It has been a long time coming since the news of Matvei Michkov's contract termination in the KHL. It has been a matter of when he could make his way to North America.
That time has finally come. Rumblings first began early on Monday morning when Michkov posted an Instagram story of him on an airplane. The caption read "What's next" which led people to believe that he was on his way. That news only heightened when Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reported that Michkov was indeed going to be in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Matvei Michkov has officially made it to Philadelphia
Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/xkc0lVhOP6
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) July 23, 2024
With a little over a month until rookie and training camp, coming to North America now will give Michkov plenty of time to settle in and learn his new surroundings. He has also had Erik Johnson helping him as the veteran spoke earlier this month about the two chatting via Instagram. No doubt others have reached out to him as well.
This will also allow him to get on the ice with some of his new teammates ahead of training camp as informal skates will begin sometime in August. Getting familiar with his teammates and building early chemistry will help Michkov transition his game. He is used to the smaller ice as most of the games he was playing in the KHL were on the same ice surface. So it's not the rink itself that he will have to get used to.
While Michkov has been successful in the top Russian league, there is no guarantee that things will translate right away. And it needs to be understood that it's not a problem if that happens. With the hype surrounding him, there will be high expectations of what he can do during his rookie year. He already has the best odds to win the Calder. Considering he has not played a game in North America, it sets unfair expectations on him before he even arrives.
For Michkov, he will just need to worry about playing his game and everything else will fall into place after that. The Flyers will have to figure out who he might be best suited with to bring out the best in him. He will get every opportunity there is, as long as he earns it. If all goes well, the Flyers will potentially have the cornerstone of their franchise for years to come.
The plans won't change with Michkov's arrival, though. This is still a team that is not quite ready to contend with the best of them. But his arrival does give them more potential star power and could help them down the line.
Michkov is here and for right now, that is all that matters.