RW Matvei Michkov - HC Sochi, KHL (2023, 7th, PHI) Part 4

[Hinterland]

Anything else outside of Rotenberg?

Read my post.

 

[JRichard]

I’d like to see people do shift by shift examinations on all prospects to try to find flaws like some do with Michkov.

You can have Hinterland’s shift by shift report on David Reinbacher if you so desire. Its still right there for the HF planet to read and learn. The March 24th report was fascinating: Great first pass and big.

When you have an agenda this is what you do…

 

[Jee]

good shit, congrats Flyers fans !

 

[scoutman1]

Habs screwed up last year. They should have grabbed Michkov then this year they could have selected a D man. Lets face it the 6 D men to go in the top 13 this year are better prospects than their selection last year. Clearly this was a botched move on their part.

i said the same thing...talent like Michkov does not come around every day, they will regret not taking him...with so much young D in Montreal with Guhl, Hutson, Barron they could have went for Michkov easy.

 

[JRichard]

i said the same thing...talent like Michkov does not come around every day, they will regret not taking him...with so much young D in Montreal with Guhl, Hutson, Barron they could have went for Michkov easy.

Pretty much everybody said same thing. Then the PR crew got to work and MM became MMM Mercurial Matvei Michkov.

Not a knock against DR at that point even though he then added a lousy year to make matters worse.

Top 4 picks had very nice year. Simashev improved. Leonard did well. Benson is in the league already.

DR will be in Laval. Less than ideal.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Pretty much everybody said same thing. Then the PR crew got to work and MM became MMM Mercurial Matvei Michkov.

Not a knock against DR at that point even though he then added a lousy year to make matters worse.

Top 4 picks had very nice year. Simashev improved. Leonard did well. Benson is in the league already.

DR will be in Laval. Less than ideal.

Still waiting for our PR team to tell us why we passed on him lol. Whatever they say fans will gobble it up regardless if its true or not.

I tend to think surely they knew he did not want to play here. The other rumors are his attitude and the fact he is too small for this managements *vision* of how the team should be built lol. I guess time will tell , I assume this will all come out as damage control when he lights up the league.

Not hating on DR either but I'm a big fan of this michkov kid , looking forward to seeing what he can do in NA

 

[JRichard]

Still waiting for our PR team to tell us why we passed on him lol. Whatever they say fans will gobble it up regardless

Where were you the day after?
Must have been 10 reasons. All appeared AFTER the draft. Chantal had to stop the bleeding.

Only red flags at that time were his contract and his rare visits in the dzone, a la Caufield to be honest.

Then Rotenberg, health, loan fueled the fire during the season despite 41 pts in 47 games at 18-19 on a lousy team, which is the classic DR excuse for bad numbers.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Where were you the day after?
Must have been 10 reasons. All appeared AFTER the draft. Chantal had to stop the bleeding.

Only red flags at that time were his contract and his rare visits in the dzone, a la Caufield to be honest.

Then Rotenberg, health, loan fueled the fire during the season despite 41 pts in 47 games at 18-19 on a lousy team, which is the classic DR excuse for bad numbers.

Yeah I want a real actual reason not chantal and lebruns damage control

 

[JRichard]

Yeah I want a real actual reason not chantal and lebruns damage control

Ok i get you.
I for one do not believe in not wanting to play in Mtl or only in Philly.
I dont believe in the mercurial attitude stuff. Pretty sure he has a cocky side. When you play in KHL at 16 you might develop that.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Ok i get you.
I for one do not believe in not wanting to play in Mtl or only in Philly.
I dont believe in the mercurial attitude stuff. Pretty sure he has a cocky side. When you play in KHL at 16 you might develop that.

Yeah I don't believe it either but we will have to see. I'm rooting for the kid but ill obviously be a little bit sad if he does become a monster. I still trust our management overall but I don't like this pick

 

[Hinterland]

Ok i get you.
I for one do not believe in not wanting to play in Mtl or only in Philly.
I dont believe in the mercurial attitude stuff. Pretty sure he has a cocky side. When you play in KHL at 16 you might develop that.

Not sure about you but personally, I don't know many cocky healthy scratches. Hockey pro's are competitors and if they're repeatedly healthy scratched or even just benched that tends to bring them back to earth quickly.

