Heading into his draft year, there was a lot of fanfare surrounding Matvei Michkov but the possibility of the Philadelphia Flyers being able to select him 7th overall seemed a little far-fetched.
However word was coming out throughout the year that he was hard to coach, he had an attitude amongst his peers and towards the media, and that perhaps he might not leave Russia to come over to North America. All of that talk tanked his draft stock, much to the Flyers’ delight.
At one point seen as Connor Bedard’s direct competition, Michkov fell to 7th overall as Leo Carlsson went 2nd to Anaheim, followed by Adam Fantilli to Columbus, Will Smith to San Jose, David Reinbacher to Montréal, and Dmitry Simashev to Arizona. The Flyers’ wish came to true as they were able to snag the highly-skilled prospect who could possibly transform their franchise.
While that’s a lot of pressure to deal with, Michkov had excelled at every single level he had played in previously. The Flyers also hadn’t seen a talent like his since the early days of Eric Lindros, considering they rarely drafted in the top-half of the draft in the early parts of 2000-2010 and had bungled a few picks in the lean years of 2010 and beyond.
In 2023-24, Michkov played one game for SKA St. Petersburg before being loaned to Sochi HC, where he tallied 19 goals and 41 points in 47 games. He had essentially broken almost every record for an U19 player and had surpassed some previous Russian stars like Nikita Kucherov and Kirill Kaprizov.
Michkov was the top prospect by a mile but he was expected to usher in a new era of Flyers hockey alongside Cutter Gauthier. However when the disgruntled prospect forced a trade out of the organization, Michkov was left alone atop of the totem pole with no one else nearby; which could have added more pressure.
There was a lot of concern regarding how Michkov would get treated by John Tortorella once he finally arrived for his rookie season. However, at first everything seemed to be trending upwards as Michkov came out of the gates with 11 goals and 27 points in his first 27 games while averaging 17:04 TOI.
He then proceeded to score just 3 goals and 7 points in his next 26 games to go along with a minus-10 rating and an ATOI of just upwards of 14 minutes a game. He had seen 3 games of under 10 minutes of ice-time and was scratched twice and benched another couple of times as well.
Michkov then came out of the 4 Nations Face-Off break with 4 goals and 11 points in just 7 games and his ice-time rose back over 17 minutes. Preceding Tortorella’s firing, Michkov added just 4 assists in his next 9 games, which included a 6-game drought.
The worries that people had previously had about Tortorella’s coaching tactics essentially came to roost and that – alongside a few other key instances – forced the Flyers to act on Tortorella before the season came to a close.
That in it of itself might have been a good thing for the group because they looked a lot more free and offensively-minded with Brad Shaw behind the bench as the interim and that included Michkov.
The Russian rookie added 6 goals and 12 points in his final 9 games, including a 2-goal, 3-point performance in his final game of the season against Buffalo.
Overall, he finished his rookie season with 26 goals, 37 assists, 200 shots on goal, and 29 hits to 23 blocked shots while averaging 16:41 TOI. He was tied for second amongst rookies in points alongside Macklin Celebrini with Lane Hutson leading the way at 66. He also led the circuit in rookie goals with 26, and was third in rookie assists as well.
If it wasn’t for his midseason hiccup that saw him tally just 3 goals in 26 games or the third line role he held for over a month, Michkov would have been a prime candidate for the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie.
Hutson ran away with the award after his performance during crunch time as he helped the Canadiens clinch a postseason spot, while also leading the circuit in assists and points. Dustin Wolf was also fantastic as he almost pulled the Calgary Flames over the finish line and into the playoff but fell just short as they lost to the St. Louis Blues on a tiebreaker.
Even if he doesn’t get named as a nominee, we can hold onto his rookie year with glee as he was essentially able to exceed all the expectations we had for him before the season started. We were able to see him wheeling and dealing on the offensive side of the puck, carrying a power play unit, and taking over games as a 20-year-old despite the handcuffs.
He had the 8th-best rookie season in Flyers history as he trailed only Mikael Renberg (82 points in 83 games), Dave Poulin (76 points in 73 games), Lindros (75 points in 61 games), Brian Propp (75 points in 80 games), Ron Flockhart (72 points in 72 games), Pelle Eklund (66 points in 70 games), and Bill Barber (64 points in 69 games).
The most recent name of the bunch belonged to Renberg who posted his numbers in 1993-94. In terms of recency and the last quarter century, he cleared Simon Gagné’s 48 points in 1999-00, Matt Read’s 47 points in 2011-12, and Shayne Gostisbehere’s 46 points in 2015-16.
The sky is the limit as Michkov will enter his second full season looking to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. However based on what we saw, that shouldn’t be a concern as he was able to do all that with no one else clearing over 50 points outside of Travis Konecny and only three other 20-goal scorers.
General Manager Daniel Brière is on record claiming that the Flyers might be looking to add this offseason with most of their subtractions having already taken place. Look for the Flyers to find Michkov some much needed help as the Russian phenom looks to add onto his glorious rookie campaign.
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