Flyers Swing for the Fences with Michkov

The board could hardly have been laid out more favorably for the Philadelphia Flyers as the seventh overall pick came up in the 2023 NHL Draft. After the Montreal Canadiens selected Austrian defenseman David Reinbacher with the fifth pick and the Arizona Coyotes surprised many by stepping up on Russian defenseman Dmitri Simashev with the sixth pick, the Flyers had an array of appealing options available at forward.

One option was versatile USNTDP left wing Ryan Leonard. Headed for Boston College, where he will become teammates with Flyers 2022 first-round puck Cutter Gauthier, Leonard boasts a combination of relentless two-way checking tenacity, speed, and one of the five or six shots in the Draft class. A second option was Slovakian center Dalibor Dvorsky. Widely rated as the best or second best defensive center in the 2023 Draft class, Dvorsky also boasts an excellent shot.

And then there was Russian right winger Matvei Michkov. After only Connor Bedard, Michkov was arguably a deep Draft's most electrifying and creative offensive talent.. From an attacking standpoint, Michkov can do it all. Plain and simple, he's a game-breaker.

Michkov is a well above-average skater both in a straight line or moving laterally. He's a magician of a puckhandler. While not the hardest shooter in the draft in terms of sheer velocity, he is a spectacular finisher with deceptive hands. He can also make plays, and is a clever passer to boot. Mickhov has put up point totals that often seem more like something out of a video game than real-life hockey.

The Flyers opted for Michkov. A "New Age of Orange", indeed.

"Talents like Matvei don't come along very often," Flyers general manager Danny Briere said. "We had a lot of [internal] discussions, because there were a lot of great options to choose from. At the end of the day, this is a truly special player."

At Russia's national under-16 level, Michkov compiled an astounding 109 points (70 goals, 39 assists) in a mere 26 games. As a 16-year-old playing for Team Russia's national under-18 squad at the 2021 IIHF Under-18 Championships in Frisco, Texas, Michkov stole the show by racking up a dozen goals and 16 points in seven matches. In th the MHL (Russia's top junior league) in 2021-22, the player had 22 goals and 38 points in 22 games and followed it up with 13 goals in 17 playoff games.

This past season, Michkov played at two pro levels: the minor-league VHL (10 goals, 14 points in 12 games) and the KHL (nine goals, 20 points in 27 games following a loan to HK Sochi from SKA St. Petersburg).. As a frame of reference, at the same age, Alex Ocheckin posted 13 goals and 23 points in 53 games in the KHL for Dynamo Moscow. back in 2003-04.

"Matvei's been a world class player since he came on the scene a number of years ago," Flyers assistant general manager Brent Flahr said. "We didn't get the live viewings, but we spent a lot of time watching over the last few years. We are just really excited to get this type of talent. It does not happen very often."

With the current geopolitical situation, Russia is banned by the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) from international competitions. Limited travel by foreigners to Russia meant that all but Russia-based NHL scouts (Ken Hoodikoff in the Flyers' case) were unable to do in-person scouting this year, and had to rely solely on video scouting of the player's 2022-23 games.

There was also the not-so-small matter of Michkov's KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg. The contract runs through the 2025-26 season. There is not a zero-chance possibility that Michkov could follow the same path as Minnesota Wild superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov. Kaprizov signed an extension in the KHL at age 20 despite strong interest from Minnesota. At age 23, Kaprizov finally came to the NHL and has flourished ever since.

A host of NHL teams wanted to interview Michkov in Russia but were rebuffed. However, the player stated all along that his ultimate goal is to play in the NHL and planned to attend the 2023 Draft in person in Nashville. Upon his arrival in the United States, Michkov was besieged again with interview requests by numerous NHL clubs selecting in the top 10.

Michkov met with the Flyers twice; once in secret with the top of the hockey operations hierarchy before going to Nashville. They met again in Nashville with the entire Flyers' scouting staff present.

We got to meet with him in Voorhees last Friday [June 23] and got a comfort level with his personality. He's very driven. He wants to be the best. We are excited for him to be a Flyer. Meeting him here again with the entire staff, everybody got a comfort level. We are just really fired up to get him," Flahr said.

For several years, right up until Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Michkov was widely expected to at least mount a challenge to Bedard to become the top pick in the 2023 Draft. The political situation, combined with a spectacular 2022-23 campaign for Bedard, ended that possibility. But a spot int NHL Draft is just that: an entry point.

Speaking through an interpreter, Michkov expressed his excitement of being drafted by one of the NHL's most globally recognizable -- and pre-2014, most successful -- franchises. He will become a vital long-term component of the organization's rebuild plan.

I'm glad to be a Flyer. I have no words," Michkov said. "This is my dream, and my dream is to win the Stanley Cup."

Michkov's eventual arrival in the NHL is not a matter of "if". It's a matter of when. Will it be in three years, when his contract expires in the KHL? Could it possibly be arranged to happen before that? At the opposite end, might he ultimately take a similar path to Kaprizov? For his part, in post-selection television interviews, Michkov used only the word "soon" to describe when he plans to come over to play in Philly.

"What the wait will be, it is what is," Briere said. "We're comfortable with it."

No words were needed at the moment of the player's selection. The body language said it all: Michkov was one very happy young man. This has been a very trying year for him off the ice, with the drowning death of his father, Andrei, being devastating emotionally.

Michkov will have on-ice and the usual day-to-day off-ice adjustments to make when he does eventually come over to Philadelphia. From an on-ice standpoint, Michkov will particularly be expected to work a bit on his defensive game (as will Bedard and as Connor McDavid did as well). It won't be a radical change, just some adjustments. Michkov doesn't have to become a Selke Trophy candidate by any means but he'll be expected lo chip in to adequate NHL standards in his own zone. Beyond that, Michkov will still have leeway to create offensively.

Michkov has already been compared to some of Russia's greatest NHL superstar wingers. That's a big burden. He's not the next Pavel Bure. He's not the next Ovechkin. He's the first Matvei Michkov, and that could be plenty special in its own right.