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

[karltonian]

I mean, other than delayed Fedotov arrival, did the political situation affect any of the drafted players at all ?

In retrospect no but it was pretty up in the air at that time as to what was going to happen with Russia on the sporting world stage, from both ends.

Without that context Michkov definitely gets drafted higher.

 

[deejb]

But as he did so often in Sochi, he blew the zone looking for a breakaway pass that never came, because it was in the back of his net, scored by the guy he should have been checking.

Michkov had +- around 0 in awful Sochi team. So, even if he "often blew the zone" (he didn't), it worked. He made a mistake last game, but overall he's OK defensively.

	GP	+-	+- per game
Sochi 22-24	136	-198	-1.45588
Michkov 22-24	74	-5	-0.06757

for comparison

	GP	+-	+- per game
Chicago 23-24	82	-111	-1.35366
Bedard 23-24	68	-44	-0.64706

 

[SaSaShi]

Will Smith over Michkov was an equally dumb pick as he’s not more skilled and he’s not a big center

I agree, all players in the 23 draft save Bedard don't have the ceiling and pedigree of Michkov, but the potential mistake for CLB, ANA and SJ is not as big as it could be for Montreal.

Doesn't help that Montreal was the cheerleader in pointing out flaws of Michkov via their russian scout.

Regarding Bedard/Michkov, I feel they're comparable but I still take Bedard. But would it surprise anyone here if in fact michkov outplays him and becomes the undisputed best player of that draft ? Hell no.

 

[dgibb10]

Will Smith over Michkov was an equally dumb pick as he’s not more skilled and he’s not a big center

You don't need to be big to be an elite center.

 

[Devonator]

You can understand the 4 of the 5 teams who passed on michkov. CLB ,SJ and ANA wanted centers and felt that fantilli/carlsson/smith were comparable to michkov without the russian factor. From

Arizona knew Michkov didn't wanna play for them.

Montreal is the big question mark bc Reinbacher was a reach and the talent level and ceiling difference between the 2 is significant. Montreal also haven't had a potential MVP forward type of player since forever.

Aldo, Michkov would have gladly went to Montreal, because he prioritized hockey cities, none bigger than MTL.

Demidov is gonna save Hughes from the embarassment of this mistake. But imagine having BOTH. This is what Briere was attempting at last year's draft trying to trade for pick no 4.

Demidov-Michkov combo would have been LETHAL.

I was not aware of some of those realities about the other teams passing on Michkov.....but yeah...can you imagine if Montreal had added Michkov....along with their other young talent...their rebuild would essentially have been complete and no doubt a future Stanley cup challenger....

 

[Kshahdoo]

You don't need to be big to be an elite center.

Yeah, but Smith isn't elite, and I doubt he will ever become the one. Solid 1C? Probably. Elite? I very doubt it.

 

[SaSaShi]

I was not aware of some of those realities about the other teams passing on Michkov.....but yeah...can you imagine if Montreal had added Michkov....along with their other young talent...their rebuild would essentially have been complete and no doubt a future Stanley cup challenger....

If montreal had demidov and michkov plus hage, hutson, slaf , etc.

Yikes, would be the envy of the league, as mtl would have secured 2 of the 4 best prospects from the last two drafts.

I would have given up what CLB was wanting from Briere to get Demidov.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

In retrospect no but it was pretty up in the air at that time as to what was going to happen with Russia on the sporting world stage, from both ends.

Without that context Michkov definitely gets drafted higher.

I said it on the Sharks board, but I really hope that’s not the reason Grier passed on him. Even at the time it seemed like the Russia stuff was overblown (Fedotov had already got out of his contract by that point). It’s think it’s more likely that Michkov leveraged his situation to end up on a team like Philly that he wanted to play for. Meanwhile, the Sharks were just another Arizona.

 

[FriarChill]

I am not sure why "the russian factor" is still a thing. The russian top prospects all come to NA, at least i can't think of anyone who didnt. There is a way bigger risk involved drafting NCAA players lol
Will Smith got a lot of hype late with his U18 MVP and being probably the best player on one of the best pre draft lines in recent memory. Well Michkov won the MVP at the U18 too but 2 years earlier, still being 16 years old.
I get the Carlsson and Fantilli picks, both will be awesome too. I am a big Carlsson fan too and i think he'll be very tough to play against in a few years. But from a talent point it was Bedard 1A and Michkov 1B then the rest imo.

 

[NatusVincere]

As a GM I would have drafted Bedard, Fantilli and Carlsson before Michkov. The hype about this guys was simply to big. Even as a diehard Michkov fan, with the expectations the fans had I would lose my job almost immediately after the draft for drafting a guy who will arrive in 3 years over prospects who can help the franchise right away. Maybe if Michkov would have played the U20 and outscored Bedard as he did at the U18, we could have talked about him going second (or even 1OA). But it wouldn’t be possible to sell Michkovs 20 KHL points to NA audience to justify the pick. Everything after the top 3 were simply brainfarts from the GMs. And I do believe that at least the Jackets will regret the Fantilli pick, but back then you really couldn’t do otherwise but draft the three over Mich.

 

[AD1066]

As a GM I would have drafted Bedard, Fantilli and Carlsson before Michkov. The hype about this guys was simply to big. Even as a diehard Michkov fan, with the expectations the fans had I would lose my job almost immediately after the draft for drafting a guy who will arrive in 3 years over prospects who can help the franchise right away. Maybe if Michkov would have played the U20 and outscored Bedard as he did at the U18, we could have talked about him going second (or even 1OA). But it wouldn’t be possible to sell Michkovs 20 KHL points to NA audience to justify the pick. Everything after the top 3 were simply brainfarts from the GMs. And I do believe that at least the Jackets will regret the Fantilli pick, but back then you really couldn’t do otherwise but draft the three over Mich.

The bolded is an interesting dilemma for me in sports, in which the goals of a GM aren't necessarily in alignment with the goals of a franchise. GMs want to produce short-term results, or the appearance of results, and keep their jobs. And this sometimes leads to suboptimal decisions in the long-term.

It's how you get George McPhee trading Filip Forsberg for Martin Erat, or an NFL GM taking the 5th best QB following a run on the position instead of a lineman who will provide a decade of pro-bowl level protection.

And since a lot of GMs can't seem to reliably outperform the poll section of this site, maybe we should just scrap the position altogether and let AI do it.

 

[MrGuyPerson]

The russian top prospects all come to NA, at least i can't think of anyone who didnt.

Alexei Cherepanov. In fairness to your overall point though, being Russian is not what prevented him from playing in the NHL. R.I.P. Alexei