If you're willing to play for a team why would you decline interview requests? Or do you think that those reports are false as well?

And if they're false then why you think Michkov was ignored by so many teams? Was he overrated by fans perhaps? An anti Russian bias definitely does exist but some countrymen of his still do get drafted early so that can't be the main reason why Michkov fell.

Whatever it was I'm pretty sure Michkov was on most team's no draft list and I don't think his play was the main reason for that. In my view, unless there were other red flags, that means the reports about teams not being able to talk to Michkov are most likely true.

 

[FightingEmu]

Have to remember you are talking about the guy who completely changed his play style upon entering the KHL.. from individual effort goal scorer to unselfish playmaker. His "style" is highly fluid and depends a lot on what the coaches ask from him. This season he was dealing with persistent pneumonia so he relied almost entirely on IQ and playmaking
Great points- and I personally think his "bust" potential is overblown (I caught shit for taking him 2nd oa in my lifetime dynasty last year- lol)- but I just wanted to point out that part of what makes Demidov so appealing is that hes so projectable- his stride is a little awakward but outside of that weve seen this type of player many times in the NHL and they are very succesful most of the time.

Maybe its because Michkovs style is so fluid thats its harder to get a grasp on where and how his skillset will succeed- but I actually think hes failry projectable as a first line talent with near generational upside. Id like to give the right credit here but Im having a brain fart on which podcast I heard it from- but there was a scout who said he seemed to have a borderline eidetic/photographic memory and the ability to slow down the way he sees the game to a crawl. He goes on to further explain that all it takes is a quick glance over his shoulder and he can calculate not only where his winger is, and both opposing dmen- but he can calculate where theyre "going to be" based on their direction, their speed, and where the play is moving to. He could literally look over his shoulder- dangle for 3-5 more seconds and then make a no look pass tape to tape to his winger without ever telgraphing it with a second look. He gets even giddier when he explains hes never seen a player use that particular toolset to lean into his goalscoring side from any other player. The result is that even though he doesnt have Bedards power/accuracy/unique release point- he has an edge in a completely different way where he knows that if he holds the puck for 2 and a half more seconds its going to give him an inch and a half in the near corner- that agaion he doesnt have to telegraph by looking at it- and in fact when you play his highlights (which may not be a great way to measure a lot of things but is certainluy a credible way to verify this specific thing)- you see it time and again. His shots are not always rockets because they dont have to be- hes finding pockets/seams/gaps at almost a psychich level- lol! Ok psychic is too far but hes as instinctual of a goal scorer as youll find.

I believe hes got the IQ to apply that to playnaking just as easdily and if hes paired on a line with a guy like Tippett- the results could be legendary- lol!

Also completely seperate point but I didnt see it pointed out here with the hockey news hub stuff- apparently the "above board" dollar amount the Russian team is looking for to dissolve the contract (but retain his rights) is about 400k- which is supposed to be paid out by Michkovs camp. There may be more to that number in the form of "below the board" palm greasing that has to happen. I think the presumption at this point is that the monies have already been secured with Philly being confident they can help him bounceback from any financial burden in the form of a bonus structure that ensures hes almost certain to hit them as early as year one. I dont want to get ahead of myself here as a fan- but I really feel like this is getting done. Apparently theyre in talks in relation to the exact number which it should be noted is a guieline and this situiation may buck the conventional trends-but as long as the right people are paid out it really does feel like theres a desire accross the aisle here to get this guy skating in NA where his family can try to move on and rebuild after the tragedy wwith his father.

All I have to say to Briere and the boys is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhI88tg1Gqg

 

[gifted88]

Did he or his representation actually reject interviews with certain teams? If so, which teams were declined interviews?

 

[Zine]

Not sure about you but personally, I don't know many cocky healthy scratches. Hockey pro's are competitors and if they're repeatedly healthy scratched or even just benched that tends to bring them back to earth quickly.

If you're willing to play for a team why would you decline interview requests? Or do you think that those reports are false as well?

And if they're false then why you think Michkov was ignored by so many teams? Was he overrated by fans perhaps? An anti Russian bias definitely does exist but some countrymen of his still do get drafted early so that can't be the main reason why Michkov fell.

