Philadelphia Flyers top prospect being punished for the team's choice
The 2023-24 Kontinental Hockey League season got underway on Friday, but the majority of opening games are taking place today and tomorrow, including SKA St. Petersburg, who are facing Dynamo Moscow.
There's a lot of hype surrounding SKA St. Petersburg this season, especially when considering their forward group includes former NHLers Alex Galchenyuk and Sergei Tolchinsky, 2024 projected top-five pick Ivan Demidov, as well as Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov.
When SKA St. Petersburg released their lineup ahead of Saturday's game, Michkov was not listed and is reportedly a healthy scratch.
Matvei Michkov is a healthy scratch for SKA in their regular season opener today.� Bill Meltzer (@billmeltzer) September 2, 2023
No #FueledByPhilly Matvei Michkov for SKA today. #CBJ Sergei Ivanov backs up Mattsson 🥅
Alex Galchenyuk 1C#LetsGoCanes Alexander Nikishin 1D#Yotes Ilya Fedotov 3LW#mnwild Marat Khusnutdinov 3RW#LetsGoBuffalo Vasili Glotov 4LW#2024NHLDraft Ivan Demidov 13th forward pic.twitter.com/wOOEDb7IAy� Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) September 2, 2023
Rachel Doerrie, a former staffer in the Vancouver Canucks' analytics department, says that people should remember the Ivan Fedotov situation when thinking about Matvei Michkov being a healthy scratch. Fedotov, who's also a Flyers prospect, was banned from competing in the KHL from September 1st to December 31st by the IIHF, but defied them and played in Friday's season opener.
It shouldn't be lost on anyone that Michkov's rights are owned by Philly and this occurs while the Fedotov situation is ongoing. It's Russia/KHL, there are always shenanigans. Given the NHL/KHL agreement is effectively useless, I'd try and get MM here ASAP. https://t.co/31I8J2OoJh� Rachel Doerrie (@racheldoerrie) September 2, 2023
While it's hard to draw a comparison to the two situations or find anything similar other than them both being Flyers prospects, it's certainly something to keep an eye on in the coming days and weeks and if Michkov will play anytime soon.
Following Saturday's game, SKA St. Petersburg will have a quick turnaround and will be back in action on Monday taking on HC Lada Togliatti.
| POLL | ||
Do you think the Flyers made the right choice in drafting Matvei Michkov? | ||
| Yes | 64 | 56.1 % |
| No | 18 | 15.8 % |
| Hard to say this early | 23 | 20.2 % |
| See Results | 9 | 7.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
