RW Matvei Michkov (2023, 7th, PHI) Part 5

[JABEE]

Michkov is a truly great player. I don't care about any of the smoke during the draft process. It is insane that 6 teams passed on him and he wasn't even the first Russian taken in the draft.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Crazy the Flyers got him at 7. That type of thing doesn’t happen to us

Feels a bit like the world righting itself from when the Flyers were the worst team but lost the Patrick Kane lottery who would then go onto score the cup clinching goal against us..almost..

 

[User9992]

Michkov is a truly great player. I don't care about any of the smoke during the draft process. It is insane that 6 teams passed on him and he wasn't even the first Russian taken in the draft.

Taking a Russian Defenseman (LOL) over the most talented Russian forward since Ovi/Geno doesn't make any sense.

 

[TheKrebsCycle]

Taking a Russian Defensman (LOL) over the most talented Russian forward since Ovi/Geno doesn't make any sense.

Silly then , flat out laughable now. There are reasons why this was seen as the Bedard and Michkov draft years out from it. They were the cream of the crop ( other seeds look very promising but the growth potential in these 2 are enormous) . I say this as someone who believes Carlsson and Fantilli can also be stars

 

[dendazen]

Silly then , flat out laughable now. There are reasons why this was seen as the Bedard and Michkov draft years out from it. They were the cream of the crop ( other seeds look very promising but the growth potential in these 2 are enormous) . I say this as someone who believes Carlsson and Fantilli can also be stars

That's exactly what it is, laughable. Also i'd fire my GM if I was the owner of that club for that type of mistake, right on the spot.

 

[Fantomas]

I never really bought the notion that Michkov wouldn't play for Montreal, Arizona/Utah or San Jose or any of those other clubs. But even if he categorically refused, you still have to take him.

Imagine if in 1991, the Quebec Nordiques decide to not take Eric Lindros because he doesn't want to be there. There's no Forsberg trade then, and instead they just take Scottie Lachance or Pat Falloon or someone like that. They'd be idiots, right?

 

[User9992]

 

[WarriorofTime]

Fantilli is invisible. Him over Michkov doesn't look very smart right now.

It was a Bedard and Michkov draft that turned into a Bedard then Carlsson/Fantilli/Michkov draft that then turned into a Bedard then Carlsson/Fantilli then a mix players draft. None of which ever changed as a result of anything related to Michkov but some hypothetical "KHL and geopolitical risk" that never actually existed. It honestly ought to be studied. Michkov is an amazing player that never should have been viewed as anything but such. Way too good as a prospect to warrant 7th overall.

 

[dendazen]

Matthews, Marner had 20 points in their first 27 games, Mcdavid had 29 points in his first 27 games, Kucherov had 11 points, Kaprizov 25, Crosby 29, Malkin 31 points. Just some food for thoughts. Probably a next Russian superstar for sure. Whoever watches Flyers game, most of his plays mean something, he never just does something without thinking, don't get me wrong he of course does bunch of mistakes, specifically in defense, but offensively there is always a thought almost on any play he does. Todays' primary assist to Konecny, he had that instinct that he can get to the puck faster than a blue jackets guy, he didn't back down on the play, he reached and then boom a perfect pass to Konecny right on the slot, it looks easy, but these are plays I honestly only seen from a few players in the league, like prime Crosby, Malkin, Mcdavid, Hughes brothers, Marner, Kaprizov, e.t.c. Got that rare Datsyuk-like offensive instinct in him. Not trying to prop Michkov, I am not even a flyers fan, but man it has been really fun to watch him play as a general hockey fan.

 

[Bombshell11]

I think its settled now, Michkov is the real 1st OA of 2023.

Not only is he producing more but he's doing it in 3 full less minutes of TOI per game than the next guy, i can only imagine what would happen when they increase his usage time.

How did the habs pass on him ?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm hoping for a 100 point first season. The generational players are able to put up that type of first season or at least that type of per game caliber of season.

