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

[HawksDub89]

Only team in the bottom 4 I think would take a chance on Michkov is Columbus as well. For all the reasons mentioned.

I don't see Chicago picking him, they rarely draft Russian prospects (only 2 in their sytem) and also, even if the next few years will be difficult, Chicago will still want to put an exciting team as soon as possible on the ice because otherwise they wouldn't want to lose their fanbase and bring them back to those pre-Toews/Kaner horrible years. IMO, they will take a guy like Smith or Benson ahead of Michkov. To complement with the Reichel, Nazar and company.

Highly doubt it.

 

[HawksDub89]

You obviously know more than me as a Hawks fan. I could be wrong but I felt they want to put on a young team right away. Wouldn't surprise if they go with Will Smith though. Young promising center to be the next #1 center eventually. But all depends at which spot you guys draft anyways.

You’re way off here my man. Davidson has been pretty transparent about this being a long haul type of approach. Hawk fans have largely embraced that.

If they end up outside the top 4 I think Smith and Benson make a ton of sense. I’m with you on that.

 

[vorky]

#1 U23

 

[CBJx614]

If Columbus drafts him, who's to say Laine will still be here by then? If there's new management, he'd probably be the first one out the door. So the "Columbus won't draft him because they already have Laine and Gaudreau" talk doesn't make much sense to me.

The way I see it, if the Jackets draft Michkov, he could be a Laine replacement. If Michkov is producing, we might be able to move Laine for whatever and hopefully replace his production with a 22yo Michkov looking to break into the league similar to Panarin or Kaprizov on an ELC instead of a 10M+ deal for Laine.

 

[NatusVincere]

Kapitan vs Vityaz without Michkov: 1:1 (1:0 / 2:3)
Kapitan vs Vityaz with Michkov: 2:0 (3:1 / 4:1)

Let's see how far he can take them.

 

[Kshahdoo]

Well the season is over for Michkov. Games vs SKA-1946 have showed that even on junior level you can't do it all alone, and the team looked terrible. They couldn't even score a single PP goal in 3 games despite having so many power plays.

 

[kp61c]

Well the season is over for Michkov. Games vs SKA-1946 have showed that even on junior level you can't do it all alone, and the team looked terrible. They couldn't even score a single PP goal in 3 games despite having so many power plays.

that's not an excuse. he looked like crap from what i have seen.

 

[Deleted member 339941]

 

[Caser]

Assist from today's game:

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

How does his season across the leagues compare to other top Russian prospects in their draft year, or even their draft year +1

 

[LetsGoFlyers12]

Huge Michkov fan, but his MHL playoff performance this was really bad. Little to no effort on defense, barely moved his feet, and didn't take initiative. If he played the way he was in the KHL he could have dictated that whole series vs SKA 1946. Instead he was puck watching from the neutral zone and leaving his team out to dry.

His teammates were mostly overmatched, but he did nobody any favors with his effort level. Love the talent and potential, but that effort was seriously dissapointing. If someone sees it different please tell me how, because I found watching those games to be difficult

 

[Parliament]

How does his season across the leagues compare to other top Russian prospects in their draft year, or even their draft year +1

Elite Prospects - KHL Stats All-time season

All-time/historical regular season stats and leaders per season for KHL, including top goal scorers, most games played, PPG leaders and more.

www.eliteprospects.com

^^^ That would have draft year and D+1,... it's not filtered for drafted players/prospects, but it should answer your question.

EDIT: link is KHL specific... missed the all leagues part of your initial post

 

[LetsGoFlyers12]

How does his season across the leagues compare to other top Russian prospects in their draft year, or even their draft year +1

All things considered, the best draft year season for a Russian prospect, even if the MHL stint was unwhelming

 

[ViD]

Is he really done for the year? Any other team he could potentially play for?

I’m assuming then will have some sort of international games for the national teams later this season?

 

[Sasha Orlov]

How does his season across the leagues compare to other top Russian prospects in their draft year, or even their draft year +1

Best ever

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Huge Michkov fan, but his MHL playoff performance this was really bad. Little to no effort on defense, barely moved his feet, and didn't take initiative. If he played the way he was in the KHL he could have dictated that whole series vs SKA 1946. Instead he was puck watching from the neutral zone and leaving his team out to dry.

His teammates were mostly overmatched, but he did nobody any favors with his effort level. Love the talent and potential, but that effort was seriously dissapointing. If someone sees it different please tell me how, because I found watching those games to be difficult

I’ll just prefix this with I haven’t wantched him since his KHL season concluded but I‘m going to take the 30 game sample size in the KHL over the 5 game sample size In the MHL.

Stupid things like this are why kids are drafted later than they should be.

I don’t know the kid, and his motivations/attitude. I just know the talent he possesses, so whatever team wants to draft him has to do their due diligence and be in constant contact with Michkov and his camp and get to know the person, and not just the hockey player.

 

[Matsun]

It's going to be a tough one. Columbus has one of the best prospect pools, some are already in the NHL, some are about to graduate, they just signed Gaudreau and got Laine too under contract, both wingers, the clock is ticking. Michkov coming in 2026(?) doesn't fit the timeline. But who knows, maybe they can't pass that kind of opportunity even in this scenario.

