Matvei Michkov is a bona-fide prospect with loads of validation behind the hype.
One in all his former improvement coaches known as him a “highlight participant” with a “very distinctive talent set.”
An opposing coach was “assured that Philly’s acquired one of many prime gifted gamers of his age group on this planet.”
When the Flyers drafted him at seventh total final summer time, they felt he was not like anybody that they had within the group.
So if Michkov is poised for Philadelphia two years sooner than anticipated, he would completely shift the Flyers’ outlook to a level. However the important thing would be the Flyers serving to him, a plan probably in place to make this an efficient transition for the 19-year-old Russian.
As a result of whereas Michkov places the rebuild into a unique gear, he will not flip the Flyers right into a contender in a single day.
4 days in the past, normal supervisor Danny Briere labeled the 2023, 2024 and 2025 NHL drafts “vital” for the Flyers’ rebuild. The workforce had two first-rounders final summer time, the primary of which they used on Michkov. They’ve two first-rounders arising this week and two extra in 2025.
These might be large alternatives for the Flyers to determine extra expertise, notably down the center of the ice. Michkov comes with clear-cut first-line potential on the wing. Can the Flyers discover him a first-line pivot? Middle is a premium place and it is the franchise’s thinnest space.
“Let’s face it, we’re missing facilities arising all through the group,” Briere stated. “We have not tried to cover that; it is a actuality.”
Morgan Frost is the one middle the Flyers have taken within the first spherical over the previous 11 drafts that’s at present on their roster. It is no secret the membership must hit on extra facilities within the draft.
Because the workforce’s roster stands proper now early within the offseason, Sean Couturier and the 25-year-old Frost ought to give the Flyers strong choices to middle a line with Michkov. Subsequent offseason, previous to the 2025-26 marketing campaign, the Flyers might be in a greater, extra advantageous spot to spend in free company, one other avenue to complement what’s round Michkov.
Over their four-year playoff drought, the Flyers have ranked twenty ninth in objectives per recreation with 2.72. Michkov might bolster the membership’s scoring efforts sooner or later, however it may well’t fall solely on him, identical to it may well’t fall solely on Travis Konecny now.
Briere, president of hockey operations Keith Jones and assistant normal supervisor Brent Flahr have extra work to do. And the nice factor is that they realize it.
Make no mistake, although, Michkov becoming a member of the image only a yr after he was drafted is a big victory for the Flyers’ rebuild. It is much more vital while you issue within the lack of Cutter Gauthier 5 and a half months in the past.
Followers have pleaded for extra high-end expertise. The Flyers answered by taking a swing on Michkov.
And so they adopted by.
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