The National Hockey League revealed its three finalists for this year’s Calder Trophy. And Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov is not one of them.
The three finalists were announced during the NHL Draft lottery broadcast. The finalists are Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, and Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf.
Michkov had 26 goals and 37 assists for points in 80 games (remember the two games he was a healthy scratch?). He had eight power play goals and 17 points with the man advantage on an almost comically inept special teams unit. Michkov also had three game winning goals and three overtime goals in his rookie year. He led all rookies in goal scoring and tied San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini in points for second, three points back of rookie points leader Lane Hutson of Montreal. The Russian forward also was named NHL Rookie of the Month twice in 2024-25.
Some believed Michkov would be on the outside looking in regarding a Calder nod, particularly given Hutson’s production as a defenseman. As for Celebrini, he missed a part of the season injured and ended up playing 10 few games than Michkov, yet managing the same point total. Of course, Michkov’s numbers don’t take into account he averaged 16:41 time on ice per game, far lower than Celebrini’s (19:47) and especially Hutson’s (22:43). Calgary goaltender Dustin Wolf also had strong numbers and looked to be in the running, but seemed to fall down the stretch somewhat as the Flames’ playoff hopes fizzled out. However, his numbers obviously to start the year was enough for to make him one of the three nominees. Wolf is the first goalie nominated for the Calder since Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner was a finalist in the 2022-23 season.
Perhaps the upside to this will be Michkov comes into 2025-26 with even more to prove than he mentioned during exit interviews at the end of the year. And that snub should only give him more ammunition to prove doubters wrong. That’s a good thing for the Flyers. Still, it would’ve been great to see him be a finalist.
One has to assume he finished fourth in voting, at least give us that.
