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Confirmed with Link: SKA Officially Terminates Matvei Michkov’s Contract - He’s Coming! upd: signs ELC on 7/1

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freakydallas13 said:
Not that I disagree with your overall point, but Tippet has been pretty bad this season. All he gives you is offence and he does that at the same rate as the center they just traded to Calgary while making nearly 3 times as much.
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yes exactly, the point was they gave Tippett almost free reign to develop which is what should be happening with michkov. throw away season. best thing to hope for is development. Tippett brings more than frost I'll disagree with you on that but I will say the dudes like a stormtrooper firing a blaster out there. his shot % is just so bad
 
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How's his english coming along? Seems to be talking with other players on the bench, but in interviews needs an interpreter.
 
I was listening to a Latvian sports podcast in the gym yesterday and they were discussing Ābols and Michkov link also. One of the guys went ''how can you come to USA and speak zero English, don't you know that you will eventually head to NA as a hockey player; you can start learning some stuff at the age of 12-13?''. This agenda of ''boohoo dumb Russian speaks no English'' is actually sadly quite widespread among some Latvians here (mostly due to bias against Russians), and it angers me to no end. There is a big difference between ''doesn't speak a single word English'' and ''is confident in doing interviews fluently / needs no translation help from Ābols midgame''. Anyway, that's all for my lunch-time rant.
 
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ellja3 said:
I was listening to a Latvian sports podcast in the gym yesterday and they were discussing Ābols and Michkov link also. One of the guys went ''how can you come to USA and speak zero English, don't you know that you will eventually head to NA as a hockey player; you can start learning some stuff at the age of 12-13?''. This agenda of ''boohoo dumb Russian speaks no English'' is actually sadly quite widespread among some Latvians here (mostly due to bias against Russians), and it angers me to no end. There is a big difference between ''doesn't speak a single word English'' and ''is confident in doing interviews fluently / needs no translation help from Ābols midgame''. Anyway, that's all for my lunch-time rant.
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You know what, maybe they are right. Michkov is probably one of my favorite players now, but Demidov could answer questions in English during his draft interviews, and he still has regular lessons with an English tutor and a French tutor now. I heard Matvei saying a few words in English at the beginning of the season and it was immediately clear from his heavy accent that he couldn't have been studying English for long (I have some experience teaching Russians English, so I think I can tell). I'm kinda curious why the top prospects don't hire a tutor and study at least 2 times a week for a year or two, sparing themselves the inconvenience and stress of not speaking the language when they come to the NHL. I guess they know that superstars can get away with speaking almost no English besides some basic hockey terms (Malkin, Panarin, etc in their first few seasons) for much longer than some average guys who may be competing for their place on the team. Being Russian is clearly not the problem, I've had students who have made excellent progress in a year. Maybe it is the attitude/laziness/unwillingness after all.
 
Aleena said:
You know what, maybe they are right. Michkov is probably one of my favorite players now, but Demidov could answer questions in English during his draft interviews, and he still has regular lessons with an English tutor and a French tutor now. I heard Matvei saying a few words in English at the beginning of the season and it was immediately clear from his heavy accent that he couldn't have been studying English for long (I have some experience teaching Russians English, so I think I can tell). I'm kinda curious why the top prospects don't hire a tutor and study at least 2 times a week for a year or two, sparing themselves the inconvenience and stress of not speaking the language when they come to the NHL. I guess they know that superstars can get away with speaking almost no English besides some basic hockey terms (Malkin, Panarin, etc in their first few seasons) for much longer than some average guys who may be competing for their place on the team. Being Russian is clearly not the problem, I've had students who have made excellent progress in a year. Maybe it is the attitude/laziness/unwillingness after all.
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A lot of it is the time required... and the money in some cases...

they are not normal kids with a normal schedule. And until they sign a pro deal some of them are not very well off (unlike in North America where most hockey playing kids are at least middle class).

Hockey school in Russia for kids who are not lucky enough to have a good school near their home (or being from Moscow or STP) often involves going away from home at 13 years old, sometimes up to 1000 miles away, and being at a boarding school attached to an academy of a KHL/VHL team. Their schedules are basically hockey and school and English is not generally on the curriculum! (and most schools for hockey ofc dont have a great interest in teaching them English when prepping them for KHL/VHL.)

The only time they probably have 2 spare evenings a week are in summer when home, as at the hockey schools often practice, study, eat together and semi-contained... and a 14-16 year old kid is not generally going to just go into the local town themselves to study English in the few spare evening hours they have, without a guardian with them!

