As I thought, he's the main firepower on Team Russia at the WJC, and there are kids on the team who have 2-3 times more TOI in the KHL and play regularly unlike Matvei. I'm pretty sure if he played 10 min/game at least, he would have already been way above 0.5 PPG in the league. He would have been a PPG player in Liiga or NLA...
RW Matvei Michkov - SKA-1946 St.Petersburg, MHL (2023 Draft) Part 2
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NatusVincere
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What a game from this kid. I didn’t see one bad pass or giveaway he was everytime and everywhere in full control of the game. On his very first shift he generated a high scoring chance for Demidov with a shot nobody expected. And it’s not like Zubov is giving him the time for free… he earned his spot on the first line and first PP unit. He played 3rd line minutes at the U18 and outscored everyone. Outscored everyone in the MHL and outscored every U20 in the KHL (PPG) and was the best U20 player at the EHT. The last draft eligible playing for team Russia was 2nd OA Svechnikov in his draft year and he was more or less a passenger on the 4th line. Yurov is the 13th forward as of now and Miro isn’t even on the team. Michkov is such a special talent.
BTW, he actually can one-timers. He's just used to shoot wristers, because his wrister is phenomenal, but sometimes nothing can be better, than good one-timer, and he showed it in the game vs Canada.
vorky
@vorkywh24
- Jan 23, 2010
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The crazy thing is there are other forwards from that class who could also become that if not them
WetWholphin
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Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Michkov is a cross between Matthews and Kucherov. The goal-scoring is similar to Matthews with how well he hides his release and how prolific he is at scoring from all areas. He’ll have a similar eventual yearly goal impact to Matthews. I also think there are some similarities to Kucherov in hockey sense and deception. Neither is the biggest, fastest, or has the flashiest puck skills, but they are able to pile up offensive numbers as well as those that are due to their sense and deception.
You can throw in Adam Fox in there, although I would not add that to the main comparison because it gets too complicated due to that they play different positions. Not the biggest, fastest, or flashiest, but they understand how to play hockey better than all their competitors do.
You can throw in Adam Fox in there, although I would not add that to the main comparison because it gets too complicated due to that they play different positions. Not the biggest, fastest, or flashiest, but they understand how to play hockey better than all their competitors do.
snipes
How cold? I’m ice cold.
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Interesting comparables, his elite hockey IQ jumps off the page. He’s a better playmaker than Matthews at the same age but has that same high end shot where the puck just zips off his stick.
One thing that has always struck me with Michkov is the way he intuitively attacks the middle of the ice and creates space is dangerous areas of the ice. I’ve been mentioning this for a while and those abilities translate well to NA sized ice where time and space is taken away quicker than on the bigger European ice.
He’s not an overly fast straight line skater, but his edge work and change of direction are fantastic.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
I would add that his sense of where the net is and how he can leverage it and his position relative to it or the goalie/other players is the best of the current generation.
It’s a nightmare for the other team. You can’t allow rebounds, goalies are constantly worried when he’s in the corner or behind the net, and defenseman always have to be marking him in front because he will find open space. He can also do creative stuff like the Lacrosse goal or banking the puck off defenseman/goalie that you can’t plan for.
Vasilevskiy
The cat will be back
Kucherov is actually a good comparable, with a future similar skating to Kaprizov and better goalscoring than both. Honestly the tools are that of a true superstar
NatusVincere
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Kucherov not the “fastest“? I mean, yeah someone like McDavid is faster, but Kucherov himself is one of the fastest skater in the league himself. Skating is and will not be a problem at all for Michkov. Speed will come with maturity and more muscles.
Pavel Buchnevich
"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
His speed for his size is average or a little above. The fastest skaters aside from McDavid are guys like Barzal, Larkin, MacKinnon. Kucherov may be an elite NHL’er, but not due to skating speed.
Synergy27
F-A-C-G-C-E
Just watched his highlights recently and wow, I'd say there's some Kovalev-esque hands in there (coupled with the Kaprizov speed) and Svechnikov's flair (obvious shoutout to his preference for Michigan goals).
Maplebeasts
I See Demons!!!!!
I don't see it. Yakupov wasn't as skilled overall and had ZERO hockey IQ. From what I've seen of Michkov Hockey IQ is arguably his greatest strength, which is pretty ridiculous seeing how good the rest of his skillset is.
Out of sheer curiosity, what part of Michkov's game do you think is similar to Yakupov? I have a hard time seeing the similarity myself. Even though Yakupov was also good as a junior, they have completely different playing styles and strenghts in their game imo.
EichelFan15
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Vasilevskiy
The cat will be back
NatusVincere
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Kucherov “may be “ an elite NHL’er? Kucherov is an elite NHLer and I think you should watch more hockey.
Edit: like these guys comparing Mich to Yakupov
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