If they end up with 4th pick, I could see a rare case of trading up (to 2nd or 3rd) happening here.

If you are a lottery team you don't really have a timeline.

 

[Zine]

Huge Michkov fan, but his MHL playoff performance this was really bad. Little to no effort on defense, barely moved his feet, and didn't take initiative. If he played the way he was in the KHL he could have dictated that whole series vs SKA 1946. Instead he was puck watching from the neutral zone and leaving his team out to dry.

His teammates were mostly overmatched, but he did nobody any favors with his effort level. Love the talent and potential, but that effort was seriously dissapointing. If someone sees it different please tell me how, because I found watching those games to be difficult

From interviews and body language Michkov comes off as a kid with somewhat of an arrogant attitude. He's a hard-worker but only when challenged.

The odd result being that he's looked his best at KHL level, not VHL and certainly not MHL. How scouts will interpret this I have no clue.

Its why I thought sending him to the MHL was a bad idea. Sure he could pad his stats, but chances were high he could revert back to bad habits you can only get away with vs juniors.

 

[ViD]

From interviews and body language Michkov comes off as a kid with somewhat of an arrogant attitude. He's a hard-worker but only when challenged.

The odd result being that he's looked his best at KHL level, not VHL and certainly not MHL. How scouts will interpret this I have no clue.

Its why I thought sending him to the MHL was a bad idea. Sure he could pad his stats, but chances were high he could revert back to bad habits you can only get away with vs juniors.

His motivation in the MHL was supposed to be the 1st overall draft choice, but given the political situation and his contract, him being selected first overall is out of question even if he scored 60 pts in 30 KHL games

 

[Dirtyf1ghter]

His case is not a problem. Maybe that's an advantage. If he played in 2023/2026 in the NHL, he would only be an incomplete player, not really decisive in the NHL.

In KHL, he will progress and reach the NHL with an elite level. As Kaprizov did. Like Nikishin. During 3 years, the team which will have selected it will be able to play other players.

Regularly, we see that the players have been rushed. The switch to AHL is often overlooked. Michkov will only be 21 years and 10 months old when he makes his NHL debut. In addition, when signing the big contract, there will be far fewer unknowns about his level.

What will Fantilli and Carlsson give by 2026? How many U21 forwards are already breaking out in the league? Beniers and after?

 

[majormajor]

From interviews and body language Michkov comes off as a kid with somewhat of an arrogant attitude. He's a hard-worker but only when challenged.

The odd result being that he's looked his best at KHL level, not VHL and certainly not MHL. How scouts will interpret this I have no clue.

Its why I thought sending him to the MHL was a bad idea. Sure he could pad his stats, but chances were high he could revert back to bad habits you can only get away with vs juniors.

His motivation in the MHL was supposed to be the 1st overall draft choice, but given the political situation and his contract, him being selected first overall is out of question even if he scored 60 pts in 30 KHL games

It's hard to understand a hockey player who is more motivated by personal goals. Every game I've played at any level I've been crazy about winning.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

It's hard to understand a hockey player who is more motivated by personal goals. Every game I've played at any level I've been crazy about winning.

Same. Even when I "retired" from competitive hockey and started playing beer league, I never came into a tournament hoping to score a lot points. All I cared about was winning.

 

[Zine]

It's hard to understand a hockey player who is more motivated by personal goals. Every game I've played at any level I've been crazy about winning.

Same. Even when I "retired" from competitive hockey and started playing beer league, I never came into a tournament hoping to score a lot points. All I cared about was winning.

I doubt personal goals has anything to do with it. It's more likely boredom.
It's not uncommon for competative people to lose interest when the competition is far below their talent level.
At some point winning is superseded by a "why the hell am I here" mentality.....especially when you're expected to thoroughly wreck kids who aren't in the same universe as you.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I doubt personal goals has anything to do with it. It's more likely boredom.
It's not uncommon for competative people to lose interest when the competition is far below their talent level.
At some point winning is superseded by a "why the hell am I here" mentality.....especially when you're expected to thoroughly wreck kids who aren't in the same universe as you.

Were his team's so successful that winning was too easy for him? Winning was never boring for me, and never easy either.

I lived in Houston for a few years (over a decade ago lol), and the top league there was pretty meh as you can imagine - there were some stronger players from Western Canada (oil connection) and we had some former CHL and NCAA guys, but there were also a lot of weaker players. I was one of the league's top scorers, but we had a pretty weak team overall which made winning an accomplishment. Hockey is a team sport, it's really tough to single handedly win games even in weaker leagues.

 

[BMann]

Oh dear oh dear. Another swipe at Matvei from former professionals no less. Oh no wait. Beer leaguers.

There are countless examples of top sportsmen and women across a range of disciplines who at a young age outplayed their peer group consistently. It does become boring and a meaningless exercise. They need new challenges and a higher level of competition.

And more often than not rise to it and exceed it. There's no doubt Matvei will do that. He's done it all his career to date, learnt and grown.He wasn't going to win the Gagarin Cup with Sochi but he still showed that winning mentality and desire because the competition challenged him and forced him to adapt and raise his game.