Philadelphia Flyers fans all around the world have been waiting with bated breath. Pacing around their room, carving two-footed tracks into their floors until they hear of the return of Matvei Michkov to the Philadelphia area.
Everyone has been hollering about it in whichever way they can. Every single Instagram post or story from Michkov where he is clearly not in Philadelphia has been a dagger through the heart of people who just want him stateside. Every single day, a hellish experience knowing that he’s not training in Voorhees but is spending time in his hometown or in one of the big Russian cities with other NHL stars and working his hardest to have a massive bounce-back season.
It’s basically been all anyone can focus on. And now we know when No. 39 will make his triumphant return and finally be physically here.
He’s coming tonight. Monday night.
According to PHLY’s Anthony Gargano, who filled in on the PHLY Flyers show Monday afternoon, Michkov will be landing in the Philadelphia area at some point tonight. It could be as you’re reading this, or maybe just right before, or maybe right after. Anyways, the 21-year-old phenom is now officially back and everyone can stop freaking out about it.
There was some mounting pressure on this topic simply because fans wanted him to get the most out of his summer. For Michkov to train as hard as he possibly can while not burning himself out, so that he can prove it to everyone on the team that he is deserving of some top-end minutes and offensive opportunities that can help him become the star he has the potential to be.
It didn’t help that after the Flyers got knocked out of the second round of the playoffs and their season was over, Michkov told reporters that he plans on spending the majority of his summer in the Philadelphia area. And then, in an interview back home in Russia over a month ago, he said he was going to just wrap things up and then make the trip back to the U.S.; that clearly did not happen and the timeline got pushed until now.
The whole ordeal feels much more like something created out of nothing. There were expectations of him coming to Philadelphia at a certain time, so people held that in their minds and when it didn’t happen, then there was some minor moment of panic. But everything is good, and he appeared to be training just as hard while back home in Russia as he would if he were down in Voorhees.
Matvei Michkov arriving right before Flyers training camp
It’s so common for players to start to trickle into the city after their vacations and offseason training back home in the weeks before training camp starts. And now, on August 31, Michkov is set to arrive and that gives him ample time to really get ready to hit the ground running at camp.
Flyers training camp opens on September 17, giving Michkov over two weeks to get back in the Flyers Training Center. He will get back into the rhythm or practicing, being in Philadelphia, and just being with his teammates and coaches for what should be an incredibly important season in his career.
These next several months are going to tell us a lot about Michkov’s future with the Flyers, unfortunately. He appeared to be working his hardest to not even come close to having a bad reputation as someone who “comes to camp out of shape” — and for us to never ever ever think about that ever again since it has already been talked about way too much. So, naturally, he should be in prime position to truly get that spot in the top six that he can earn by showing just how much better he is than last season.
And if he was able to put up 51 points while not being the coaching staff’s favorite player to put out there in big situations, then just imagine what he would be able to do for the Flyers’ offense when he has the confidence of his bosses.
At least one thing has been checked off as we ramp up to training camp. The boy is here. Now, we just need a very blurry photo of him on the ice with some of his teammates and we can move on to the next.
