The Best Player In The KHL Might Be A 16 Year-Old That Can't Get Drafted To The NHL Until 2023

Introducing Matvei Michkov. This kid made his KHL debut last week and is already tearing it up. Point per game for SKA St Petersburg. And with his 2 goals and an assist through 3 games he's already sitting 7th all-time for under 18 players in the KHL. For a little perspective, there is another Russian kid who is projected to go top 5 in the coming 2022 NHL draft named Ivan Miroshnichenko. Ivan...couldn't even make a KHL team. For further perspective, Alex Ovechkin played in the top Russian league as a 16 year-old (it wasn't the KHL because it hadn't been formed and it was worse competition) and he scored 2 goals in 22 games. The hype train for this kid has been off the charts. So much so that...ya know...he's 16 and playing half a world away and I've heard of him. Against his own age group in 2019-20 he had 109 points in 26 games. Those are Gretzky youth numbers. It's preposterous. 

ESPN and Turner have to be absolutely salivating over the star power coming into the league in the next two drafts. As insane as Michkov looks he's probably not even going to be the 1st overall pick in 2023. That honor is going to Connor Bedard who does things like this

And Shane Wright is coming into the league a year before them

The NHL is going to be incredible in the next decade. Get all your streaming services lined up like sling and shit. Never been a better time to be a hockey fan.