Free washer | Matvei Michkov, the Flyers’ nice risk

Matvei Michkov added two points to his record on Tuesday evening. This young Philadelphia Flyers forward now has 27 points in as many games (including 11 goals), first among NHL rookies.

No one in the 2023 draft class produces as much, not even first choice Connor Bedard, with his 21 points in 28 games with the Chicago Blackhawks.

One season obviously does not make a career. In his first season (shortened by the labor dispute) in Edmonton, Nail Yakupov produced at a rate of 29 goals and 53 points over a full year, Alex Galchenyuk was heading towards 46 points while Filip Forsberg and Tomas Hertl were still in Europe.

But for now, Daniel Briere and the Flyers can rub their hands with satisfaction, Michkov runs the offense in Philadelphia and the team is unexpectedly fighting for a playoff spot with a 13-12-4 record.

Why did six teams, including the Canadian, shun this talented young player who was then described as “Russian Connor Bedard” ?

Because of the risk factor, a state of affairs often overlooked by hockey fans and even journalists. It is easy, in fact, for the fan or the specialists of the prospects to give their favorites on the eve of the draft. If we aim correctly, we can trumpet it to anyone who will listen. If we are wrong, we will have been wrong. But there will be no consequences, other than a slightly bruised ego.

But for a professional organization, missing its choice in the top 5 of the draft can have disastrous long-term effects. It is not a question here of looking for excuses for the Canadiens, the Coyotes, the Sharks, the Ducks or the Blue Jackets (although we do not yet know who will be the best in the end), but of placing ourselves in the shoes of professional organizations.

Michkov was under contract with SKA Saint Petersburg until 2026. It was less a question of the inconvenience of waiting three years than of entrusting his development to the club of a country at war, whose youth management sometimes leaves desire. Moreover, Ivan Demidov, chosen fifth overall by the Canadian in 2024, played less than nine minutes in his last four games with SKA. Fortunately, he has one year left on his contract, not three as was believed at the time with Michkov.

There were also the young man’s behavioral problems, in conflict with certain teammates, a hyper-controlling father who died tragically in circumstances that were still unclear a few months before the draft, his refractory character to authority and his lack of rigor on the ice. in defensive situations.

Without forgetting the fact that we could not see him at work on site and that Russia was excluded from major international competitions.

Drafting Michkov second, third, fourth or fifth and coming up empty-handed would have made the organization that would have set its sights on him look very bad.

From the seventh rank onwards, the risk is already more tolerable. Especially for a general manager, Daniel Brière, who said he had a second chance, and whose son got back on the right path after having a second, and maybe even a third chance.

Bottom-ranked teams had the same debate in 1990. For a host of factors, Jaromir Jagr represented a risky case. We preferred Owen Nolan, Petr Nedved, Keith Primeau and Mike Ricci. Looking back, the Penguins look like geniuses, but for one Jagr or Michkov, there are dozens of Nikita Filatovs, Nolan Patricks, Nikolai Zherdevs, Alexander Svitovs and Pavel Brendls.

The risk factor explains why Cole Caufield, a player similar to Michkov, albeit two inches shorter, was still available at 15^e rank in the 2019 draft. Caufield was nevertheless recognized as the top scorer of his vintage, and he became one five years later. He also ranks fourth among prospects drafted in 2019, behind Jack Hughes, Matthew Boldy and Dylan Cozens, but he should quickly overtake Cozens (5 points behind, 75 games less).

Caufield’s small stature, 5-foot-7, frightened many teams, however. That of Kirby Dach, 6 feet 4 inches, made them salivate. He was also chosen third. Montreal is praised today for its wise choice, but if it had held the third pick, it probably would not have drafted Caufield.

Same with Lane Hutson. There aren’t many 5-foot-8 defensemen in the NHL. No club dared to take the risk among the first 61 choices. The Canadian did it, but can’t boast either. We drafted two players between Juraj Slafkovsky and Hutson at 62^e rang : Filip Mesar au 26^e rank and Owen Beck at 33^e. Risk factor…

Hutson, 20, now has the best points per game ratio of all players in his class, all positions combined, and he is also by far the most used player.

Poor defender David Reinbacher, drafted fifth overall by the Canadian, two ranks ahead of Michkov, is the victim of an unfair controversy in Montreal. He is unable to show his qualities due to a knee injury.

It was not a dilemma between Reinbacher and Michkov. The Canadian, rightly or wrongly, didn’t want this one. If Reinbacher had not been available, we probably would have opted for a Ryan Leonard or a Dalibor Dvorsky. The management did not lack information on Michkov, with the father of the co-chief recruiter of the CH Nick Bobrov among the leaders of the SKA, trainer of another gifted attacker, Demidov, drafted by Montreal a year later.

The Flyers must be congratulated for their audacity and the management of Michkov since his arrival in Philadelphia. And understand the clubs which did not dare to do it.

As for Reinbacher, he will still have time, at 20, once he recovers from his injury, to prove that he can become a first-pair right-handed defender.

Besides, if the Flyers had held the fifth pick, they might have chosen Reinbacher at that spot. It’s a question of The Press to which Brière preferred not to respond in his offices at the end of August, during an exclusive interview, contenting himself with asserting that the evaluation was extremely close between the two young men.

There you go, you know everything…

Quote of the day

It wouldn’t seem like it, would it? [que nous sommes à seulement deux points d’une place en séries] ? I mean, getting booed during a power play in the third period…

Sidney Crosby, reacting to the crowd’s fury towards the Penguins on Tuesday night

Pittsburgh lost 6-2 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night. The Penguins are in fact two points behind the Philadelphia Flyers and the last place giving access to the playoffs, however with one less game to play, and one point behind the New York Rangers, but with three fewer games to play .