The situation with Matvey Michkov is one of the most curious and interesting stories of the beginning of the KHL season. Of course, in terms of popularity, this case is significantly inferior to the Fedotov case, but, by the way, “Philadelphia” also indirectly appears in it. Michkov is the Flyers’ top prospect in the latest NHL draft; Matvey himself sincerely wants to play in the best league in the world, but he currently has a long-term contract with SKA. And everything would be fine, but Matvey mainly watches the start of the regular season from the bench or from the stands, without changing clothes for the games. And in the city of brotherly love they are already thinking about a conspiracy at the top of Russian hockey against them and are trying to find some kind of connection with Ivan Fedotov.
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I’m not sure that conspiracy theories have a right to life, and it is even more difficult to suspect that CSKA and SKA, two ardent opponents both on the ice and in all kinds of offices, are acting together. Although it is clear that the search for a common enemy is one of the ways to forget about differences.
But the fact is that Michkov is not always included in the SKA. Of the four meetings between the army team, Matvey participated in only one, receiving a modest 6 minutes and 12 seconds of playing time. At the same time, the 18-year-old forward is no longer a green youth who needs to be introduced to adult hockey in careful doses. Over the past two seasons, Michkov managed to play more than forty games in the KHL (and score, by the way, 25 (11+14) points in them), gain experience both in power struggles and in communication with referees. In a word, Matvey’s appearance on the SKA ice no longer poses a risk to either party, but he does not appear in the lineup again and again.
And this despite the fact that Michkov played a lot in the heart of SKA for almost the entire preseason. The forward played four games in the Sochi tournament and three more in the local tournament in Puchkov. In seven games he – 6 (3 + 3) points. To put it mildly, these are not disastrous statistics, but when we talk about a talent of Michkov’s level, we must look at the numbers: the defensive game and so on may not be the best, but these players are built to create up front.
Matvey Michkov
Photo: Ilya Smirnov, foto.khl.ru
And this despite the fact that after two defeats in a row, Roman Rotenberg began to generate various reasons for such annoying circumstances, and among them was the team’s fatigue from flying, as well as ten people in the hospital. Why then, if the team is already so emasculated, does a young, healthy youngster constantly remain on the sidelines, capable of providing the freshness that SKA needs to score into an empty net? Unclear.
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Rotenberg himself spoke about Michkov after SKA’s debut match of the season with Dynamo Moscow. And then for some reason the head coach of the army team determined the ceiling for Matvey: “He is a limiter.” And, they say, in this role he is still losing competition to Ivan Demidov. Okay, Demidov really looks great, but why is Michkov only asking for a limited roster spot? Why can’t he compete with all SKA forwards in a common way? After all, Matvey, I repeat, is no longer a newcomer to the KHL and adult hockey in general, and he has good international experience behind him. And if you look at it from this perspective, why does the SKA, where they constantly trumpet the development of young Russian hockey players, play, for example, with 30-year-old Dedunov and Grebenshchikov, but not with young talents with great prospects?
Questions, questions. But it is evident that Rotenberg has his own good reasons for disgracing Michkov. And it’s unlikely to be a desire to somehow upset Philadelphia by marinating the Flyers’ future star in the reserves. Rather, what works against Michkov in general is his desire to leave for the NHL as soon as possible, something that is always viewed with hostility in the SKA. At one time, Kirill Marchenko, Ivan Morozov, Fedor Svechkov, Nikita Chibrikov already suffered from a completely natural desire… Now, apparently, Michkov finds himself in a similar situation, moreover, in light of the worsening situation regarding the contracts. with the NHL, and it is not clear, is whether the guarantor is Matvey’s agreement with the SKA until April 2026 or not.
It is clear that Michkov can be treated differently, and there is also some truth in the opinion of those who consider the striker to be a hot-headed young man with an inflated resume who has not yet shown anything anywhere. However, one cannot but recognize the fact that Michkov is one of the most talented and promising Russian hockey players of the new wave. And it does not benefit him, nor Russian hockey, nor SKA, that Matvey is deprived of game training from him, and the head coach of the army team considers him exclusively a limiter. That is, that player who would never have been on the roster if it weren’t for the KHL regulations.
Matvey Michkov
Photo: Yuri Kuzmin, foto.khl.ru
But SKA, once it removed Michkov from the Lokomotiv system, took responsibility for the development of the hockey player, for, so to speak, cutting the diamond. And it is obvious that now in St. Petersburg they cannot cope with this task, or rather, they do not want to do it, pursuing some of their own goals, be it educating Matvey or punishing him for his lack of desire to spend. his entire career in the city on the Neva.
And this is a very bad policy that will not lead to any good, but will only deprive a young hockey player of a couple of years of progressive development. This is the best case scenario. Michkov is ready and should play in the KHL, and SKA should give him normal playing time or give him to another club. Rent, trade, sell, it doesn’t matter, but Matvey absolutely needs to get back on the ice and SKA needs to stop playing the role of dog in the manger.
