Let's Breakdown The Matvei Michkov Situation For All The Dum-Dums Who Think He Won't Come Over To North America
SOPA Images. Getty Images.By all accounts, Matvei Michkov has the potential to be a generational talent in the NHL. He is the best prospect to come out of Russia since Alexander Ovechkin. Hell, he might even be a better prospect.
That's not to say that Matvei Michkov will absolutely go on to have a better career than Ovi. But the potential is there. So the fact that he dropped to 7th overall for the Flyers to draft him last night was nothing short of a miracle.
Now I'm sure that most folks are wondering how a potential superstar would drop to 7th overall. And I'm also sure that by now, most people know that Matvei Michkov is still under contract in the KHL through the 2025-26 season. But most people are also a bunch of fucking morons, have no idea what they're talking about, and just assume that means that Matvei Michkov will never come to North America. Or, at the very least, he won't come to North America for another 10 years and at that point he'd be a free agent able to sign anywhere.
Does this sound like a kid who is trying to spend the next 10 years of his career in the KHL? Not a goddamn chance. He wants to come over to the NHL as soon as possible and win a Stanley Cup. But again, he does have those pesky little 3-years remaining on his KHL contract. Will he be able to get out of his contract early? Will he have to play out the entirety of that contract before he can come to Philly? We still have to wait and see on that. But the idea that Matvei Michkov isn't going to come over to the NHL as soon as he's able to is without a doubt the most donkey-brained narrative I've seen in quite some time.
Let's just go back real quick and talk about how we ended up in this situation in the first place--Matvei Michkov didn't sign a massive contract in the KHL right before his draft year because he wanted to stay in Russia forever. He signed a massive contract in the KHL because the league is fighting for survival, wants to be viewed as a league that can compete with the NHL, and doesn't want to lose all of their young talent. So they apply some pressure to a 16-year-old kid and make sure that he can't take off to the NHL until he's already had years to develop in the NHL. If they are going to lose players to the NHL, they want them to at least be superstars right away so the KHL can get credit for their development. Think about guys like Artemi Panarin and Kirill Kaprizov. Both guys spent a few years in the KHL before coming over to America, and then both guys immediately won Rookie of the Year. That's huge for the KHL's brand. So they'd want a prospect like Matvei Michkov to go over to the NHL as the best 21-year-old in the world and be a superstar right away, as opposed to going over at 18 and maybe having a slow start.
Now I realize there are some Flyers fans out there who have this idea in their head that even after his contract is up, the KHL won't let him leave. Which is the most asinine thing I've ever heard. Literally look around the rest of the league, you buffoons. Kirill Marchenko. Spent the 3 previous seasons playing in the KHL before coming over last season to play in Columbus. Andrei Kuzmenko. Spent the previous few seasons playing in the KHL before coming over last season to play in Vancouver. It's not like there are no Russians in the NHL. And it's not like there haven't been any Russians to come over to the NHL even after the invasion of Ukraine. The only player who has had an issue with coming to America is Ivan Fedotov, but that seemed to be a case of some bad advice from his agent to sign the contract to come over to the Flyers when he did.
I'll admit that if Michkov weren't in Nashville last night for the draft, then maybe I'd be a little worried that the Russians were going to keep him locked up in Siberia for the rest of his career. But shit, he came to visit the Flyers in Voorhees last week.
He was at the draft. He bought himself a crispy new suit. He did all the media. And he genuinely seemed excited to be a Philadelphia Flyer. Unless this is all one of the biggest ruses of all time to get back at the Flyers for beating the Soviets in 1976, then all signs are pointing towards this kid coming over as soon as he can. If that takes Comcast throwing a little extra money to the KHL's way to let him out of his contract, then so be it.
The moral of the story here is that Matvei Michkov will be a member of the Philadelphia Flyers at some point or another. Whether they have to wait a year, two years, or three years, we'll just have to wait and see. But literally any other pick the Flyers could have made with the 7th overall selection probably wouldn't be ready for the NHL for at least another 2 seasons anyway. So even if Michkov has to play out his full KHL contract, the Flyers would theoretically just have to wait another year to land a potential superstar as opposed to just a guy who will slot in nicely to their top 6. And not only will they be getting a potential superstar, but he'd be coming over at 21-years-old and on the first year of his Entry Level Contract. Matvei Michkov could be one of the top goal scorers on the planet at 23-years-old and he'd be making less than a million. Just think about how much damage the Flyers can do with that.