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Elliotte Friedman believes $12,750,000 Flyers rookie has potential to level 'current kings of Philadelphia' involving Bryce Harper, A.J Brown

Modified Dec 14, 2024 05:03 GMT

The Philadelphia Flyers are getting great things out of rookie Russian forward Matvei Michkov, who they selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

The odd-on favorite to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL's rookie of the year, Michkov has already scored 11 goals with 16 assists, which leads all rookies. He is also ahead of 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks, as the latter missed a chunk of the season due to injury.

During his latest "32 Thoughts" podcast, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman opined that $12,750,000 Flyers rookie could soon be included in the top names in Philadelphia sports, including the likes of Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper, Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts and wide receiver A.J. Brown.

"I was just saying to them that, you know, Michkov gonna own that city before too long, like, you know, you take a look at, you know, the current kings of Philadelphia, sports," he said. "I mean, they've got Bryce Harper. You know the Eagles are bickering with each other a little bit right now, but they've got Hurts and AJ Brown, you've got Joel Embiid, like Michkov is he's gonna, like, he's gonna own that town if he keeps that up."

"Now, the team's got to get better, and they've got to start winning a few more games," he continued. "But you can see it. You can see it coming, like he's got personality plus."

Whether Michkov ultimately ends up with the Calder Trophy at the end of this season remains to be seen. But he's off to a positive start in his NHL career, and the Flyers are fortunate to have been able to select him in the 2023 Draft.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov is in his 1st NHL season

A native of Perm, Russia, Michkov began his professional career in 2021 with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL and continued to play for them as well as their affiliates through 2022.

In 47 games with HC Sochi last season, Michkov scored 19 goals with 22 assists. He's appeared in a total of 91 KHL games, scoring 31 goals with 36 assists.

He's one of the more dynamic and exciting forwards that the Flyers have had since the 2008-09 rookie season of forward Claude Giroux, as well as the 2016-17 rookie season of forward Travis Konecny.