MM is capable of it.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Made this post after Michkov was drafted in the Flyers forum in a now locked thread. I don't want to take too much credit. It was always obvious to anyone with eyes, but I was so right about Michkov.

Take this as a compliment, of all the high picks and highly ranked prospects in recent drafts, this was the guy I was shuddering might be picked by a Metro team.

I normally don't care who has the first pick, just as long as they are kept in the Metro. But even some of them, it's not too big of a deal. And as good as Bedard was, I think there's a limit with him that doesn't worry me too much. He'll be very good, but he doesn't worry me. The only guy since Dahlin that I really was hoping wouldn't be picked by a Metro team was Michkov, and that's because I think his potential is the best player in the world and a true generational player. I'm not guaranteeing that's what he becomes. He'll have to prove that out over the course of his career, but having followed him the last few years, I think he's probably the most fascinating hockey player to emerge in a while.

What is so fascinating about Michkov is that he just has an otherworldly ability to find the net. He knows when the goalie isn't well-positioned, he knows when the puck will deflect to a certain area, he knows when a defenseman is sleeping at the back door, he has an incredible sense of spacing of where he is, where the net is, where other players are. He also has a great release. It's very deceptive. He beats goalies clean without having scary shooting power, although his shooting power is also decent. And he obviously has unbelievable stick-skills too, and can score by undressing the whole defense and goalie. This guy just has a knack for scoring goals. It's not in the way that you see from Ovechkin blasting shots on the power play or Laine or Stamkos, or even Bedard. Bedard reminds me of a smaller Stamkos because of the shot. It's very heavy and powerful. He can score from distance. Michkov doesn't score his goals like that.

If you want to take a goal-scorer in the current NHL who his goal-scoring reminds me of the most, it's Matthews. Matthews is the best in the league at scoring goals within the vicinity of the net of the best 5 or 10 goalscorers within the NHL. He still can beat goalies clean from a little longer distance, and Michkov can too, but a disproportionate amount of his goal-scoring damage is near the net. And obviously there are plenty of differences. I'm not saying Michkov reminds me of Matthews, but the goal-scoring element is similar. You could also say there's some Kucherov with the overall hockey sense, playmaking, and stick-skills for a 5'10 winger that isn't blazing fast. There's probably no real great comparison out there for him. He's his own unique player.

Beyond the skillset, I can't get past that this guy always rises to the challenge. Any league you put him in, he breaks records. There are some athletes like that who you just know are destined for greatness because they keep setting the bar higher and higher, despite what challenge you might think is ahead of them. In terms of the last 3 or 4 years of his hockey career, Michkov has struggled no where. People tried to say last season that he wasn't good enough to get it done in the KHL. They used some of his SKA matches where he'd get like 2 or 3 shifts against him, and said that was proof. But that's just unrealistic. Can't expect a guy to score every game when they don't take a regular shift. When he was loaned to Sochi, he proved that he was still that dude. He set more records. He was as good as we thought he was.

And more specifically, his records are goal records. Putting the puck in the net is the most important skill in the game. Having a guy who is better than everyone else at that could result in a guy being the best player in the world. For many years, that's why Ovechkin was the best or second best player in the world, depending on how you viewed him compared to Crosby. So I obviously think there are differences between him and Ovechkin, but being that generational goal-scorer (even more so than like a Matthews) is what I think could be his ceiling. Michkov could be that guy that is pushing 60-70 goals per season. It might sound lofty, but he's been doing that everywhere else. He's been the most accomplished and overall best prospect to come from Russia since Ovechkin, why can't he be that guy? All he's shown us is that he is that guy. Maybe he'll fall short of that, but even if he does, he should still be a star. I'm struggling to see him be worse than Kucherov level.