Whatever it was I'm pretty sure Michkov was on most team's no draft list and I don't think his play was the main reason for that. In my view, unless there were other red flags, that means the reports about teams not being able to talk to Michkov are most likely true.

Michkov's 'attitude problems' stem from the frustration of losing in Sochi. His first season in Sochi he started making speeches and yelling in the lockerroom. Of course this didn't go over well with the vets. So they kind of put him in his place.

That said, he wasnt a cancer or distraction because everybody knew his frustration came from wanting to win. He was a young kid who really cared. It was a matter of older players helping him aim his frustration in the right direction.
Zavgorodny told of this in an interview.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Habs screwed up last year. They should have grabbed Michkov then this year they could have selected a D man. Lets face it the 6 D men to go in the top 13 this year are better prospects than their selection last year. Clearly this was a botched move on their part.

Came you imagine if Artyom Levshunov is around at the Habs pick to fill their Righthanded Defenseman need from last year, and instead they have to go draft like Tij Iginla or something, so they get Reinbacher and Iginla when they could have had like Michkov and Levshunov, heck even Michkov and Parekh would look better.

Montreal better hope Reinbacher becomes good, because that pick has a seriously high jeopardy of haunting them.

 

[Hinterland]

Did he or his representation actually reject interviews with certain teams? If so, which teams were declined interviews?

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/matvei-michkov-available-teams-2023-nhl-draft-washington-capitals-finalize-interviews

Here's a pretty good summary of the situation.

Friedman said Michkov made himself available for interviews but that was just a few days ahead of the draft.

Usually, the way it works is that as a top prospect, during your draft season, you have to do interviews or at least answer questions from NHL teams or scouts pretty much on a weekly if not sometimes daily basis. So if a player only declares himself available for interviews a week ahead of the draft then, in todays's NHL, that does rub a lot of people the wrong way. That would get pretty much any prospect on pretty much any no draft list. In today's NHL there's a lot of psychology that goes into player evaluation as well. Teams wanna know everything about the prospects, not just about their hockey but also about their family, their education, their other interests, etc etc.

 

[WarriorofTime]

There is sometimes a bit of a disconnect with Russian kids because they are approaching it more like a job opportunity where there is a mutual interest and not necessarily the prototypical Canadian/USA way where you go through the process saying what a blessing it'd be to play for anyone, blah blah blah as they all know how to parrot that and go through the process even if there's a 0 % chance they will end up on that team.

Brian Burke made a big stink about how 'disrespectful' Nail Yakupov was for essentially saying he'd already be drafted by that pick and either not taking or not trying in the interview with the Leafs, but Burke is a giant blowhard. Yakupov was by all (other, I guess) accounts a really nice kid, just kinda dumb.

 

[gifted88]

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/matvei-michkov-available-teams-2023-nhl-draft-washington-capitals-finalize-interviews

Here's a pretty good summary of the situation.

Friedman said Michkov made himself available for interviews but that was just a few days ahead of the draft.

Usually, the way it works is that as a top prospect, during your draft season, you have to do interviews or at least answer questions from NHL teams or scouts pretty much on a weekly if not sometimes daily basis. So if a player only declares himself available for interviews a week ahead of the draft then, in todays's NHL, that does rub a lot of people the wrong way. That would get pretty much any prospect on pretty much any no draft list. In today's NHL there's a lot of psychology that goes into player evaluation as well. Teams wanna know everything about the prospects, not just about their hockey but also about their family, their education, their other interests, etc etc.

This to me reads like he didn't want to speak with any teams at all until the week of the draft. That's very different than "declining" interviews with certain teams.

 

[SomeDude]

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/matvei-michkov-available-teams-2023-nhl-draft-washington-capitals-finalize-interviews

Here's a pretty good summary of the situation.

Friedman said Michkov made himself available for interviews but that was just a few days ahead of the draft.

Usually, the way it works is that as a top prospect, during your draft season, you have to do interviews or at least answer questions from NHL teams or scouts pretty much on a weekly if not sometimes daily basis. So if a player only declares himself available for interviews a week ahead of the draft then, in todays's NHL, that does rub a lot of people the wrong way. That would get pretty much any prospect on pretty much any no draft list. In today's NHL there's a lot of psychology that goes into player evaluation as well. Teams wanna know everything about the prospects, not just about their hockey but also about their family, their education, their other interests, etc etc.

