Moscow CSKA has not played in the Gagarin Cup for a long time, but does not stop giving fire on the main pages of the media. For the second day in a row, the army team surprised with unexpected news. Yesterday, the “red-blues” announced their refusal to renew their cooperation with Sergei Fedorov and the appointment of Ilya Vorobyov as head coach instead. Today the club was bombed again. Now CSKA has announced its decision to say goodbye to Ivan Fedotov.
The goalkeeper, who returned to the team last summer and signed a two-year contract with it, is leaving the club. His agreement was terminated early.
“Based on the results of the 2023/24 season, CSKA terminated the contract with goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov. The sports rights to the player in Russia are still retained by the CSKA hockey club. The club thanks Ivan Fedotov and wishes him success in his future career,” the official statement says.
And for this reason it was worth arguing with the entire hockey world? The story of Ivan Fedotov and CSKA has become one of the most scandalous in the last couple of years. After winning the championship in the 2021/22 season, the Russian goalkeeper was supposed to go to North America, where he would make his NHL debut for the Philadelphia Flyers. Ivan even signed a rookie contract with the “pilots,” but he never made it to Philadelphia—the goalkeeper was detained by Russian special services and subsequently sent to serve his military service in the Russian Army. Due to a forced pause in his career, his contract with the Flyers was frozen and automatically transferred to the 2023/24 season. However, upon returning from the army, Fedotov unexpectedly signed a new agreement with CSKA.
His agreement with the army team was not recognized by the International Hockey Federation (IIHF). Despite this, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) registered Ivan’s contract and allowed the army team to register the player for the season. The IIHF recognized these decisions as a violation of the regulations and issued a number of sanctions. Taking into account the fact that the member of the IIHF is not CSKA and the KHL, but the Russian Hockey Federation, the FHR was the defendant. Fedotov continued to play for the “red-blues”, not paying attention to the pressure from the outside. It's doubly funny that CSKA is still communicating with the IIHF in court.
The goalkeeper's performance, however, was not as successful as CSKA's leaders would have liked. In 44 matches of the regular season, the army team suffered 22 defeats with Ivan in goal, and Fedotov himself conceded a total of 104 goals with a save percentage of 91.4. But at the same time, the Red-Blues goalkeeper scored four shutouts. In five playoff games, Fedotov achieved one victory (and a clean one), but in total during the entire series against Lokomotiv he conceded 13 goals after 155 shots, and CSKA resigned as champions early. Over the course of the entire season, Fedotov’s coaches and teammates gave exclusively laudatory reviews of Ivan’s play, but today’s decision of the army team speaks volumes. And was the “red-blue” venture worth all the risks then?
What next? One of the main intrigues is Fedotov’s future career. CSKA has already noted that it still owns the sports rights to the goalkeeper in Russia. However, the army team can exchange them if they wish if one of the KHL clubs is interested in a deal with the “red-blues”.
Fedotov’s move to North America seems much more likely. What should have happened two years ago. In the near future, Ivan may arrive at Philadelphia's location. American journalists who cover the Flyers' affairs are already reporting this. The only question is whether the “pilots” will use the Russian goalkeeper. On the one hand, there are certain doubts about Fedotov’s reliability. On the other hand, Philadelphia has great difficulties with goalies, while John Tortorella’s team is still fighting (and quite successfully) to get into the NHL playoffs.
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