In Keith Jones’ and Daniel Brière’s first NHL Entry Draft as President of Hockey Operations and General Manager, the Philadelphia Flyers were proud to select – as was most of the fan base – Matvei Michkov out of St. Petersburg of the KHL.
The Chicago Blackhawks drafted Connor Bedard first overall, the Anaheim Ducks followed that up with – maybe a shock – Leo Carlsson at #2, and the Columbus Blue Jackets gladly drafted Adam Fantilli at #3 to round out the obvious locks – maybe not in the order we expected.
The San Jose Sharks then selected Will Smith at #4, the Montreal Canadiens drafted David Reinbacher at #5, and then the Arizona Coyotes reached a little bit with Dmitri Simashev at#6.
The talk around the draft for weeks was what the Montreal Canadiens were going to do at #5. They were the wildcard team and they could’ve gone any which way. Some had them trading the pick, some had them drafting Will Smith or Ryan Leonard, but in the final week leading into the draft, David Reinbacher’s name was at the top of the list.
As for the Arizona Coyotes, they were pegged to wanting to compete right now and were linked to Leonard in many mock drafts. Drafting Simashev was a little surprising, but there wasn’t much information on Russian prospects outside of Michkov.
For the Flyers, they drafted a difference maker for the first time in a very long time at #7 as many had pegged him as the “Russian Bedard”. He was neck and neck with Bedard last year, he dropped to top-3 heading into this season, but then dropped further down due to the Russian factor and many teams not wanting to wait until his KHL contract came to an end in 2026.
The Sharks, Canadiens, and Coyotes want to compete “now”, whereas the Flyers were more than willing to wait on the difference maker with their line of contention being somewhere down the road in 2025-2026-2027, right in time for Michkov’s arrival.
Prior to the draft, many pundits wrote about Michkov.
Tony Ferrari from The Hockey News: “The top end of Michkov’s game is as good as anyone in the draft class, but the consistency at even strength and willingness to attack the middle of the ice have been issues this season. Michkov is a highly skilled shooter who can score from just about anywhere on the ice.”
Corey Pronman from The Athletic: “He can make plays at a high level, but Michkov is a finisher who will score a lot of goals as a pro. He’s an undersized winger who is a fine skater but lacks true separation speed so it will be interesting to see how much damage he can do as a pro in the near future.”
Scott Wheeler from The Athletic: “Michkov’s brilliance comes primarily from his ability to read and process the play at an extremely advanced level, make his decisions quickly, and execute on them with incredible consistency, whether that’s ripping a patterned shot (his one-timer, his standstill wrister, his curl-and-drag, etc.), a quick move into a pass, a sudden stop-up, or an attacking cut.”
Elite Prospects: The rare triple-threat winger, Michkov is a constant threat to find the back of the net. His puck skills are near the top of the draft, owing to immense creativity, hip pocket handling, dextrous hands, and a never-say-die attitude. You may think that you have him, but most of the time, you really don’t. His ability to problem-solve his way out of defensive pressure is at a level all its own. Michkov creates plays on the ice that we can’t even fathom with the benefit of a bird’s eye view.
At the age of 17, Michkov scored 30 goals and 51 points in 28 games across two teams in the MHL before scoring 2 goals and 5 points in 13 games for St. Petersburg in the KHL. He split time between the KHL, MHL, and VHL this past season where he scored 20 points in 27 games for HK Sochi on loan, 10 goals and 14 points for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg of the VHL, and played in 5 playoff games for Kapitan Stupino on loan in the MHL and added 7 points.
Wherever he went in Russia, he scored aplenty and was only 17-18 years old while he was doing it. He is set to begin the season with St.Petersburg in 2023-24 and be a mainstay in the KHL for years to come.
The Flyers finally got their man, they essentially pried him out of Washington’s hands, and took a massive step in the right direction for the rebuild in just the first year. Ironically, Chuck Fletcher, who was a guest panelist on Sportsnet, was quiet for almost the entire pick as the Flyers are turning around his mistakes in quick order.
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