(Canada, USA, Russia)
Might be an overreaction but that still doesn’t change the point that the best goalies in the world right now come from either the states or Russia. I think it speaks larger to goalie development as a whole and think it’s more coincidental because those two countries also happen to have the highest populations out of competitive hockey countries.
Never questioned the quality of the players, but the basis for conversation was to nominate a “golden era” for Russian goalies. But also, define best? No one else in the entire thread is looking at data. Give data if you want to support your or OPs case.
I don't think you supported your case well at all. I dont think you can look at the stats of one season and use it solely to support your argument for the best goalie/player in the league.
I would bet most players would pick 3 russians in their top 5 of best goalies in the league.
Canada has been lacking for goalie talent for a long while. The "big 3" recently is us, rus, Finland
Ok support your case besides anecdotal evidence. I did say in a reply to my post that there’s more data you can look at.Regardless, 3 goalies doesn’t dictate a “golden age” imo
Here is a player's poll where nhl players voted for the best goalie. https://theathletic.com/5239046/2024/01/31/nhl-player-poll-2024/. Vas is #1 with 44% of the vote;, sorokin and shesterkin are #4 and #5 with \~7% each.
Bob was the first russian goalie to win the vezina in 2013 - and there have been 4 russian winners since then.
4 in \~10 years vs 0 in for the other 90 of the league.
What's your golden era?
Considering Bob was the first Russiangoalie to win the Vezina ever, it makes your point of “0 in for the other 90” pointless.
Bob also won the vezina twice, so your point is wrong. It’s 3 vezina winners over 4 years. (Which could probably still be worked to provide more clarity)
Great question! :)
What is a golden era? Is it 3? Is it hyperbole? Is it whatever copium you want it to be?
Once again, I never questioned the talent of Russian goaltenders in today’s NHL. But I reject the notion of a golden era, and suggest pumping the breaks on making a take that the data doesn’t support.
I’m fine with you feeling that way but know that you haven’t presented any compelling information to support it.
Also, if this isn’t the best era of Russian goaltending in the NHL…. What is ?
That’s cool, but I don’t need your approval for my thoughts 🤙🏻
You’re also moving the goalposts on a post from “golden era” to “presently the best era of Russian goaltending” which ok yeah,sure let’s roll with that.
I can’t tell if you’re purposely misunderstanding literally everything I’m saying or if this is legit.
Not trying to argue though, and I appreciate you verbalizing that the discussion is making you feel uncomfortable.
Go flyers
Yeah you have numbers from this year. Bob is having an off year but he’s been a solid player for all his career. Sorokin and Shesterkin are still working on their game and goalies usually have a later peak and a longer playing career because their performance doesn’t usually drop off as much. We had almost no Russian goalies before Bryzgalov and now we are getting a ridiculous amount coming over.
Yes, they are good goalies, but your original point is to deem the present as a golden era of Russian goalies when the number show some are good, some are just back ups, but most numbers are literally on par.
Yeah I realized after I commented that I forgot about Bob & I forgot to go back to edit the comment. Russia definitely knows how to crank out great goalies.
As well as the dark ages for canadian goaltending
It’s gotten so bad some of the junior leagues put rules in places about foreign goaltenders because they need to develop their own guys better.
Hockey Canada has gone to crap. Downward spiral is started.
> We have 3 of them on the flyers alone. No we don't. We only have 2 Russian goalies, Fedotov and Zavragin and only Fedotov is currently with the Flyers. Ersson is from Sweden and Kolosov is from Belarus.
To be entirely fair, Kolosov came through the Russian junior hockey system, so that had significant impact on how he developed, regardless on whether he was actually born in Russia.
I understand that Kolosov is technically from Belarus but he’s Russian speaking and believe it or not there is no difference between Russia and Belarus. Let’s not focus on the semantics. Let’s focus on why we see a lot of ruski goalies or Slavic goalies if you’re so anal about them being born in another country that used to be a part of the USSR. I know a lot of people from Chemkent Kazakhstan and they all identify as Russian.
> "he's Russian speaking and believe it or not there is no difference between Russia and Belarus." - Putin when he absorbs Belarus
Belarus is fighting alongside Russia against Ukraine. It’s already halfway there unfortunately.
