Thanks to Matvei Michkov, Flyers’ Prospects Pool Ranked 3rd In NHL

This is Matvei Michkov’s doing — his talent, his potential, his influence.

That’s why Philadelphia Flyers fans of The Rebuild have potentially good news this morning.

Hockey Prospecting ranks the Flyers’ prospect pool third in the NHL. The rankings are done by Bryon M. Bader, a data scientist professional from Calgary who uses analytics to predict which prospects will become NHL stars.

Such surveys should be served with a generous amount of salt — that’s understood. They are predictive, not chiseled in granite. And it’s a long road between playing for the Abbotsford Flyers and ones who play at the Wells Fargo Center.

But seeing a ranking that addresses the Flyers’ announced priority is fun and informative.

The Flyers moved up seven places from the previous rankings, which were taken before the draft. The only teams to move higher were the Blackhawks (up nine places) and Capitals (up eight places).

Bader’s system has six ranking categories. The Flyers were top 10 in five of the six categories.

Top 5 Star Rank: Flyers were 4.

Top 5 NHLer Rank: Flyers were 4.

Depth Stars Rank: Flyers were 8.

Depth NHLers Rank: Flyers were 12.

Skater Rank: Flyers were 5.

Goalie Rank: Flyers were 2.

The Blue Jackets were ranked 1 with the Canadiens second. Bader’s top 10 only had three playoff teams — the Wild, sixth; Kraken, eighth; and Devils, ninth.

Boston’s prospect pool was ranked 32. Stanley Cup champion Vegas was 23, and Cup runner-up Florida was 27.

Bader’s Comments On Flyers

Top 5 Skater Prospects: Matvei Michkov, Cam York, Cutter Gauthier, Bobby Brink and Emil Andrae.

A heavy rise from the Flyers after the 2023 draft, where they jumped up 7 spots from their previous ranking.

Michkov (who [h]as a star prob of 99%) was the big reason for the jump.

Philly’s pool needs to add a bit more depth and potential NHL pieces and one more high probability star piece. 

They’ll finish low again this year so they should be able to add that piece in 2024.

May Rankings

Hockey Prospects ranked teams in May and the Flyers finished 10th.

The Flyers’ top 5 skater prospects in the May survey were: Tyson Foerster, York, Gauthier, Brink and Andrae.

Bader’s Comments On May Rankings:

The Flyers have a skater prospect that is above average from all sides but nothing blowing the doors off in terms of superstar potential. A lot of good potential NHL pieces but still lacking the star potential that can swing a lineup.

The Flyers goalie pool is good as well. [Ivan] Fedotov, who no longer counts as he was drafted in 2015, looks good. He tried to come over last year but we all know what happened there.

They still have [Alexei] Kolosov, another product of the KHL who’s actually from Belarus so the same restrictions to Russians may not apply. He has been on the KHL very early, atypically, so.

In a few more years he could be one of the best goalie prospects in the world. [Sam] Ersson also has a chance and has already started to get into games for Philadelphia this season.

Bader’s Ranking Criteria:

“Hockey Prospecting standardizes player scoring across the board and uses historical performances to chart how prospects will perform in the NHL.

“Our model removes intangible biases such as age, size, league, position and nationality. We do this by putting all players on the same playing field, based on their offensive production. Too often a player’s size, age or background is held against them. Not here.

“Our model goes all the way back to 1990, with nearly 6,000 players in total. By comparing the offensive production of all players during that time we found a pattern, which shows how a players’ scoring production, normalized by league, along with the rate they develop, can predict which players will succeed and/or thrive at the NHL level.

“The history in the model also allows us to provide comparisons to existing and former players, to show you whose career a prospect might be mimicking.”

Going into the draft, Hockey Prospecting had Michkov ranked 3. The Flyers’ other first-round pick at 22, Oliver Bonk, wasn’t in the top 32. In last year’s rankings, Gauthier was ranked 22nd.

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Flyers, In Case You Missed It:

New Flyer Ryan Poehling says he’s ready for something special in Philly.

When the Flyers traded Kevin Hayes, gone was Joel Farabee’s mentor and friend.

Noah Cates files for salary arbitration.

Marc Staal wants to be an experienced voice for a rebuilding team.

Around The National Hockey Network:

Boston Hockey Now: Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman, defenseman Ian Mitchell and forward Trent Frederic file for salary arbitration.

Buffalo Hockey Now: Sabres’ priority should be contract extensions for Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power: report.

Calgary Hockey Now: Prospects to watch as Flames begins Development Camp.

Chicago Hockey Now: Connor Bedard plays in an in-line hockey league?

Colorado Hockey Now: Two-time Cup winner Darren Helm to retire from Avalanche.

Detroit Hockey Now: Alex DeBrincat still on Red Wings’ radar.

Florida Hockey Now: Patric Hörnqvist announces retirement.

Los Angeles Hockey Now: Kings players to watch at Development Camp.

Montreal Hockey Now: Canadiens among top prospects pools in NHL.

New Jersey Hockey Now: Updating Connor Hellebuyck situation.

New York Islanders Hockey Now: Three free-agent signings by Isles.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Drew O’Connor files for arbitration.

San Jose Hockey Now: In case of a trade, teams want Sharks to retain more of Erik Karlsson’s salary.

Vegas Hockey Now: Top three threats to Golden Knights in Pacific Division.

Washington Hockey Now: Joel Edmundson addes leadership, experience to Capitals’ blue line.