RW Matvei Michkov (2023, 7th, PHI) Part 4

[Kshahdoo]

Only 3 Russian players have scored at least 1 point-per-game (min. 30 games) in the top Russian/Soviet league in their 19-year-old season in the past 50 years:

Pavel Bure '91 - 1.05
Vladimir Krutov '80 - 1.05
Evgeni Malkin '06 - 1.02

Will Michkov be the 4th to do it?

Kaprizov (.86) and Kuznetsov (.84) have come the closest in the KHL era.

Those were their 19-20 yo seasons while it's Michkov's 18-19 yo season.

Yeah we will have to see about that.

Of course, but so far Michkov has been better than Kucherov at the same age...

 

[Staniowski]

Those were their 19-20 yo seasons while it's Michkov's 18-19 yo season.



Of course, but untill now Michkov has been better than Kucherov at the same age...

It's by calendar year, which is how hockey is played.

 

[WarriorofTime]

It's by calendar year, which is how hockey is played.

Hockey is played during the calendar, correct.

 

[Kshahdoo]

It's by calendar year, which is how hockey is played.

Well, not sure about hockey, but players are usually looked at depending on their draft years. It's Michkov's D+1 season, Krutov, Bure and Malkin were PPG+ in their D+2 seasons.

 

[Bounces R Way]

The league always needs at least one superstar Russian winger. Pretty sure it's even in the CBA. Bure passed the torch to Ovechkin who passed it to Kucherov who I imagine will be the one to pass it to Michkov. Could have been Kaprizov but he has no first line center to play with.

This is going to be a special player and how Philly picked him up at 7th overall I don't think I'll ever fully understand.

 

[Staniowski]

Well, not sure about hockey, but players are usually looked at depending on their draft years. It's Michkov's D+1 season, Krutov, Bure and Malkin were PPG+ in their D+2 seasons.

Age comparisons should always be by calendar year because hockey is played by calendar year...minor hockey, junior, international tournaments, etc.

The NHL draft Sept.15th cutoff is only to ensure that only adults play in the NHL. It has no other purpose beyond that.

 

[Redpath]

Age comparisons should always be by calendar year because hockey is played by calendar year...minor hockey, junior, international tournaments, etc.

The NHL draft Sept.15th cutoff is only to ensure that only adults play in the NHL. It has no other purpose beyond that.

I'm not quite sure how you think hockey is played by calendar year. What league runs January-December?

Fall through summer is the standard for every league's season along with draft cutoff. It makes more sense to divide player's seasons by that metric.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Age comparisons should always be by calendar year because hockey is played by calendar year...minor hockey, junior, international tournaments, etc.

The NHL draft Sept.15th cutoff is only to ensure that only adults play in the NHL. It has no other purpose beyond that.

Minor hockey age classification doesn’t matter when discussing pro game.

 

[Staniowski]

I'm not quite sure how you think hockey is played by calendar year. What league runs January-December?

Fall through summer is the standard for every league's season along with draft cutoff. It makes more sense to divide player's seasons by that metric.

I mean that age groups are by calendar year. Michkov was born in 2004, so, for most purposes, he should be compared to other players born in 2004. Minor hockey, junior leagues, WJC and other international tournaments are by age groups of January 1 to December 31.

 

[Kshahdoo]

And he's playing vs. SKA today...

 

[tnfrs]

And he's playing vs. SKA today...

f*** the SKAbs

 

[Garl]

And he's playing vs. SKA today...

Ha, I thought Rotenberg would call them and ask him to sit today.

 

[wmupreds]

The league always needs at least one superstar Russian winger. Pretty sure it's even in the CBA. Bure passed the torch to Ovechkin who passed it to Kucherov who I imagine will be the one to pass it to Michkov. Could have been Kaprizov but he has no first line center to play with.

This is going to be a special player and how Philly picked him up at 7th overall I don't think I'll ever fully understand.

Impatience and stupidity, mostly

 

[HeadLiceHatty]

The league always needs at least one superstar Russian winger. Pretty sure it's even in the CBA. Bure passed the torch to Ovechkin who passed it to Kucherov who I imagine will be the one to pass it to Michkov. Could have been Kaprizov but he has no first line center to play with.

This is going to be a special player and how Philly picked him up at 7th overall I don't think I'll ever fully understand.

I'm telling you I almost sprained my ankle when I found out we drafted him. I woke up around like 8am or some sht in Japan and opened my phone and flipped over my couch by accident jumping up and down lol. Absolute steal, knew it the second it happened. I can wrap my head around the top 3 being picked first for availability now, plus I think he and Bedard are extremely similar prospects talent wise, outside of Bedard being a center. But being passed to 7th is crazy, was thrilled then and I'm thrilled now.

