Getty Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov is expected in the NHL for the 2025 season.
One of the top prospects within the Philadelphia Flyers organization, No. 7 pick of the 2023 NHL draft Matvei Michkov, is expected to terminate his contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian Kontinental Hockey League.
Michkov, a highly-touted prospect for years, is under contract with KHL’s SKA through the end of the 2026 season. Michkov could start playing for the Flyers next season.
“SKA forward Matvei Michkov will continue his career at Philadelphia.” [starting next season]
“The contract with St. Petersburg will be terminated until 2026, and the rights to the hockey player in the KHL will remain with the army.” #LetsGoFlyers
Sport-Express’s Arthur Khairullin reported on May 19 that Michkov’s contract with SKA will be terminated ahead of the 2025 NHL season. The rights to Michkov in the KHL, however, will remain with SKA St. Petersburg.
“According to SE, SKA striker Matvey Michkov will continue his career in Philadelphia,” Khairullin wrote as automatically translated. “The contract with the St. Petersburg club until 2026 will be terminated. The rights to the hockey player in the KHL will remain with the team.”
Matvei Michkov, Expected to Terminate KHL Contract
The Flyers drafted Michkov in 2023 with the No. 7 pick after he fell a few spots because of his contractual situation in the Russian KHL, forcing him to stay put in the country until 2026 unless he buys out the contract he’s playing under by himself.
Michkov entered the draft after scoring 9 goals and 20 points in 27 games with HK Sochi, the club where he’s on loan from SKA, his parent club, and the holder of his rights in the KHL, per Quant Hockey. This season, in 47 games with Sochi, Michkov has put up 41 points, contributing 19 goals and 22 assists.
The 41 points scored by Michkov are the second-most (Kirill Kaprizov, 43) by an under-20 player in a single KHL season, according to Russian Machine Never Breaks.
The relationship between Michkov and SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg has been strained, according to Jonathan Bailey of Philly Hockey Now, leading to the player deciding to terminate his contract with the KHL club.
“Michkov’s relationship with SKA head coach and Russian Ice Hockey Federation vice president Roman Rotenberg has been tenuous at best,” Bailey wrote on May 19.
Rotenberg, who is also the vice president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, often excluded Michkov from matchday squads or provided minimal ice time. Recently, Michkov was left out of the Russian national U25 team, further highlighting the tensions between both parties.
“Rotenberg frequently excluded Michkov from his matchday squads with SKA or gave him very little ice time, and recently left the Flyers draftee out of the Russian national U25 team,” Bailey reported.
Matvei Michkov Set to Join Fellow Russians in Philadelphia
As Bailey points out in his story, Michkov would follow the steps of two other Russians leaving their country on their way to Philadelphia recently to play for the Flyers: netminders Ivan Fedotov and Alexei Kolosov, who arrived in the USA in March 2024.
Fedotov appeared in three late-season NHL games with the Flyers while the team re-assigned Kolosov to AHL’s affiliate the Lehigh Valley Phantoms where he made his American debut.
Flyers GM Daniel Briere met with the media today in Montreal, providing updates on Nick Seeler, Jamie Drysdale, Rasmus Ristolainen and prospect Alexei Kolosov. #LetsGoFlyers
Michkov’s decision to terminate his KHL contract and join the Flyers is not unprecedented, although KHL regulations stipulate that the buyout money must be paid by the player, not the NHL team or any third party.
General manager Danny Briere sounded optimistic about Michkov’s potential arrival when discussing it on a May 16 La Poche Bleue podcast episode.
« C’est excitant d’avoir un prospect comme Michkov, mais on ne sait pas si on va le voir un jour! » – Daniel Brière 🤯🏒
@Lappy14 @thetender1987
“It’s really exciting to know that we have a prospect like that on our team, but we don’t know if we are ever going to see him,” Briere said.
Rotenberg, however, told Match TV on Monday, May 20, that a solution had not been reached at the time regarding Michkov’s contract termination with the KHL.
“There is no official decision yet,” Rotenberg told Match TV’s Pavel Lysenkov as automatically translated. “And we can’t say that we are letting anyone go. You see, this is a serious question.”
The Flyers finished the 2024 season with a 38-33-11 record and 87 points, failing to clinch the postseason by a 4-point distance to the second wild-card berth earned by the Washington Capitals.