As for the war, the character questions, the contract, stuff like that, I realize this is a part of the equation, but I think when you add it all up, the risk is worth it at #2 in the draft. #7? A joke that five other teams made such a mistake. With the contract, I think there's some real misconception with Russian players. People act like there's a real chance they'll never come to the NHL. I know you guys had that problem with Fedotov, so it's easy for your mind to go to what you experienced with your own team, but respectfully he's not one of the best Russians of his generation and the situations aren't remotely the same. The fact of the matter is that all the best Russian players since like the Cold War have played in the NHL, and in the last 10-15 years, all of them have come no later than their early/mid 20's.

It's a different era. Yeah, relations might not be good between Russia and USA/Canada, but the Russian players still know the possibility for them in the NHL. Michkov will absolutely come over to the NHL rather quickly. I assume it'll be right away when his contract is up. He'll probably be the best player in the KHL and ready for a bigger challenge, but even if he signs for like another two years (I don't think he will), he's likely stepping into the NHL as one of the best wingers in the game, so I think the wait is worth it, whenever he comes.

I think getting him on your team so soon isn't as important as most think. Regardless of whether jobs are on the line or not, the fact of the matter is that the majority of top 10 prospects, especially those not picked #1, are not better than middle of the lineup players before year 4 or 5. If you look back at the 2019 and 2020 drafts, which are the drafts 4 and 3 seasons removed, which is the crux of the window people discuss with Michkov, there are like 6 or so of the 2-10 drafted players in those two drafts that are more than middle of the lineup players by that point. The rest, for various reasons, aren't. They could get injured, they could bust, maybe the opportunity isn't there, maybe it's a combination of everything.

Draft picks are not sure-things. Many of them don't end up what the hope is on draft day, so I think getting a guy you can be pretty sure of what his hockey ability will become relative to pretty much any other draft-eligible prospect is more valuable than most people will admit. Sure, there's a chance you get the odd Zegras or Seider or Stuetzle that can contribute sooner, but really the majority of them aren't any better in year 3 than the average dude you sign off the street for 3 million in free agency that changes teams every few years.

As for his character, I think a lot of this has been blown way out of proportion. None of this even came up until the draft starting coming into focus. Funny how NHL affiliation for a player starts to bring out this tribalism. The hockey world didn't care enough to bring this stuff up when he was only some young Russian hockey prodigy with no connection to NA hockey. The only two things out there against him are one anonymous quote from a teammate that says he's "me, me, me" and then one scout that thought he had an attitude. Some people act like the character concerns are that he's some real criminal or something. If it's true that he's "me, me, me", is that really such a big deal? You guys have DeAngelo, so you know what a player with some character concerns is like. Evander Kane also has played in the NHL for a long time. The NHL certainly has a place for players with character concerns, and DeAngelo/Kane are good players. They aren't great players.

There are plenty of star athletes out there with a cocky attitude. If they produce, none of that stuff matters. But I wouldn't rule out that it's almost entirely overblown because people are trying to cover their tracks for Michkov being passed over by so many teams, and the general polarization about this player with many aspects like the war, his contract, and a general Russian factor. Russian players can sometimes get an unfair reputation, and sometimes it effects their draft stock.

As for the war, I'm not going to play colonel and forecast for you what might happen. That stuff can upend a lot in this world and transcends hockey. I'm not going to tell you it's impossible that Michkov is kidnapped or he's drafted into the Russian army or he's banned from the NHL for being Russian. I think those types of arguments people make are silly and far overdoing it, but look, it's a war. Hockey is secondary to all that happens with a war. I'm not going to say it's impossible there's some problem that makes it such that Michkov never plays in the NHL or his NHL career is upended. But my attitude with this stuff has always been that if this even starts to come close to being in real focus and isn't just a deranged conspiracy theory, this world has much bigger problems than will Michkov be able to play in the NHL. So I think you just take these elements out of it and just focus on the hockey. The hockey world isn't qualified to forecast what might happen in these areas, and it's best to just focus on picking the best players. I think the teams that considered this will pay for their mistake.

