Matvei Michkov is the “High End Talent” That Flyers Fans Dream Of
There was one question that kept Flyers fans up at night. How was this rebuild supposed to work without the high-end talent? With no game-breaker to singlehandedly influence outcomes, how could the Flyers compete with a league that had superstars and legends like Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid?
Were they supposed to hide behind their structure and their legions of 200-foot players while a fully matured Connor Bedard and Leo Carlsson dice them into bits? How would they respond and compete in a league dominated by superstars, when superstars often came in the top 3 picks of a draft?
Matvei Michkov is the answer.
In normal circumstances, Matvei Michkov would never have been available after 2nd overall. In many drafts, he’d have gone 1st overall and the fans of whoever won that year’s lottery would be salivating at having drafted a generational talent.
Yes, I said what I said. Matvei Michkov has done more than enough to earn the title. He’s a prodigious offensive talent. A prodigy of such epic proportions that it may define a generation of hockey. And if Michkov does define the sport for decades to come? He’ll do it while wearing orange and black, donning a Flyers jersey.
There will be time to dive into the nuances of Michkov’s game, of which there are many. He’s a hockey genius. A player whose sense of the game borders on supernatural.
I can’t wait to do it while knowing that he will be performing all of his crazy feats for this team. But tonight doesn’t have to be that.
Tonight is the night to revel in the story of it all. The Flyers have never had the first overall pick in a draft. The only time they got talent on the level of a first-overall pick (in their draft year) was when Eric Lindros practically forced his way into a Flyers jersey.
Michkov didn’t demand any trades or force any ousters.
But it certainly seems as if he chose the Flyers as much as the Flyers chose him. Another 1st overall caliber talent who brought himself to Philly.
But Michkov isn’t the next Ovechkin. Nor is he the next Lindros.
He’s the first Matvei Michkov. And he’s a Philadelphia Flyer.
Mandatory Credit: Johnny Ulecka
