Will Scouch doesn’t like him. He’s got him ranked 19th and had this to say about it:
Here we are, all together again for the holiday season. I've been hard at work since late August watching and tracking hundreds of players around the world, and my first preliminary list is now ready...
www.scouching.ca
Scouch is one of the more “unique” video/social media/indie “scouts” out there. But he’s got a pretty big following and makes interesting content, regardless of how much stock you put into his opinions.
^ I don’t put much stock into his opinions personally. But I do appreciate the content he puts out and I also appreciate a counterpoint to the consensus opinion on a lot players. It’s good to see a little devils advocate. Most guys act like every player in the first round is nearly perfect.
I absolutely disagree with this. I've watched about 30-50% of Michkov's games. He has a few issues with puck handling, and he isn't a super strong possession player, but there's completely valid reasons for this. For one thing, he's super small and light. He's reportedly at about 150 lbs at 5'10ish which is super super light, and he doesn't yet have the leg/core strength or reach to be able to protect the puck super well when he makes these drives. He looks like a freaking midget out there compared to the men he's playing against.
Here's the thing though. He doesn't need to drive through the play or deke around 5 guys to score a goal. He certainly can, at times, because his stick handling and speed is no joke. But his real strength is that he creates space around him and thinks the game at a superior split second level, his release is lethal, he can score from anywhere on the ice because he a) releases it so fast, it's barely on his stick before it's flying into the net and b) he can elevate it and pinpoint where it's going to go from anywhere with that same speed. It shows too that he can take away the puck, create odd man situations, and see openings with his superior hockey IQ. That's what makes him such a good goal scorer. He's always dangerous because he can capitalize on mistakes and situations in a split second. It's true that he doesn't often dump and chase, that's not his game and it would be a huge waste to do so.
His teammates aren't exactly the best either, which is part of the reason why he holds onto the puck for too long sometimes and tries to do too much. But that's a super common issue in these kinds of situations, and Sochi is hot garbage as a team. SKA was good but he wasn't played in the top 6 a whole lot.
Just look at this video to see what I mean by creating space
Look at how far away from the forwards defending him at the point he is, and how much he does with that space. Look at how quick his release or passes are. He's going to be absolutely lethal in the NHL and on the PP when he gets some good talent to work with. He definitely has some questions due to his size and strength but his game translates really well to the NHL and once he comes over here and starts eating some cheeseburgers he could potentially be 5 inches and 30 lbs bigger.
