If Michkov burns the league in his rookie season the Habs will feel the sizzle. There's no way around it.
We don't need to thrash about or be upset or cope and mope about it. 23 is an arbitrary age you propose. The fact is they'll be compared from today.
We're on the ascent and it will bring a lot of joy but not every prospect is gonna hit his ceiling and we have to be at least mentally prepared that we'll have made some regretful decisions in our rebuild. I think the Toffoli trade was a regrettable trade... and I think we didn't do well on the Lehkonen trade -- but those are relatively minor decisions. Hopefully, if he's to fall "behind" Michkov, the gap between Reinbacher and Michkov remains narrow so we don't have to read much bleating, gloating, moaning, or coping.
Honestly, it comes with the game. We can only root for Reinbacher to help us win as much as he can -- and without turning on him or magnifying his deficiencies or problems more than reality.