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Flyers’ Top Prospects Keep Getting Better, Headed by Matvei Michkov

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1 year ago

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Matvei Michkov
Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov, 18, is playing like a veteran in the KHL: seven goals in 14 games for Sochi. Photo: AP.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ top two prospects in Philly Hockey Now’s rankings — forwards Matvei Michkov and Cutter Gauthier — are off to blazing starts for their respective teams.

Michkov, 18, is probably making several teams second-guess their decision to bypass him in the June draft. He slipped to the Flyers at No. 7, primarily because teams feared they might have a difficult time getting him to leave Russia at some point. He has a three-year contract in the KHL.

Thus far, he is showing why he is regarded as the KHL’s best prospect since someone named Alex Ovechkin (822  career NHL goals), who some day is expected to be surpass Wayne Gretzky (894) as the greatest goal scorer in history.

At one time, the 2023 draft was expected to have Connor Bedard and Michkov as the top two players.

Now, we can understand the thinking.

In 14 games in the KHL this season, Michkov has 14 points, including seven goals, and was named to the league’s All-Star team. Playing for Sochi, he has the highest points-per-game average of any under-20 KHL player since 2008-09.

PHN: Lots to Like About Flyers’ OT Loss

Speaking of future Flyers making a mark in the KHL, keep an eye on blossoming goaltender Alexei Kolosov. Selected by the Flyers in the third round of the 2021 draft, th 6-foot-185-pounder has been brilliant in 13 games with Minsk Dynamo, compiling a 2.07 GAA an .918 save percentage. He is 21 and keeps getting better.

Meanwhile, goalie Ivan Fedotov, 26, who should be playing in North America because he has a contract with the Flyers, has a 2.17 GAA and .909 save percentage in 13 KHL games for CSKA Moscow this season.

As for Gauthier, he has three goals and 26 shots in Boston College’s first four games. In short, he is showing why he will be a Philadelphia Flyers regular at this time next season. Gauthier, a 19-year-old left winger/center, had 16 goals and 37 points in 32 games last season with Boston College.

Breakaways

The Flyers (3-1-1), who sit atop the Metropolitan Division, play Tuesday in Vegas (6-0) at 11 p.m. … Philly is 3-0-1 in its last three games, all against strong Western Conference teams (Vancouver, Edmonton, Dallas). … Carter Hart will be back in the nets against Vegas; he is off to an impressive start: a 3-1 record with a 2.01 GAA and .929 save percentage.

 

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Steve

Excellent article, Sam! Always good to hear about the prospects (and the hope it gives us for the future). Also nice to hear about Lycksell in your other article. I just hope Tortorella doesn’t pigeon-hole him as an AHL player only and he gets a fair shot at some point. I hope Danny has the cojones 😉 to make sure he Torts knows that Danny is in charge. It’s nice the Flyers are winning and it can make some sense not to change the lineup to reward that set of players, but it appears Frost will always be his whipping boy no matter what he does. They either need to play him (Danny???) to see what they ultimately have or move on from him.

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