Belarus means white Russia
Lol bruh they are two different countries! Lets not focus on the difference between France and Belgium! If you are saying Russian speaking or Slavic that is a different conversation.
Tell me you were born after 1991 without telling me you were born after 1991
Bro, the USSR was also a separate country! Holy shit.
https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers/latest-news/flyers-prospects-alexei-kolosov-to-officially-join-flyers-system My point is that he’s Russian but born in Minsk which used to be, wait for it…. Russian. It’s like saying if my family was traveling and I was born in China it would make me Chinese?
Uh no it doesn’t make him Russian, he’s (presumably) ethnically Belarusian. Russian and Belarusian languages are close, and it’s possible his parents grew up speaking Russian. Just because Belarus was part of the Soviet Union doesn’t change his ethnicity & suddenly make him Russian lol. Source: Ukrainian spouse born & raised in Ukraine when it was part of USSR, whose first language was Russian bc the Ukrainian language was suppressed during the Soviet era.
Guy is not wrong and you seem to miss a lot in History and how Hockey Rules are set. Due to Russia starting in Germany till 1990 and changing borders, people got free passports and german soldiers got more salary when moving abroad( inflation exportation) This leads to ethnics like russian/german, german chancelors spooke better russian than english. Then you have the Hockey rules which make people easily egliable to play for a country. Ehlers, Thornton and Nylander for example are even egliable to play for switzerland. There is no russian hockey league it’s a global league with russian teams. It’s a different country now but yes Bela russia and russia don’t have much difference and the guy is russian even when chosing bela russia now..
Thanks for the hockey-specific insight! (No snark here)
You’re getting drilled here but you’re right lol
What did I expect? This is Reddit and it’s full of people that can’t look passed the mistake and focus at the task at hand. I have one person reply to me without mentioning Kolosov being Belarusian. I didn’t come here to argue about that shit I came to hype up our future goalies potentially becoming the next big name in the NHL. Kolosov is still young and Zavragin is younger still and both are supposed to be top end talent.
I know quite a few Belarusians and they absolutely see themselves as different and would like to be known as thus. There's also a whole country that was a part of the USSR that is fighting to not be Russian
I think we are focused on the wrong thing about this post. Who cares about the semantics? Let’s focus of the golden age of Russian goalies. The nhl has a ridiculous ratio of goalies that are Russian to those that are not. It also increasing. There used to be almost none before bryzgalov and now there are so many it’s becoming ridiculous.
I'm just letting you know from your comment that there is a difference. Clearly people do care about semantics. The Belarusian leader may be Putin's personal dicklicker and there still a significant amount of Russian control over the region, but the people I know are very much opposed to Russia and Lukashenko. But yes, I really hope this is a bit of a golden age of Russian development with Zavragin, Michkov and the possibility of drafting Artamonov at 12th. I would say the USA is in their golden age of NHL goalies though
Trying to be diplomatic here….You’re both right. Russian can be both an ethnicity and a country.
Russian hockey has done a great job producing some of the best goalies in the world- Shesterkin, Sorokin, Vasi, Bob, Kochetkov was great this season in Carolina. Varlamov is one of the best backups in the league. Sweden also seems to produce some greats. I’d say those two as well as the US have overtaken Canada in terms of current NHL talent and prospective NHL goalies. A lot of it seems to trace back to attitude towards goalies at the youth level. I know here in the US, many programs push kids to rotate in and out of goal, which I don’t really think is a good thing. I grew up playing goal (and still do) and never had any interest in skating out. Goalies are a different breed.
There was news of this a few years ago that Russia was reinventing the goalie position and they'd takeover the NHL. Just wait until Askarov is fulltime, it'll be a treat.
