Q: The No. 1 prospect in the system is Michkov. Is it a little hard to wait for him to come?
A: For sure. We knew that going in, though. But where we picked and with his skill set, what he could bring to a franchise, it’s all worth the wait. When he does come, he’s NHL-ready; he’s probably pretty close to that right now. But he’s going to be stronger, he’s going to be faster. He’s going to be ready to step in and have an impact right away. So for fans that are probably losing patience, when he does get here it’ll be worth the wait.
Q: Do you talk to him? Do you have a sense of where he’s at in his development and what his expectations are for the future?
A:We obviously leave him alone for the most part during the season, but [director of player development] Riley Armstrong communicates with him via an app that translates back and forth. Obviously, it was a frustrating year playing on a team like that. But he’s played a lot. It was really frustrating because they don’t play young players on [SKA] St. Petersburg, it doesn’t matter how talented they are. So he got down to Sochi and at least he got to play a lot. He also had to battle pneumonia, but he played well and performed and did what he does. I think he’s anxious to get over here, eventually. It’s just, he’ll work on his game while he’s there.