So in turn I would say that the average Russian hockey player at age 17 or so has probably had less English lessons and exposure than the average kid in Russia their age. (well, average kid from bigger cities). And even so the average Russian kid does not have too much exposure, as tv is dubbed and school does not teach English in many cases.

Plus, even guys who can understand and speak to maybe A2-B1 level? They dont want to until closer to fluent as they dont want to look silly or be misconstrued. Have had that speaking to some of the Russian players... they understood the question before even translated and start replying in Russian...

Also, in some cases guys actually just like not having to deal with the press so just pretend they cant speak... a la Sergei Bobrovsky aha.

Schedules though for ~15-18 year old hockey players who are on track for a pro career are at times crazy though, really... their schedules actually might get easier when become pro!
 
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First all, many thanks to @Appleyard for detailed insight - you're a rockstar - as always. [:

@Aleena - yes, there was certainly some truth to that statement, the point is - I disliked the vibe as this topic/issue sure as heck wouldn't be so highlighted among Latvian experts/posters if MM's nationality wasn't Russian.
 
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ellja3 said:
I was listening to a Latvian sports podcast in the gym yesterday and they were discussing Ābols and Michkov link also. One of the guys went ''how can you come to USA and speak zero English, don't you know that you will eventually head to NA as a hockey player; you can start learning some stuff at the age of 12-13?''. This agenda of ''boohoo dumb Russian speaks no English'' is actually sadly quite widespread among some Latvians here (mostly due to bias against Russians), and it angers me to no end. There is a big difference between ''doesn't speak a single word English'' and ''is confident in doing interviews fluently / needs no translation help from Ābols midgame''. Anyway, that's all for my lunch-time rant.
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Aleena said:
You know what, maybe they are right. Michkov is probably one of my favorite players now, but Demidov could answer questions in English during his draft interviews, and he still has regular lessons with an English tutor and a French tutor now. I heard Matvei saying a few words in English at the beginning of the season and it was immediately clear from his heavy accent that he couldn't have been studying English for long (I have some experience teaching Russians English, so I think I can tell). I'm kinda curious why the top prospects don't hire a tutor and study at least 2 times a week for a year or two, sparing themselves the inconvenience and stress of not speaking the language when they come to the NHL. I guess they know that superstars can get away with speaking almost no English besides some basic hockey terms (Malkin, Panarin, etc in their first few seasons) for much longer than some average guys who may be competing for their place on the team. Being Russian is clearly not the problem, I've had students who have made excellent progress in a year. Maybe it is the attitude/laziness/unwillingness after all.
Click to expand...

Appleyard said:
A lot of it is the time required... and the money in some cases...

they are not normal kids with a normal schedule. And until they sign a pro deal some of them are not very well off (unlike in North America where most hockey playing kids are at least middle class).

Hockey school in Russia for kids who are not lucky enough to have a good school near their home (or being from Moscow or STP) often involves going away from home at 13 years old, sometimes up to 1000 miles away, and being at a boarding school attached to an academy of a KHL/VHL team. Their schedules are basically hockey and school and English is not generally on the curriculum! (and most schools for hockey ofc dont have a great interest in teaching them English when prepping them for KHL/VHL.)

The only time they probably have 2 spare evenings a week are in summer when home, as at the hockey schools often practice, study, eat together and semi-contained... and a 14-16 year old kid is not generally going to just go into the local town themselves to study English in the few spare evening hours they have, without a guardian with them!

So in turn I would say that the average Russian hockey player at age 17 or so has probably had less English lessons and exposure than the average kid in Russia their age. (well, average kid from bigger cities). And even so the average Russian kid does not have too much exposure, as tv is dubbed and school does not teach English in many cases.

Plus, even guys who can understand and speak to maybe A2-B1 level? They dont want to until closer to fluent as they dont want to look silly or be misconstrued. Have had that speaking to some of the Russian players... they understood the question before even translated and start replying in Russian...

Also, in some cases guys actually just like not having to deal with the press so just pretend they cant speak... a la Sergei Bobrovsky aha.

Schedules though for ~15-18 year old hockey players who are on track for a pro career are at times crazy though, really... their schedules actually might get easier when become pro!
Click to expand...


This may sound harsh. But, IMO, most high-level hockey players are unworldly meatheads who exist entirely in a hockey bubble. Unless something is forced on them, they're probably not too willing to step outside their small hockey worldview.

You see the same language issues with North Americans in the KHL. Most don’t bother to learn any Russian, after which someone will go on Spittin Chicklets or whatever and complain how messed up his KHL experience was b/c nobody spoke English.
 
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