The Montreal Canadiens faced a tough decision at the 2022 NHL Draft. Would they select Shane Wright first overall, or take Juraj Slafkovsky?
We all know now that they ultimately decided on Slafkovsky, leaving Wright to drop to fourth overall where the Seattle Kraken selected him. Wright denied it afterwards, but he gave a menacing glare in the direction of the Habs table at the draft after falling to fourth.
This year, the Canadiens did not draft until 5th, but still had a similar difficult decision to make. After the San Jose Sharks selected Will Smith fourth, the top four centers were off the market. It left the Habs to choose between David Reinbacher, a big, rugged, two-way defender with pro experience in Switzerland or Matvei Michkov, an extremely skilled Russian winger in the KHL.
We all know the story by now and Reinbacher is a Canadiens prospect while Michkov slipped to the Philadelphia Flyers at 7th.
While Michkov is an extremely talented player, there were some red flags that caused him to drop lower than his skill would suggest he should. First of all, he is signed for three more seasons in the KHL with SKA St Petersburg. He will need to honour that contract and is not going to make his NHL debut until at least the 2026-27 season.
There is also the Russian Factor that includes the possibility to stays there longer. That hasn’t been the case for most young players lately, but there is now the added factor of a war going on between Russia and Ukraine, and the KHL playing some shenanigans with Igor Fedotov who is signed by the Philadelphia Flyers but was basically forced to stay in Russia and play in the KHL.
Another wrinkle was added to the Michkov circus when his team played their first regular season game yesterday. Michkov was made a healthy scratch, even though he scored nine goals and 20 points in 30 KHL games last season as a 17 year old.
Is this just a one game thing? Or will the KHL continue to try and play games with Michkov for a while to show their power before trying to get him to sign a longer term contract? Who knows with Russia these days but him sitting in the Russian version of a press box is not good for his development.
It is just the latest wrinkle in an already complicated situation that makes drafting Michkov even more risky.
It is probably for the best that the Canadiens do not have to worry how he develops while being stuck in Russia for the next three seasons.
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