The Philadelphia Flyers got incredibly lucky during the first round of the 2023 NHL entry draft when Russian star Matvei Michkov fell into their laps at seventh overall. The catch is that his current contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL runs until the end of the 2025-26 season.
The Flyers, who finally admitted to a rebuild at the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, now have an ace up their sleeve. While it’ll be three seasons until Michkov can make the jump to North America, that doesn’t mean Danny Briere can sit comfortably back and wait for the coming of their top prospect.
Given the timeline, it’s easy to just punt the ball down the line and attempt to ride out the disaster that the Flyers roster is.
Au contraire.
Sitting back and just waiting it out should not be the plan of attack. The team should be making substantial strides over the next few seasons to have the skeleton of their next competitive era roster in place upon Michkov’s arrival. The light is at the end of the tunnel, but the team needs to have a proactive rebuild along the way.
Then cannot put forth a similar basement dwelling, hopeless roster for Michkov to join in 2026 and just hope he solves all problems. That’s a strategy they’ve tried may times since Hextall’s rebuild launched nearly a decade ago and it’s failed every time.
There’s no reason to waste the next three years then when he finally shows up decide it’s time to figure things out. The organization can’t keep their one-foot-in-one-foot-out strategy going for the foreseeable future then decide to finally make some franchise-altering moves when or after Michkov shows up. That needs to be done well in advance.
They need to figure out the ceilings of their in-house prospects and not be afraid to add players in the same age range as the rest of their pillars. If they intent to build around Cutter Gauthier, Tyson Foerster and Cam York, who will all be in their early 20’s, then they have to find high-end pieces, also in their early 20’s, to insulate them with.
Even though the Flyers are not going to be ready to win a Cup in 2026-27, they should at least back to bubble team status by then, and the addition of Michkov pushes them into a full fledged playoff team.
The 2023 offseason didn’t quite bring the level of overhaul most were expecting. Though with the salary cap finally expected to rise during the 2024 offseason, it’s more likely moves across the league will start to happen. And because the Flyers chose to sit on the sidelines this summer, there’s no excuses to remain idle next summer too. They’ve got too much talent in the form of prospects waiting in the wings to run it back for the umpteenth season in a row.
The Flyers have never seen through a proper rebuild. It’s also been well over a decade since they made any notable outside additions. Both sides need to be attacked hard over the next few years to roll out the red carpet for Michkov’s arrival so they can hit the ground running when he shows up.
The Flyers have grown too comfortable with inaction. This team hasn’t had a proper, well executed, plan and direction since the early days of Paul Holmgren’s run 15 years ago. Hopefully the 2023 offseason was just a hiccup and the fledgling front office will be much more eager and willing to make moves at the 2024 trade deadline and offseason, because the Michkov clock is ticking and it’s time for Danny Briere to put on the big boy pants and craft the team for a better future.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
Photo credit: Getty Images
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