Flyers’ Matvei Michkov stupidly ignored in top NHL player projection

Philadelphia Flyers phenom Matvei Michkov was somehow getting completely ignored in an exercise projecting who the top NHL players will be five years from now. The list is slightly ridiculous.

We’re in the deepest canyon of the NHL offseason. Nothing is happening. People are thinking about low-end unrestricted free agents like Jack Roslovic and Victor Olofsson, who might not even finish the season in the league. It’s the worst time. So, naturally, people start to write some more future-looking articles, and none have been more crystal ball-esque than Daily Faceoff putting out a projection of the top 30 players in the NHL in the year 2030.

The entire approach of the list done by someone in Paul Pidutti (better known as @AdjustedHockey online), who is ultimately good at their job for creating benchmarks for the Hockey Hall of Fame and understanding how past players stack up against the current crop, was a mix of scouting reports and “gut feeling” as he states in the article. That’s completely fine, but it feels a little baffling for Michkov to have the rookie season he just had and not be in place of some of the names on this list.

First, Pidutti does recognize Michkov. He names the young Flyers star as an honorable mention, alongside forwards like Ivan Demidov, Logan Cooley, Nick Suzuki, David Pastrnak, and Mitch Marner. Sure, whatever.

But look at some of these players that made the top 30 instead of Michkov.

We can’t really complain about them thinking Connor McDavid is still going to be very, very good at age 33, but just looking down through the ranking and questions arise.

There is a group of players that should be easily comparable to Michkov, and when you consider that the Flyers winger will be in the middle of his prime years at age 25 and what he has done already in his first year in the NHL, there should at least be massive consideration that he will be putting up 100-point seasons by then.

When you even just look at some 5-on-5 production from his rookie year, compared to some forwards who are on this list and their past two seasons combined, Michkov sits above them.

This might be pulling hairs slightly, but just look at that. Michkov has a higher production rate at 5-on-5 than the six other forwards who could be considered his peers. Sure, someone like Wyatt Johnston has averaged more goals and primary assists, but Michkov comes out on top overall.

Yes, some of these players are centers so they could get a leg up. And yes, some players like Seth Jarvis and Matt Boldy are known to be very good defensively and that’s an important part of their evaluation and projection, but come on. To think a center like Leo Carlsson who just managed to scrape by this past season with 20 goals and 45 points, should be considered a significantly better player than Michkov five years from now, is a little crazy.

And we’re not even talking about defensemen yet. Zeev Buium has barely smelled what an NHL arena smells like but he’s suddenly on this list. Owen Power is even worse defensively than Michkov (a winger, by the way). And Moritz Seider can play a lot of minutes against top competition, but what else? They Detroit Red Wings keep losing during his minutes.

Maybe it’s just us being insane homers that watch Michkov do insane things on the ice every game and want him to be recognized for his talents — but also the production is the production. Add in a successful power play and the fact that even throughout last season the winger was becoming more defensively responsible, and it should spell out into Michkov being a dominant force by the time 2030 rolls around.

When Michkov wins his third Art Ross Trophy and his second Hart, as the Flyers make the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time in a row; maybe then he’ll get some consideration as a top 30 player in the NHL.