KHL teams in general are in the "win now" mode, they don't care about showcasing or inflating stats for young players, but for that mode you just put your trust on the experienced guys, as they are proven to deliver the result. Michkov's Sochi team was an exception here, as they were dead last when he arrived, yet still he got just under 16 minutes of TOI there, which is sort of understandable though, as he wasn't too ready physically.
Would be nice to see advanced ice time stats for ovechkin/malkin (toi/pptoi/linemates etc) but it was hard enough to find rsl scoring leaders from 18 years ago
Yeah, I don't think such stats are there, but from the game reports I was able to find some time ago Ovechkin had mostly top-six usage and actually in the end he was 3rd on the team in points, so still rather impressive - here we have to consider that just one player was over ppg in the whole league back then. As for Malkin, I've seen game reports of him listed on the 2nd and on the 4th line that season, so no surprise his production was much more modest.
The RSL back then was a giant trap fest. Two teams running neutral zone traps dumping the puck back and forth and trying to get a penalty.
Yeah, early 2000s RSL which still had a lot of players born and trained in USSR was somehow less talented than modern KHL with Kunlun and Master Sun
Yes 18 yo Matthews is nothing compared to 19 yo Eeli Tolvanen
Look, there is one and only one reason why Michkov was selected 7th overall and not at least 2nd overall
It may be hard to comprehend for some folks, but a 30 year old career KHLer is often much better than a 17-18 year old future NHL star. Coaches don't stand behind the bench admiring their great talent, they see a player who is skilled, but hasn't fully adapted to the adult hockey and may lack some qualities that are necessary in the KHL. They don't care about the player being a high draft pick (it's not their draft pick) and play then on merit.
Yeah, later I remembered that Bilyaletdinov was Ovechkin's coach that season, so that kind of explains it too.
Ah. Thanks for explaining.
'Different league' is still a much more relevant reference point than your own take on Michkov's imaginary national team performance you compared Carlsson to a post before
You know what? I declare all this talk about different times, trapping systems and Bilyaletdinov coaching irrelevant nonsense. People here are not above calling sky purple, like saying that Fantilli is more of a pro because of his success in his little high school leaguey, that best draft year season in KHL history isn't impressive because the previous record is bad and that Ovechkin couldn't possibly be the best RSL forward at 18. Michkov is the sickest Russian prospect in decades and will be an extremely successful and interesting player to follow. The lengths people are willing to go to deny it are comical!
Michkov played 11 games for NT this season, scored 3 pts, best season evar confirmed'Different league' is still a much more relevant reference point than your own take on Michkov's imaginary national team performance you compared Carlsson to a post before
You know what? I declare all this talk about different times, trapping systems and Bilyaletdinov coaching irrelevant nonsense. People here are not above calling sky purple, like saying that Fantilli is more of a pro because of his success in his little high school leaguey, that best draft year season in KHL history isn't impressive because the previous record is bad and that Ovechkin couldn't possibly be the best RSL forward at 18. Michkov is the sickest Russian prospect in decades and will be an extremely successful and interesting player to follow. The lengths people are willing to go to deny it are comical!
I took the one common contextual environment, you’re the one extrapolating.
More NHL ready doesn’t equate to how good they’ll be in their prime lmao
Extremely common in the SHL for top prospects. Literally almost never happens in the KHL because it’s a tougher league
Mikhail Grigorenko scored 18 pts in his D-1 year at WJC U18 Elias Lindholm wasnt invited, Filip Forsberg was the best 94 on that team, had 6 pts, 3 times less than Grigorenko.
People could say that they prefer a safer pick, a center, a controlled player who may come to the NHL earlier, but there are too many baseless assumptions. Like the idea that Fantilli is a complete franchise center after a fairly mediocre WJC and Worlds, because he plays against future engineers and psychologists so well, or Reinbacher is the next Hedman (??). What Michkov brings is hard facts.