So in summary, I think this dude could be one of those historic players in hockey history. Maybe that sounds silly, but if he becomes that generational goal-scorer I think he could be, he will take your team to another level and really define a generation or two of Flyers hockey. If you look at the previous generation, the generational players won Cups with Crosby winning 3 and Ovechkin 1. I tend to think it's going to eventually happen with McDavid. If you look at the best players to never win one, they tend to be below the generational threshold. So if that's what Michkov is, and I know that's a big leap from where he's currently at, that's what you guys might be looking at with him leading your team the next 20 years. As a Rangers fan, I hate that this is what I expect my team to have to contend with over the next 20 years. I think Michkov will be a big problem for us. I think Michkov may just be that dude that keeps raising the bar and setting goal-scoring records in the NHL, like he's done everywhere else. Of course, I can't guarantee that. Plenty can happen. I wouldn't be worried about his hockey ability being good enough to at least be a star, but it's true that until he proves it, you can't be sure that's what he'll become.

I think you guys are going to be in for an exciting team over the coming years. That's always said about rebuilding teams. People compliment how they have so many picks and prospects. All that. A lot of the time it doesn't turn out that way because rebuilds are not easy and a lot that you forecast doesn't turn out happening. It's better to be good than a team you hope will be good. Hope doesn't always actualize, but I say entirely due to Michkov that I think he's just that dude. He will lead you guys to a lot of success.

Prospect Info: - Round 1, 7th overall: Matvei Michkov, RW, SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)

I’d bet real money that Lappy is the next HC once Torts does eventually step aside/fired. He’s been developed, is beloved by the country club, and will be seen as a players coach after the reign of John. Experience with young players. It’s happening 100%. facts checkout.. why look outside...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[User9992]

I'm hoping for a 100 point first season. The generational players are able to put up that type of first season or at least that type of per game caliber of season.

MM is capable of it.

That's a reach. 80 would be extraordinary.

Bedard couldn't even get 70.

 

[ViD]

Tippett had 3 goals all season and then 5 in 5 games playing with MM

 

[Bombshell11]

That's a reach. 80 would be extraordinary.

Bedard couldn't even get 70.

Bedard will be lucky to hit 60 pts in a full season this year. There's a gap between these 2 players and its evident.

If Michkov gets to play 20 mins like Bedard instead of his usual 14 mins per game, he could easely come close to 100 pts or at least be on pace for it

Tippett had 3 goals all season and then 5 in 5 games playing with MM

Are you saying Michkov is an actually good player who makes the players around him better?

Wooaaahhhhh... noooo wayyy

 

[Acallabeth]

That's a reach. 80 would be extraordinary.

Bedard couldn't even get 70.

Well, he's on pace for 80 points now (PPG, 2 scratched games), but that's after a strong streak of 10 points in 5 games.

Then again, it's not like a typical hot streak of pucks just going in. Nearly all Michkov points are on well executed high percentage plays, so I don't expect him to just go cold.

Tippett had 3 goals all season and then 5 in 5 games playing with MM

OMG that talent Michkov plays with!

 

[JABEE]

It is wild how good of a passer and playmaker Michkov is in the NHL. His passes are almost always perfect. Placement, speed, and he catches players when they're not expecting it. His goal-scoring was the thing that was supposed to stand out, and it does, but his passing has been incredible. Once his line-mates get used to being ready for whatever he throws at them, his numbers will jump up even more. I think right now, we are seeing some of that translate into his 5v5 production over the past few weeks.

 

[Garl]

Great season so far, doing better than I thought he would. 100 pt talk is premature aswell as "should have been 1st overall" talk though.

It is wild how good of a passer and playmaker Michkov is in the NHL. His passes are almost always perfect. Placement, speed, and he catches players when they're not expecting it. His goal-scoring was the thing that was supposed to stand out, and it does, but his passing has been incredible. Once his line-mates get used to being ready for whatever he throws at them, his numbers will jump up even more. I think right now, we are seeing some of that translate into his 5v5 production over the past few weeks.