 

[tnfrs]

I'm telling you I almost sprained my ankle when I found out we drafted him. I woke up around like 8am or some sht in Japan and opened my phone and flipped over my couch by accident jumping up and down lol. Absolute steal, knew it the second it happened. I can wrap my head around the top 3 being picked first for availability now, plus I think he and Bedard are extremely similar prospects talent wise, outside of Bedard being a center. But being passed to 7th is crazy, was thrilled then and I'm thrilled now.

that first game against chicago when michkov comes over is going to be a wild one

 

[WarriorofTime]

Michkov vs. SKA will be a fun storyline today

 

[FlyguyOX]

I'm telling you I almost sprained my ankle when I found out we drafted him. I woke up around like 8am or some sht in Japan and opened my phone and flipped over my couch by accident jumping up and down lol. Absolute steal, knew it the second it happened. I can wrap my head around the top 3 being picked first for availability now, plus I think he and Bedard are extremely similar prospects talent wise, outside of Bedard being a center. But being passed to 7th is crazy, was thrilled then and I'm thrilled now.

My wife was in labor and I was watching the draft on the tv in the delivery room. I jumped out of my chair so high

 

[tnfrs]

My wife was in labor and I was watching the draft on the tv in the delivery room. I jumped out of my chair so high

thats a great story haha congrats draft day baby

and then the 3 wisemen showed up and gave your child gifts of smelling salts, stick tape, and dip

 

[HeadLiceHatty]

that first game against chicago when michkov comes over is going to be a wild one

I hope they're both great and create an amazing rivalry that lasts for a decade, it's just good for the league.

My wife was in labor and I was watching the draft on the tv in the delivery room. I jumped out of my chair so high

haha, jesus that's a bit more wild than my story! lol congrats brotha, I have 2 myself. 2 1/2 and 9 months, enjoy it!

 

[montreal]

You think he plays out his KHL contract?

I assume so, has there been anything said about him buying out his contract? I know the fear was he was going to sign a 2 year extension at some point before the draft.

Michkov is going to be better than any TBL forward though. Yeah even better than Kucherov.

Or he won't, as there's no way anyone could know that. I certainly wouldn't bet on it but with prospects it's ALWAYS about progress or the lack of. So with me it's a year to year evaluation where you reassess based off what you saw all year.

I think your logic makes sense but I think the Habs passed on michkov because they didn't like something about the player or his game.

Not saying they were right in passing on him, or that I agree with the decision,but if the team really felt strongly that he was a generational type player with the personality to match they would have figured out the roster issues later.

Either that or they really have no clue what they're doing.

I think there were many factors, and having Bobrov's dad work for SKA, I have said that they would likely know him better then any other NHL team. Time will tell if they made a mistake, I wouldn't have gone with Reinbacher but once Smith was off the board I really didn't care as that's who I really wanted.

I think another big part of it is they like me know that their best prospect is Lane Hutson and that he has the build of a 12 year old and that is a massive problem so I think they looked at Reinbacher and said he could be a great D partner for him.

Its better to have Michkov and Caufield on your top-6 then not having Michkov there.
It was political and... hype decision and it looks like they are doing it second year straight. I liked Slaf a lot, I liked and like him more than Wright now and in the moment and even way before the draft. But it looks like mtl are making very emotional choices by their high picks, not because they are outscouting players. Because LITERALLY "they didnt saw him by themselves"(c) and, may be im wrong, but I dont think so, Michkov said that mtl asked him about wing and left/right handed shot. Its bad.

The Habs co head scout, his dad works for SKA, so clearly they know a lot about him.

It is a fair point though, as I am a big fan of BPA and they could always have looked to trade Michkov or Caufield at some point down the road since it looks like you won't see Michkov for 3 years so it would give the Habs a lot of time to figure it out. But I think a lot went into this decision and when you look at the Habs Bobrov and Jeff Gorton and the 1st round picks they made with NYR, I think it's fair to be concerned here.

That said as someone that has watched Michkov since he was 15 due to playing with Hab prospect Alexander Gordin, I did not want the Habs to draft Mickhov, I wanted Will Smith although his defensive game isn't very good either so it's really more of the same as having 2 undersized weak defensively is not the best way to build a contender imo.

 

[Guadana]

The Habs co head scout, his dad works for SKA, so clearly they know a lot about him.

It is a fair point though, as I am a big fan of BPA and they could always have looked to trade Michkov or Caufield at some point down the road since it looks like you won't see Michkov for 3 years so it would give the Habs a lot of time to figure it out. But I think a lot went into this decision and when you look at the Habs Bobrov and Jeff Gorton and the 1st round picks they made with NYR, I think it's fair to be concerned here.

That said as someone that has watched Michkov since he was 15 due to playing with Hab prospect Alexander Gordin, I did not want the Habs to draft Mickhov, I wanted Will Smith although his defensive game isn't very good either so it's really more of the same as having 2 undersized weak defensively is not the best way to build a contender imo.

Again, if they would know him better, they would act differently and they would not say words about "cant saw him personally". Like canadiands or americans, some russians arent as competent, even if they live in NA.