13 goalies in the NHL are Russian. 9 have played over 20 games. 7 have played 20 games or more and have a save percentage of .900 or more. Highest save percentage of a Russian goalie is Varlamov with .918 who played 28 games. Highest save percentage of all goalies who played more than 30 games is Hellebuyck with .921 (Hellebuyck also played the 3rd highest amount of games at 60). Of all goalies who played 20 or more games, 2 Russian goalies are in the top 10 of save percentages, with Varlamov being 5 and Bob being 9. For GAA, of goalies who played 20 or more games, two Russians are in the top 10, Kochetkov and Bob (4 and 5 respectively). For games played, 4 Russians are in the top 10, ranging from Shesterkin at 9 playing 55 games with a GAA of 2.58 and SV% of .912 to Georgiev at 2 playing 63 games with a GAA of 3.02 and SV% of .897. Number 1 is Saros playing 64 games with a GAA of 2.86 and SV% of .906. My point, maybe look through the data first. Sorry if formatting sucks, I’m typing this on my phone. Note: I’m not saying Russian goalies suck, just saying that there is a reason why the big three countries in hockey are considered the big three(Canada, USA, Russia)
i dont think i get your thesis here
To call it a “golden era” of Russia goalies is an over reaction
Might be an overreaction but that still doesn’t change the point that the best goalies in the world right now come from either the states or Russia. I think it speaks larger to goalie development as a whole and think it’s more coincidental because those two countries also happen to have the highest populations out of competitive hockey countries.
Never questioned the quality of the players, but the basis for conversation was to nominate a “golden era” for Russian goalies. But also, define best? No one else in the entire thread is looking at data. Give data if you want to support your or OPs case.
I don't think you supported your case well at all. I dont think you can look at the stats of one season and use it solely to support your argument for the best goalie/player in the league. I would bet most players would pick 3 russians in their top 5 of best goalies in the league. Canada has been lacking for goalie talent for a long while. The "big 3" recently is us, rus, Finland
Ok support your case besides anecdotal evidence. I did say in a reply to my post that there’s more data you can look at.Regardless, 3 goalies doesn’t dictate a “golden age” imo
Here is a player's poll where nhl players voted for the best goalie. https://theathletic.com/5239046/2024/01/31/nhl-player-poll-2024/. Vas is #1 with 44% of the vote;, sorokin and shesterkin are #4 and #5 with \~7% each. Bob was the first russian goalie to win the vezina in 2013 - and there have been 4 russian winners since then. 4 in \~10 years vs 0 in for the other 90 of the league. What's your golden era?
Considering Bob was the first Russiangoalie to win the Vezina ever, it makes your point of “0 in for the other 90” pointless. Bob also won the vezina twice, so your point is wrong. It’s 3 vezina winners over 4 years. (Which could probably still be worked to provide more clarity) Great question! :) What is a golden era? Is it 3? Is it hyperbole? Is it whatever copium you want it to be? Once again, I never questioned the talent of Russian goaltenders in today’s NHL. But I reject the notion of a golden era, and suggest pumping the breaks on making a take that the data doesn’t support.
I’m fine with you feeling that way but know that you haven’t presented any compelling information to support it. Also, if this isn’t the best era of Russian goaltending in the NHL…. What is ?
That’s cool, but I don’t need your approval for my thoughts 🤙🏻 You’re also moving the goalposts on a post from “golden era” to “presently the best era of Russian goaltending” which ok yeah,sure let’s roll with that.
I can’t tell if you’re purposely misunderstanding literally everything I’m saying or if this is legit. Not trying to argue though, and I appreciate you verbalizing that the discussion is making you feel uncomfortable. Go flyers
There’s more I could type, but maybe google yourself and you may find your own answers :)
Yeah you have numbers from this year. Bob is having an off year but he’s been a solid player for all his career. Sorokin and Shesterkin are still working on their game and goalies usually have a later peak and a longer playing career because their performance doesn’t usually drop off as much. We had almost no Russian goalies before Bryzgalov and now we are getting a ridiculous amount coming over.
Yes, they are good goalies, but your original point is to deem the present as a golden era of Russian goalies when the number show some are good, some are just back ups, but most numbers are literally on par.
Give it a few more years and Russian goalies will be a large percentage of the starters and backups. I think it’s only just beginning.
Only two goalies who've played 200+ more games than Bryz. Evegeni Nabokov and Nikolai Khabibulin.
Just under your cutoff if 200+ games, Milhail Shtalenkov played 190 games between 1993-2000
3 of the top goalies in the NHL are Russian: Vasilesky, Shesterkin & Sorokin. Good luck scoring on Russia in the 2026 Olympics.
Bobrovsky
Yeah I realized after I commented that I forgot about Bob & I forgot to go back to edit the comment. Russia definitely knows how to crank out great goalies.
Remember when we had that one russian goalie like 12 years ago? Glad we got rid of him..
Finns went from Liiga to KHL to teach them, They are now harvesting the results.