Flyers’ top prospect Matvei Michkov set to join team in 2024-25

News arrived on Sunday that superstar prospect Matvei Michkov, who was under contract with SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL, will join the Philadelphia Flyers next season.

Michkov was one of the top talents available in a 2023 NHL Entry Draft loaded with potential franchise-changers but slid to the Flyers and the seventh pick over concerns about how his contract in the ‘K’ would affect his pro timeline.

It was initially thought that Michkov would stay in Russia until at least 2026-27, but rumors that he would terminate his contract with SKA picked up steam after the end of the regular season.

Now, the Flyers get their man, a 19-year-old offensive dynamo who scored the most KHL points-per-game (.67) of any draft-eligible player in history. Last season, his second on loan at lowly HC Sochi, Michkov took another step forward, notching 19 goals and 41 points in 47 games.

Though he’s not a rapid skater and stands just 5’10, Michkov’s elite puck handling gives him immense potential to create for teammates and score himself. In a year without Connor Bedard and without an extant pro contract, he may have gone first overall.

The Flyers have had just one superstar, Claude Giroux, since trading Eric Lindros in 2001. Landing Michkov after the first season of a rebuild, at seventh overall no less, was a coup by GM Daniel Briere that can fix the trajectory of a franchise that stagnated over the past decade.

Michkov will join a talented stable of wingers in Philadelphia headlined by All-Star Travis Konecny (33 G, 68 P), newly-extended sniper Owen Tippett (55 G since 2022), and 20-goal rookie Tyson Foerster.

If the Russian plays to his potential, he can eclipse them all as the next great Flyer.