BREAKING: Matvei Michkov Could Come Over As Early As 2024

On Wednesday the Philadelphia Flyers may have made their most franchise altering draft pick at the 2023 NHL Draft.

The top 10 in the NHL Draft looked a lot different than a lot of people were originally expecting, which meant the Flyers had the luxury of picking the projected second possibly first best player in the draft. That being Matvei Michkov who is currently playing for St. Petersburg of the KHL.

This draft pick made every Flyers fan extremely happy, knowing that Michkov would be a Philadelphia Flyer. The reason Michkov fell so low in the draft despite being regarded as one of the best in his class, is due to the political issues over in Russia currently. Teams were afraid he wouldn't be able to come over, they would also have to wait 2-3 years before he could come over in to America.

Which is no problem for the Philadelphia Flyers and Danny Briere who are in a full rebuild and after those 2-3 years the team should be competitive again, right around the time Matvei is set to come over.


The 18-year-old has said he would like to come over to the USA as soon as possible and that he will try and get out of his KHL contract early. Meaning he could come over sooner rather than in 3 years, and Michkov knew this before the draft. He denied an interview with the Arizona Coyotes who picked 6th overall, just so he could land in Philadelphia where he wanted to go.

Now with a timeline set it looks like it could be altered and Michkov could come over in the fall of 2024.

News broke out on Friday afternoon that Michkov and his translator believe that he could come over as early as the fall of 2024. Which would be a huge miss read for the six other teams that passed on him, due to them not wanting to wait and see if things work out.


Reportedly Matt had spoke with Matvei Michkov and his translator in the Nashville airport. It appears that both Michkov and his translator are confident in saying that he will be at prospect camp in 2024, going far as to say he will make the team.

This is huge news out of the Flyers camp as it could change a lot for the franchise and the city. Danny Briere and the Flyers brass secretly meet with Michkov in Voorhees before the NHL Draft and assured that he would be worth the risk. It would be incredible for not just the Flyers but for Michkov to be able to part ways with Russia and be free over in America.

As well if he were to come over earlier that means he would be possibly playing even sooner than the other 5 players taken ahead of him, not counting Connor Bedard. Which again would be a huge mistake for other teams to look back on, with Michkov's projected ranking set at second maybe even first overall.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Michkov would have been a first overall pick in any of the last three NHL Drafts. It was just the political issues preventing this year, so the Flyers scored big here.


It's worth noting that the KHL doesn't necessarily like sending their kids over to the NHL if they don't get playing time. They will only do it if they know that player is getting the most out of being there:

Here is a paragraph from the KHL and CSKA addressing Michkov:

«Others describe him as a fiery and passionate individual, a fierce defender of Russian hockey and the KHL. He's critical of young Russian players leaving early for North America, saying they should wait until they are ready to be top players in the NHL, following examples such as Kirill Kaprizov and Artemi Panarin.
In discussing Michkov, Rotenberg said, "He understands when he goes to the NHL he needs to be a top-two-line player on a power play, he's not a checking-line player. If [a SKA player] can be a top-two-line player when they leave, it will be good for their career. We have this philosophy that if they go and they're not sure if they will play in the NHL or in a lower league, it's not a good decision for them."


I don't see any reason as to why Michkov can't develop in the KHL another year, especially with it being such a tough league; than come over to the Flyers organization in 2024 and be a top-6 guy straight out the gate. Everyone knows what he is capable of and he knows too, if he came over he would get a lot of playing time. Additionally, Cutter Gauthier would be starting his career in Philadelphia that same year, so both of them on a line together just creates havoc for opponents.

The KHL is well aware of his intentions and where he currently stands, representatives of his KHL club were also in Nashville with him when he attended interviews.

It should be interesting to see how everything unfolded but it is encouraging to see Matvei Michkov wanting out of Russia and coming over to the USA as soon as possible. And hopefully that can be arranged, following in the footsteps of Alex Ovechkin but at the same time carving his own path.