NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In the past, the Philadelphia Flyers have not picked Matvei Michkov.
In many ways, Michkov is not a typical Flyers draft pick. He’s a dynamic offensive talent, not the two-way grinder type that defines so many Philadelphia rosters. His NHL schedule is long, which is terrifying for a club that has long prided itself on its win-now philosophy. Oh, and he’s Russian – and this is an organization that still rejoices in the dominance of the Red Army in 1976 and has long been reluctant to recruit or sign players of Russian descent.
The old Flyers would likely have taken Ryan Leonard, seeded eighth by Washington, a prototypical, energetic bulldog forward. That would have had the entire league nodding and thinking, “Yeah, he just feels like a Philadelphia Flyer.” Not the offensively dominant, highly talented and sophisticated Russian.
These are clearly not your old flyers anymore.
“If you look at the talent level of this player, we don’t have anyone like him in the organization,” GM Daniel Briere said Wednesday after the end of the first round. “We’ve been talking about bringing more skills and more talent to our team for many years. Hopefully that was a great opportunity to develop a player who can play that role for us.”
Michkov’s skill is enormous. The Athletic’s Corey Pronman ranked him the third pick in the draft; his colleague Scott Wheeler placed him in second place. At 18, he had 20 points in 27 KHL games that season. For comparison: Alex Ovechkin at the same age scored 24 in 53 games in the top Russian league. Michkov’s creativity and flair for hockey are outstanding. He also has the potential to be a mortal goalscorer. From a raw talent standpoint, he is the most talented player to join the Philadelphia organization since Claude Giroux in 2006.
It’s no guarantee he’ll make it, but make no mistake: Michkov has superstar potential.
“We have to be careful with the word superstar, I think,” Briere warned. “If he comes and he’s a good player on our team and can make the difference, that’s all I’m asking.” If he gets more of that, that would be great. We will definitely welcome that.”
The Flyers were in love with Mickhov. The Flyers met him twice in the run-up to the draft. There was the widely reported meeting with Briere and virtually the entire organization in Nashville, but according to a team source, Michkov also visited the Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees, NJ, on Friday morning to meet with a smaller group.
“We were blown away by his personality and how much he seemed excited about the chance to be a Flyer,” Briere said.
They even tried to trade for him, confident there was no way he would slip down to 7th place. But nobody bit. The Flyers would have to exhaust themselves.
“It was a gift for us that he dropped to seven,” said Briere.
Does the election now involve a risk? Absolutely. There’s a reason six other teams passed him. First, there are the traditionalists who fear he might be a rather small winger with no elite skating skills. (Michkov confirmed he currently stands at 5’7″ and 178 pounds.) And there have been legitimate conversations in league circles about possible character issues — a red flag the Flyers in particular usually take very seriously.
“We asked him — we scrutinized him,” Briere said of the character questions. “We asked him some really tough questions. And we were happy with the answers we got. Well, you never know. You never really know. But we had a good feeling.”
But the real risk, of course, is the Russian factor: both his three-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg and the concern that even after that contract expires, he won’t or won’t be able to come to North America.
The geopolitical concern is valid and really undetectable at this point. What about Michkov’s readiness to move to the NHL? He definitely sounded like a player who wants to go west as soon as possible. He even left open the possibility of leaving Russia earlier than expected.
“To be honest, I can’t say for sure,” Michkov said of his NHL schedule via translator. “I have a contract. But I hope to come over as soon as I can get out.”
Michkov claims he wants to stay in the NHL, both for himself and in honor of his late father, Andrey.
“Right now it’s important for me to achieve the goal my father set for me, which was to win the Stanley Cup,” Michkov said.
“He told us he wanted to play in the NHL. He told us his dream is to win the Stanley Cup. He told us he wanted to be a flyer,” Briere added.
That was very important to the Flyers – the idea that Michkov wanted to come to Philadelphia specifically. He confirmed that after the selection.
“I think my biggest desire and my biggest expectation is to come to Philadelphia and help them win a Stanley Cup,” Michkov said. “I know we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. And that’s my goal, and that’s why I’m coming.”
Briere believes the Flyers’ status as a high-market team with a large fan base and rich history also helped them.
“It was pretty cool to see how he responded to the question we asked, ‘Are you scared to play in Philadelphia?’ And he said absolutely not. “I want to be a flyer.” “I want to play at a hockey market.” That’s another thing he said. So we felt pretty good about it,” said Briere.
If Michkov wants to both get into the NHL and play for the Flyers, then the only question that remains is: “Will he be able to successfully leave Russia?” question. Which is definitely a risk.
But the risk paid off for the Flyers. Michkov is the potential superstar the organization lacked unless Cutter Gauthier, the No. 5 pick of 2022, hits the absolute top of his forecast. And most importantly, they managed to land a junior player who had the potential to become the best player on a Stanley Cup contender without backing down – a stroke of luck that retrospectively relieves them of the decision not to play that last summer Rebuild to begin, and puts them in the top flight position to attract franchise talent.
The Flyers could never have won the trophy if they built a team from a group of hard workers. The transition to a reconstruction mentality was a start, a necessary acknowledgment of the reality of their situation. But they still lacked talent — real, game-changing talent.
This selection shows that they knew.
“Time will tell and it’s still a bit early, but we think if he’s ready to come he could really make the difference,” said Briere. “And that’s the risk we were willing to take – to wait a little bit to hopefully have a difference maker on our hands.”
Briere now has three years to rebuild the team, build a positive culture, pick the right players for the squad and turn it into an amazing club with playoff potential. And then, in the fourth year, they hope Michkov will come along and push them over the edge of real competition.
“I guess that means we’ll start winning when I’m here,” Michkov said sharply when asked about his excitement at joining a team in the midst of rebuilding.
That day, assuming it comes, would be the true beginning of the Flyers proclaimed “New Era of Orange” when the club is relevant again on the playoff stage and the Wells Fargo Center is as loud as it once was. But spiritually it seems like it started today, with an election that counts as a bold statement that the Flyers under Briere and Keith Jones will really do things differently.
“We took a big swing but we’re hoping for a home run,” Briere said.
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)