You do realize he doesn’t speak English and is living in a country that has largely been cut off from the rest of the world, right? I doubt he knew if he would even physically get to the draft a week before.

 

[Hinterland]

This to me reads like he didn't want to speak with any teams at all until the week of the draft. That's very different than "declining" interviews with certain teams.

How is it different? As a top prospect you get interview requests on a weekly basis at the very least during your draft year. If you only wanna talk to teams during draft week that also means you having to decline a shitload of interview requests.

To give you some perspective on this: EV Zug's GM saw himself forced to limit NHL team's access to Leon Muggli because scouts were trying to enter the team's dressing room, they called the team's staff members to ask about Muggli, they called his school etc. When the club on one day decided to play Muggli with the U20 team instead of the NL team, Zug's GM said that certain NHL scouts were angry because of it.

Leon Muggli is expected to be a 2nd/3rd round pick. He's not Matvei Michkov. Not even close. Yet still NHL teams were mad at EV Zug just for them trying to somewhat limit the prospect's exposure to NHL teams.

Now imagine how NHL teams feel about you if you, as a top prospect, just ignore them all season long until draft week.

 

[Hinterland]

You do realize he doesn’t speak English and is living in a country that has largely been cut off from the rest of the world, right? I doubt he knew if he would even physically get to the draft a week before.

NHL teams do have Russian based scouts who are either Russian born or fluent in Russian. They also have access to translators if needed. There's just no excuse for declining interview requests all season long. You don't play along then you gotta live with the consequences.

 

[MichaelFarrell]

NHL teams do have Russian based scouts who are either Russian born or fluent in Russian. They also have access to translators if needed. There's just no excuse for declining interview requests all season long. You don't play along then you gotta live with the consequences.

No excuse? Why is he obligated to have a job interview every week when his job is to play hockey. Either you draft him or you don’t. He already signed a million dollar contract. Do you think he cares if some bottom feeder team in the NHL doesn’t want to draft him? He’s already a highly paid professional athlete.

 

[WarriorofTime]

NHL teams do have Russian based scouts who are either Russian born or fluent in Russian. They also have access to translators if needed. There's just no excuse for declining interview requests all season long. You don't play along then you gotta live with the consequences.

What excuses? Seems like Philadelphia was high on his list of destinations.

 

[FlyguyOX]

Not sure about you but personally, I don't know many cocky healthy scratches. Hockey pro's are competitors and if they're repeatedly healthy scratched or even just benched that tends to bring them back to earth quickly.

If you're willing to play for a team why would you decline interview requests? Or do you think that those reports are false as well?

And if they're false then why you think Michkov was ignored by so many teams? Was he overrated by fans perhaps? An anti Russian bias definitely does exist but some countrymen of his still do get drafted early so that can't be the main reason why Michkov fell.

Whatever it was I'm pretty sure Michkov was on most team's no draft list and I don't think his play was the main reason for that. In my view, unless there were other red flags, that means the reports about teams not being able to talk to Michkov are most likely true.

Delusional

 

[FlyguyOX]

https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/takes/matvei-michkov-available-teams-2023-nhl-draft-washington-capitals-finalize-interviews

Here's a pretty good summary of the situation.

Friedman said Michkov made himself available for interviews but that was just a few days ahead of the draft.

Usually, the way it works is that as a top prospect, during your draft season, you have to do interviews or at least answer questions from NHL teams or scouts pretty much on a weekly if not sometimes daily basis. So if a player only declares himself available for interviews a week ahead of the draft then, in todays's NHL, that does rub a lot of people the wrong way. That would get pretty much any prospect on pretty much any no draft list. In today's NHL there's a lot of psychology that goes into player evaluation as well. Teams wanna know everything about the prospects, not just about their hockey but also about their family, their education, their other interests, etc etc.

All I read is a bunch of soft ego-maniac hockey men got mad that the prospect wanted to do his interviews in person

NHL teams do have Russian based scouts who are either Russian born or fluent in Russian. They also have access to translators if needed. There's just no excuse for declining interview requests all season long. You don't play along then you gotta live with the consequences.

The shit people on this board complain about lmao