His hockey IQ was and is his main gift. Shot is nothing special, just good. He is not Semin or Laine in that regard

 

[HeadLiceHatty]

Made this post after Michkov was drafted in the Flyers forum in a now locked thread. I don't want to take too much credit. It was always obvious to anyone with eyes, but I was so right about Michkov.

Prospect Info: - Round 1, 7th overall: Matvei Michkov, RW, SKA St. Petersburg (KHL)

I’d bet real money that Lappy is the next HC once Torts does eventually step aside/fired. He’s been developed, is beloved by the country club, and will be seen as a players coach after the reign of John. Experience with young players. It’s happening 100%. facts checkout.. why look outside...

forums.hfboards.com

I'll never forget the day that I walked downstairs it was like 10am my time and the Flyers drafted Michkov, I couldn't even sit down was so damn happy. I literally can't believe all the guys who got drafted before him outside Bedard, guy is and always was an extremely rare and unique talent. If the Flyers hoist a cup in the next 20 years, you can bet your ass it will be Michkov leading the charge. This is the type of superstar you build a team around without question.

 

[centipede2233]

I'll never forget the day that I walked downstairs it was like 10am my time and the Flyers drafted Michkov, I couldn't even sit down was so damn happy. I literally can't believe all the guys who got drafted before him outside Bedard, guy is and always was an extremely rare and unique talent. If the Flyers hoist a cup in the next 20 years, you can bet your ass it will be Michkov leading the charge. This is the type of superstar you build a team around without question.

Washington was drafting right behind you guys and id likely bet Washington draft table sank when michkov went right before them. They were likely very dissapointed

 

[ViD]

Washington was drafting right behind you guys and id likely bet Washington draft table sank when michkov went right before them. They were likely very dissapointed

Considering he ignored Washington’s scout Nikolishin calls and texts, not sure they would have taken him

 

[Sombastate]

I'll never forget the day that I walked downstairs it was like 10am my time and the Flyers drafted Michkov, I couldn't even sit down was so damn happy. I literally can't believe all the guys who got drafted before him outside Bedard, guy is and always was an extremely rare and unique talent. If the Flyers hoist a cup in the next 20 years, you can bet your ass it will be Michkov leading the charge. This is the type of superstar you build a team around without question.

I was at a bar in Las Vegas on the phone with my little brother when Simashev was taken and I couldn't believe it. I'll never forget that day. What a life

Washington was drafting right behind you guys and id likely bet Washington draft table sank when michkov went right before them. They were likely very dissapointed

I was so worried the flyers were going with Leonard

 

[centipede2233]

Considering he ignored Washington’s scout Nikolishin calls and texts, not sure they would have taken him

Well if true it was likely a) was told by philly if he was there at 7 he wouldn’t fall to 8 and b) michkov likely wants to carve out his own legacy and philly he can do that and possibly go down as the best winger in franchise history

 

[ItWasJustified]

His success is only because all the players he plays against are Chinese.

 

[SaSaShi]

I'll never forget the day that I walked downstairs it was like 10am my time and the Flyers drafted Michkov, I couldn't even sit down was so damn happy. I literally can't believe all the guys who got drafted before him outside Bedard, guy is and always was an extremely rare and unique talent. If the Flyers hoist a cup in the next 20 years, you can bet your ass it will be Michkov leading the charge. This is the type of superstar you build a team around without question.

I was in southeast asia....woke up in the hotel room, missed the draft completely because for sure they were gonna miss out on michkov, who a few days/weeks before was just a long shot pipedream for philly. So why go through the disappointment?

Opened social media with picture of michkov smiling, orange background with the text on pic " They got him!!"

I was sure this was one of those pranks they do on IG/twitter....can't be real. Went to ESPN site to confirm. Could not believe it.

It woke me up in Asia, but that draft pick was like a huge alarm bell to wake the whole philly fanbase from deep sleep.