Matvei Michkov has been searching for something ever since he got into the NHL two years ago. It has been beaten out of him to never try it again — to never strive for something greater or to show off some of his otherworldly skill — but it finally got what he has been holding out hope for. He scored his Michigan.
The 21-year-old Philadelphia Flyers winger is participating in the “Match of the Year” over in Russia on Saturday. The annual charity game is organized by other Russian NHL stars Alex Ovechkin, Mikhail Sergachev, and Artemi Panarin (who Michkov has been doing some training with this offseason).
The roster is full of star players currently in the NHL, who have established themselves in various ways. Whether it is Stanley Cup champions, top-of-the-lineup players, or just some real solid guys. For Michkov, who had a fairly disappointing sophomore season, this summer and maybe even this specific charity game, is an opportunity to bounce back a little bit and demonstrate why he was seen as one of the best young talents outside of the NHL for multiple years.
And with the score tied 9-9, he pulled off a Michigan goal, something that has alluded him in the NHL so far.
God, it’s just beautiful.
Michkov has tried several times to hit one in the NHL. Whether it was much more blatant attempts, like we had during his rookie year under John Tortorella (who gave him some leash to show off his offensive skills), or it just feeling like he was about to try one, like we had last season under Rick Tocchet; Michkov has tried and failed to score a Michigan through the first 161 games of his NHL career. But now, we see just how cleanly he can pull it off.
We can’t tell which specific goaltender that is in between the pipes — NHL stars such as Shesterkin, Sorokin, Askarov, and Bobrovsky and a couple of KHL netminders were on the rosters — but they clearly thought correctly that Michkov was going for the Michigan. He guarded the top corner of the net with his blocker, but the Flyers winger was sly enough to put the wraparound into the net under the goalie’s arm. Oh, you’re just so slick, Matvei.
Maybe this relaxed setting where the entire world can actually watch how talented Michkov is — since he also finished the game with a hat trick — was all he needed to gain a whole lot of confidence back and come to training camp this fall believing that he can put last year behind him and be one of the best players on this Flyers team.
After all, Michkov, by all accounts, had a down year and finished below expectation, but he did still score 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games while playing under 15 minutes per night. Oh, and actually played a whole lot more defense than his rookie year. Just think of the ceiling he has, and now we can check off that he scored a Michigan goal after he put on a Flyers sweater.
What’s next for Michkov’s offseason?
Now, what’s next for Michkov this summer?
We’ve already seen that he has been putting a whole lot of work in this offseason. He is consistently posting workout clips to his Instagram stories. He’s connecting with Panarin, Sergachev, Podkolozin, Khusnutdinov, and countless other Russian NHLers to train with some of the best coaches overseas. Michkov is screaming from the mountaintops that he is ready to wipe his sophomore slump away.
Now that his commitment to this “Match of the Year” charity game is over, it is expected that Michkov will travel to Philadelphia and continue his offseason training. It might not be right away, but he is expected to be stateside in August, several weeks before Flyers training camp begins.
But after seeing all the workouts he’s posting, and how he’s putting all his skill on display in this game, it really doesn’t matter too much where he is. Michkov is clearly doing a whole lot more compared to last summer, so as long as he maybe gets here a week or two before training camp, or is present for the rookie camp to maybe talk with some younger guys (who are basically his age), that’s fine by us.
It’s an exciting time to think about Matvei Michkov on the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2026-27 season.
