The Philadelphia Flyers are adding a major piece to their roster ahead of next season.
Matvei Michkov, the seventh-overall selection in the 2023 NHL Draft, is reportedly on his way out of the KHL and onto Philadelphia’s roster for the 2024-25 campaign. The first rumblings about Michkov’s change in setting for next year came from Hockey News Hub. The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco added his own report minutes later.
“I’m told that it looks like Matvei Michkov is leaving SKA and will be joining the Philadelphia Flyers,” Di Marco tweeted. “Michkov will now be represented by CAA.”
Michkov is foregoing the remaining two years on his KHL contract with SKA Saint Petersburg when he puts pen to paper on an entry-level contract with the Flyers. The 19-year-old winger signed a five-year deal with SKA in 2021 and was expected to finish that contract in Russia, possibly scaring away teams at the 2023 draft.
Michkov is following in the footsteps of his former national team teammate, Ivan Miroshnichenko, who cut his KHL deal with Avangard Omsk short to join the Washington Capitals this past season.
The highly-talented forward initially sparked rumors about coming to America early when he liked an Instagram post in May saying he would do so. “Forward Matvei Michkov will continue his career in Philadelphia,” the report read.
“If they tell us he’s coming on September 1, we’ll jump on it,” Flyers general manager Daniel Briere said earlier this week. “The mindset for us is still we’re going into next season without him. He has two years left on his contract. If something changes from today until then, we’ll certainly be happy. But I don’t have much news on that. We read what’s going on and we hope for the best.”
The Flyers’ top prospect has played in just 17 KHL games for SKA as they’ve loaned him out to HC Sochi for the majority of the last two seasons.
Michkov amassed 41 points (19g, 22a) in 47 games for Sochi, falling just two points shy of breaking the KHL’s single-season scoring record by an under-20 player held by the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov. Sochi finished 10th in the KHL’s Western Conference and did not qualify for the league’s postseason.
After Connor Bedard, Michkov was widely considered the next top choice in the 2023 draft. His stock dropped because of reported attitude issues and his extended KHL deal.
The Capitals were heavily rumored to be interested in Michkov and attempted to try and trade up in the draft perhaps to select him. However, they ended up standing pat and selecting US Development Team Program product Ryan Leonard with the eighth overall pick.
Now, if most recent reports are true, Michkov will be thrust into a Metropolitan Division rivalry with the Capitals just over a year later.
