June 25, 11:07 a.m.: Michkov has had his contract with SKA St. Petersburg officially terminated and the Flyers have been informed of the development, Brière said in a statement Tuesday. “We are certainly excited to learn of this news and look forward to reconnecting with Matvei’s representatives in the coming days,” Brière said. He’s not under contract with the Flyers yet but he should be in the coming days.
June 23, 3:00 p.m.: Updated reports from Kevin Kurz and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic have shared that there is a chance Michkov could be involved in the team’s development camp next week (Twitter link).
June 23, 11:00 a.m.: In a report from Hockey News Hub and later confirmed by Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period and Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, Philadelphia Flyers’ prospect Matvei Michkov is expected to terminate his contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL to join the Flyers for the 2024-25 NHL season. Di Marco later reported that Michkov will be represented by CAA in North America who also represents Cameron York, Nick Seeler, and Ivan Fedotov in the Flyers’ organization.
The news of Michkov’s arrival in Philadelphia ends a year-long story that began shortly before the 2023 NHL Draft. Viewed by many as one of the top talents not named Connor Bedard in last year’s draft, Michkov fell to seventh overall as many teams grew afraid he may take years to make it to North America due to his contractual obligations in the KHL. Being that hindsight is 20/20, the Flyers will have had to wait only one year to see Michkov join the organization as General Manager Daniel Briere’s big gamble appears to have paid off.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports that the situation is still fluid regarding Michkov, but the expectation is that he will be with the Flyers organization when the 2024-25 season opens up. With plenty of doubts about his eventual arrival in Philadelphia, the team must first sign the young Russian prospect to his entry-level contract. Regardless of the logistical steps forward, the Flyers will be adding one of the best young prospects in the world to their organization.
In his season after the 2023 NHL Draft, Michkov played primarily on loan for HK Sochi of the KHL, becoming a complete offensive package for the organization. In 47 games played Michkov potted 19 goals while assisting on 22 more. Michkov finished 40th in the league in scoring but it was far and away the most by any player under 20.
Michkov’s creativity and play with the puck is reminiscent of Russian forward Pavel Datsyuk throughout his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings. Additionally, Michkov has a keen ability to find the back of the net and a very mature hockey IQ. It will be interesting to see if Michkov can keep up with the defensive expectations brought by head coach John Tortorella in Philadelphia, but he should be one of the team’s premier offensive players in due time.
Awesome! 3 yrs lol!
@Kevin Kurz this announcement makes your article from a couple of days ago even more spot-on. Let DB work his plan. The Flyers will be fun to watch as the first piece of elite talent joins the organization.
There we go!
I love it! There’s something funny about the new chairman and front office coming in and trying to go back the winning Flyer ways with the new era of orange and all that while rebuilding with so many Russian players. Wouldn’t happen if Ed Snider was alive, but I think even if he was he’d have to admit he was excited.
Van Impe’s elbow seems like a lifetime ago. Hopefully over the next few years a few prospects [Bonk, Gendron, Sotheran, Barkey, Desnoyers, Brink and Ciernik] make an impact.
Wonder how much the Flyers paid SKA St. Petersburg and the KHL. Could affect the two Russians at the top of this year’s draft.
Nothing. Any money has to come from the player. No underhand deal here. Please get some knowledge before commenting
Terrible take and completely uninformed.
“Any money has to come from the player.”
Either the Flyers gave Michkov the money to give SKA or they gave it to the Russians directly. Russian corruption is not common knowledge? Dude, read before posting your nannying screed.
Ignore jminn. They post unhinged comments on every article here Russia is mentioned. If you do anything short of saying all of Russia is an evil country and try to include any nuance like how Russian NHLers sometimes have to be careful with the fact they still might have family in the country is not good enough for them. They will mute you and continue doing this.
Sounds a tad naive…
Last time I donated to 45 I asked him to get in touch with his buddy & make this happen. Thanks Vlad!
Bobo it’s my understanding it’s common knowledge you are a rumpkin who doesn’t recognize the nhl follows all financial transactions of all nhl franchises. The wink wink,nod nod you assumed happened never happened. Please self mute yourself and self flag just for laughs.
Read “The Russian Five: A story of espionage, defection, bribery and courage”- Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov – to learn about the relationship between the US and KHL:
link to freep.com
Q: what is a “rumpkin”? Whatever. Great that you’re posting on an American website from Russia. Slava Uk!
A rumpkin is a Bobo like you. This red blooded American born in west philadelphia says yo, you are dismissed.
And you’re the poster boy for America’s worst public school system. What’s a Bobo? (Wow. This is like talking to FJB…)
I love how people think everything is “fair”, “equal”, “has to be on the books”, and don’t think people bend the rules at all just because we’re in North America. Money talks, it’s just how life works EVERYWHERE, we’re not special here. In some places it’s more extreme and transparent than others. But we aren’t immune to it in the United States or Canada. It’s not a big deal if you know how to play the game.
We might see the better player from his draft he is just as special as Badard…
That’s a nice move making that Russian gamble pay off. Kudos to Briere for making it happen.
I heard he doesn’t want to play for the Flyers.
@jminn ok I get the joke. He slid because he only wanted to play for big market teams, and probably that three year contract scared gms as well.