This is what the Flyers lineup could look like with Matvei Michkov

Sometimes rumors are just that. Rumors. Nothing more and nothing less. However, sometimes there is smoke where there is fire. Currently, rumors are floating around that Matvei Michkov could be joining the Flyers soon.

Like, next year soon. For a Flyers team that was hoping to have Cutter Gauthier on the big club, this is some relief both for the fans and for the team itself.

Michkov was widely considered to be one of the top prospects in last year's draft. The fact that he fell to seventh, where the Flyers selected was a surprise. His biggest hold-up is a contract that he had signed with the KHL.

After seeing some of the issues that other Russians have had in leaping the premier hockey league in Russia (Ivan Fedotov), it's not all that surprising that other NHL teams would pass up on a kid who, despite his talent, might not make it here until his mid-20s when they could get an 18 or 19 year old to play now.

Matvei Michkov is going to be a good NHL player in short order

Yes, that was an issue. Since then, Michkov tore it up for HK Sochi. He scored 19 goals with 22 assists for 41 points in 47 games.

When you look at his stats in international play and the Russian junior leagues, he is drawing comparisons to Kirill Kaprizov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Vladimir Tarasenko when they were his age.

In 2021, his 12 goals and 16-point performance in just seven games in the World U-18 Championship was a higher total than Connor Bedard had that year.

Somehow, someway, the Flyers have been working with his KHL team and with KHL representatives to bring a star like that to the NHL. So, if he can come to North America for the upcoming season, what will that make the Flyers look like?

First, we'll have to go under the assumption that the Flyers don't sign anyone as a free agent. We know that this is unlikely, but I'm not going to pair him up with Tarasenko or another free agent if we don't know who, or if, the Flyers will sign anyone.

We also don't know how much his contract would be and what that would do to the salary cap. Likewise, I'm not going to trade anyone either for similar reasons. We don't know who the Flyers would trade or bring in.

So, looking at the lines, the lineup could look something like this:

Matvei Michkov - Ryan Poehling - Travis Konecny

Owen Tippett - Sean Couturier - Joel Farabee

Tyson Foerster - Scott Laughton - Morgan Frost

Garnet Hathaway - Noah Cates - Nicolas Deslauriers

Cam York - Travis Sanheim

Nick Seeler - Jamie Drysdale

Egor Zamula - Rasmus Ristolainen

That's not a bad lineup to have. That's also leaving Cam Atkinson and Bobby Brink on the bench. It's a good mix of veteran leadership and young talent that is up and coming. That is, potentially, one of the best third lines you could find out there.

We'll find out soon enough what will happen, provided the rumors are true or just wishful thinking. Likewise, we'll see what moves the Flyers will make as they seek to improve a squad that almost made the playoffs this year.