In an interesting development, uber-talented Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov sat out the regular-season opener at SKA St. Petersburg last Saturday.
SKA St. Petersburg, Michkov’s KHL club, defeated Dynamo Moscow, 2-1. Michkov, the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft, not in the lineup. A source confirmed that, from the Flyers’ understanding, Michkov’s absence is a healthy scratch and not injury-related.
The news is certainly surprising considering the 18-year-old is one of Russia’s top hockey prospects. It’s probably not the way the Flyers thought Michkov’s season would start — with the goal-scoring winger sitting, not playing. SKA St. Petersburg is one of the top teams in the KHL, Russia’s top pro league. Michkov is in the first season of a three-year contract with the club.
“If you’re familiar with them, they’re probably the richest and strongest team out there,” Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said after the NHL draft in late June. “They keep signing players all the time. As far as I’m concerned, selfishly, I want him to play and play a lot, have a big role in the offensive.
“He is young, they only care about winning there, but he is a big name there, so I say he will be taken care of and brought. We know the status of his contract, we are good. with that. In three years, he should be NHL ready and have an impact when he arrives.”
One of the Flyers’ amateur scouts, Ken Hoodikoff, is based in Russia. He played a key role in the Flyers’ courtship of Michkov and should be a valuable resource for the organization throughout the season.
“He’s a big help because he’s the only guy, really, that got a look at him from our staff last season,” Flyers general manager Danny Briere said after Day 1 of the NHL draft. “His interactions with Matvei were great, he was very positive about him, as a player, as a person. He also felt good about the selection, as well. always going down the draft.”
The next game of SKA St. Petersburg is Monday. Let’s see if Michkov will be attracted to the lineup for his season debut.
“He’s what I would call a spotlight player,” said Daniel Bochner, the former player development coach at SKA St. Petersburg and now with the Hurricanes, last July. “When the game is on the line, when something needs to happen, some players want to hide in situations, where he wants to be the guy who says, ‘Hey, give me the puck, I’m going to do it here. .’
“He wants to change the force of the game, he wants to be the difference maker, that ‘this’ factor that can dictate the terms of the game in his favor. He’s definitely got the ability and then he’s also got the character to want to be that type of player and that difference maker.
