VOORHEES, N.J. — Whatever logistical headaches or backroom machinations that the Philadelphia Flyers and/or Matvei Michkov’s camp had to go through to get the player out of his KHL contract and over to North America are still unclear. Flyers general manager Daniel Briere, speaking shortly after the club signed Michkov to a three-year entry-level contract on Monday, still preferred not to divulge too much information as to how this all came about.
But that’s a story for another day. What’s important is that Michkov, the No. 7 pick in last year’s draft, is on his way to Philadelphia two years earlier than anyone expected. That much is now official, a little more than one week after news broke that this was inevitable.
“We’re excited that he’s finally coming,” Briere said. “There was a lot of things that needed to happen in the background, but that was mostly for him and the team in Russia and his representatives. … It was nice when we had the chance to start talking to his agent to finally get this deal done.”
Michkov won’t arrive in time for Flyers development camp, which began on Monday and will have its first on-ice session on Tuesday. But Briere confirmed that Michkov will arrive in plenty of time for training camp in September, and that he will be on the NHL roster when the season begins.
The supremely talented right wing could give the Flyers’ offense a different element. Or, more bluntly, some much-needed skill and goal-scoring finish. That was lacking both at five-on-five and on the power play last season, as the Flyers finished 27th in goals per game (2.82) and last — for the third straight season — with a man advantage (12.2 percent).
But Briere also was cautious to not put too much pressure on the 19-year-old’s shoulders. He pushed back on a suggestion that Michkov will ultimately be the centerpiece of the organizational rebuild.
“It’s a little early to tell. Just like you, we’ve watched him on tape. It’s exciting, and you see the stuff that he pulls off, so you can’t wait to see that on the Flyers. But at the same time, we have to be careful, we don’t know how it’s going to work out,” Briere said.
“He has special skills. He’s extremely talented. We hope that down the road it turns out to be. But let’s be honest, it’s not going to be the case next season, or even the following season. Patience is the key here. It’s going to take a little bit of time. You look at guys — you can start with Connor Bedard coming in. He’s a good player, we all saw that. But there’s a learning curve that you have to go through. That’s what we expect with Matvei.”
Helping guide Michkov through that learning curve will be coach John Tortorella.
In many cases, Tortorella, often with a tough-love approach, has helped turn raw young talents into every-day, high-end NHL players. Cam York, Tyson Foerster and Owen Tippett have all benefited from Tortorella’s tutelage. But there also have been some highly publicized rifts between the coach and various players throughout his two-plus decades of coaching.
Briere gave a full-throated endorsement of Tortorella when asked about how he expects the coach will handle a potential future star in Michkov.
“When I told Torts (that Michkov was coming), he was really excited,” Briere said. “And that’s one of the things that I’m most excited about, too, the chance for Matvei to learn from a coach like Torts. I know he’s going to coach him the right way, just like he does everybody else. He’s going to be tough on hm. He’s going to be fair. He’s going to teach him the right way.
“That’s one of the best (things) about all this. He’s going to come here, nothing’s going to be given to him. He’s going to have to earn it. