The NHL Draft will take place on June 28 and 29 in Nashville, and it promises to be historic for the entire league. In the first round alone, young players of the highest caliber can be selected. There is practically no doubt about their talent, and they are talked about as future world stars. This is especially true of Connor Bedard — it is the young Canadian who is considered the main favorite of the draft, and he is already predicting a future no less bright than that of the world's best hockey player Connor McDavid.
In many ways, the upcoming draft will also be decisive for Russian hockey — Matvey Michkov stands out among a number of talented Russians. In recent years, he has already been dubbed the main rising star of the generation of domestic hockey. It is expected that Matvey will be drafted in the top five, and in such scenarios, the Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens will be able to apply for him. The winner of the draft lottery “Chicago Blackhawks” can be safely crossed out – “hawks” with a probability of 99.999…% will choose under the first number of Bedard. However, for Michkov, the draft could turn out very differently, and the Russian could be chosen at the end of the top ten.
Ignores the NHL clubs? Matvey Michkov noticeably stands out for his game, high hockey IQ, technique, shooting and especially performance. For comparison, he spent his debut season in the KHL more successfully than Alexander Ovechkin in the year of his draft selection — in 31 KHL regular season matches, Michkov scored 20 points (9 + 11), while Ovechkin scored 23 points (13 + 10) before the draft in 53 Super League games.
But Matvey's virtues are covered by at least two negative points for the NHL:
- A difficult character, which has been talked about a lot on the sidelines of the Russian sports media for a long time; almost impossible.
But if these two factors have been known for a long time, then the latest actions of the striker himself made the bosses of the NHL clubs tense up. Although Michkov will come to the draft ceremony, he deliberately missed the draft combine, where the participants of the ceremony take various kinds of physical activity tests. Because of this, NHL team leaders did not receive enough of the necessary up-to-date information about the abilities of the Russian. Moreover, Matvey, according to well-known North American insider Elliott Friedman, refused to dialogue with several league clubs.
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“It's important for teams to know who they're going to be dealing with. I heard that some teams came to Russia specifically to meet with Michkov. But it was very difficult to talk to him. Arranging a meeting and dialogue with him turned out to be a problem. The clubs tried to arrange a meeting with him, but he was simply not interested in it. Probably the only way to talk to Michkov is to go up to him immediately after the match and talk for a few minutes,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast.
Even with all the «charms» of Michkov's character, such behavior appears to be a special wake-up call for NHL clubs and makes them think about whether it is worth giving their choice in the draft for the Russian. Here are some comments from a number of league executives and club scouts who shared their scores for Michkov for The Athletic on condition of anonymity:
- «I would have let someone else draft him. With his skating, one-sided play and his demeanor, it would be too much of a risk for me to take him early in the draft before I get to the obvious with his contract and the current political climate»;< /li>
- «His skill range is somewhat narrow. Either he is what you hope to see for the future of your franchise, which is a star scorer, or he is a simple hockey player who can be replaced by another player» ;
- «It's much easier to choose someone else. You can wait three years or more for Michkov to move to the NHL. Meanwhile, the guys you missed because of him will help your opponents beat you»;
- «The media overhyped him. Considering the risks, Michkov will not be selected in the top five»;
- «He's very good, of course, but the hype around» the best Russian avenue since Ovechkin «is too high. As an avenue, it is much closer to Tarasenko than to Ovi.»
However, there are also enough positive and even very positive reviews about Michkov from NHL club bosses.
Michkov repeats the path of Jagr? Matvey Michkov's refusal to engage in dialogue with representatives of the NHL teams can be associated not only with the character of the hockey player. It is possible that in this way the Russian deliberately rejects clubs from the top of the draft in order to be selected by a specific club at the ceremony. Although Michkov himself has repeatedly stated that he is not worried about the results of the NHL draft and that he will be pleased with any outcome of the ceremony. On the other hand, it was hard to imagine that one of the main stars of the upcoming draft would openly talk about his club preferences.
Interestingly, a similar story has already been in the NHL. And its author was the great Jaromir Jagr. The illustrious Czech was one of the favorites in the 1990 draft, and all hockey fans on Earth talked about him, although he himself did not appear in the official ratings — in those days only representatives of North America appeared in them. Before the historic draft ceremony, Jagr, as best he could, denied the questions of journalists and said that supposedly in the NHL he was in no hurry and was not eager to leave his age level. Even speaking to the Quebec Nordiques, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers—the top four teams in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft—Jágr said he didn't want to play in the NHL. For this reason, “Quebec”, “Vancouver”, “Detroit” and “Philadelphia” did not take risks and gave their choice in favor of other players. Jaromir Jagr was waiting for news from his beloved Pittsburgh Penguins.
Jagr was a huge fan of Mario Lemieux and assured the Penguins bosses that he would be at the club as soon as possible if they drafted him. And so it happened. I know everything about how the career of the Czech and the entire world of hockey unfolded.
All efforts for the sake of playing with Ovechkin? If you stick to this theory, then the outcome in which Michkova will be drafted by the Washington Capitals looks very real. «Capital» this year will choose under the eighth number, and taking into account all the circumstances, their intersection with Matvey is not excluded.
Firstly, it would be symbolic if Alexander Ovechkin and Matvey Michkov, who is called Ovi's successor, would unite in one club. Secondly, in “Washington” like to bet on the Russians. Last year, the Caps dedicated their first-round pick to Ivan Miroshnichenko. They will not refuse such a new opportunity. Thirdly, the «capital» is not intimidated by the existing contracts with other clubs for drafted players. Only in the last ten years, for the sake of moving to the Capitals, Evgeny Kuznetsov and the same Ivan Miroshnichenko terminated their contracts with KHL clubs. No hints, just facts.