Nyr picked badly with rangers, so there is a reason to not listen Bobrov at all.

As someone who watched Michkov sinse he was 15, you did the same bad mistake. Hugely bad mistake, so may be you should not trust your own scouting, not only scouting of your team. Its not about "protect my Russian boy"(even if it is too), its about protect the boy I really like and see potential(its not that hard in this case). I "proteced" Gauthier, becasue I called him top 5-6 player way before the draft, Reichel or Slafkovsky or Mercer especially. In Michkov case its too easy. Every gm or scout or armchair scout who thought that their team should pass on Michkov (at least after 3 pick) looks how they are looking now. There are no arguments for that, just an honest admission of error.

 

[Caser]

I assume so, has there been anything said about him buying out his contract? I know the fear was he was going to sign a 2 year extension at some point before the draft.



Or he won't, as there's no way anyone could know that. I certainly wouldn't bet on it but with prospects it's ALWAYS about progress or the lack of. So with me it's a year to year evaluation where you reassess based off what you saw all year.



I think there were many factors, and having Bobrov's dad work for SKA, I have said that they would likely know him better then any other NHL team. Time will tell if they made a mistake, I wouldn't have gone with Reinbacher but once Smith was off the board I really didn't care as that's who I really wanted.

I think another big part of it is they like me know that their best prospect is Lane Hutson and that he has the build of a 12 year old and that is a massive problem so I think they looked at Reinbacher and said he could be a great D partner for him.



The Habs co head scout, his dad works for SKA, so clearly they know a lot about him.

It is a fair point though, as I am a big fan of BPA and they could always have looked to trade Michkov or Caufield at some point down the road since it looks like you won't see Michkov for 3 years so it would give the Habs a lot of time to figure it out. But I think a lot went into this decision and when you look at the Habs Bobrov and Jeff Gorton and the 1st round picks they made with NYR, I think it's fair to be concerned here.

That said as someone that has watched Michkov since he was 15 due to playing with Hab prospect Alexander Gordin, I did not want the Habs to draft Mickhov, I wanted Will Smith although his defensive game isn't very good either so it's really more of the same as having 2 undersized weak defensively is not the best way to build a contender imo.

To be fair, the "Bobrov's dad" factor gets quite overrated in the medias, as far as I understand his position at SKA is more of a sinecure.

 

[montreal]

Again, if they would know him better, they would act differently and they would not say words about "cant saw him personally". Like canadiands or americans, some russians arent as competent, even if they live in NA.

Nyr picked badly with rangers, so there is a reason to not listen Bobrov at all.

As someone who watched Michkov sinse he was 15, you did the same bad mistake. Hugely bad mistake, so may be you should not trust your own scouting, not only scouting of your team. Its not about "protect my Russian boy"(even if it is too), its about protect the boy I really like and see potential(its not that hard in this case). I "proteced" Gauthier, becasue I called him top 5-6 player way before the draft, Reichel or Slafkovsky or Mercer especially. In Michkov case its too easy. Every gm or scout or armchair scout who thought that their team should pass on Michkov (at least after 3 pick) looks how they are looking now. There are no arguments for that, just an honest admission of error.

there's no IF. they clearly would have known about him, what they say to the media is one thing as it's well known the Habs have the worst media/fan base in the NHL as they are f***ing nuts.

I think Michkov is overrated plain and simple, I don't think he will be much better then Caufield in the NHL. So we'll see who is the right at scouting or not. Keep in mind I don't care about scouting, I watched Michkov at 15 because he was on the team of a guy I wanted to watch. I wasn't there to focus on him. I cover the Hab prospects for different websites over the years so my focus is always on that.

But I have been doing this since the late '90's. I actually had VHS tapes that I would exchange with a girl in Moscow way back in the day that she told me the tapes I sent her of Habs games were likely taken by the KGB (this was early '00's) I got to see AO at 17, Andrei Kostitsyn at 18 in the old RSL (he looked terrible)

 

[montreal]

To be fair, the "Bobrov's dad" factor gets quite overrated in the medias, as far as I understand his position at SKA is more of a sinecure.

so that I wouldn't know anything about, but compared with the rest of the NHL teams, you got to think they would have some kind of info.

In the Habs draft vid you can see Jeff Gorton kind of pushing back on his scouts about if they are sure or not and while they never said Michkov, I got to think that's who he was asking about.

 

[Redpath]

so that I wouldn't know anything about, but compared with the rest of the NHL teams, you got to think they would have some kind of info.

In the Habs draft vid you can see Jeff Gorton kind of pushing back on his scouts about if they are sure or not and while they never said Michkov, I got to think that's who he was asking about.

Whatever intel Bobrov might have gotten from his dad/SKA brass about Michkov doesn't necessarily mean anything considering SKA brass has shown to be stupid about Michkov. The loan/scratching of Michkov is already appearing to be an obviously stupid decision.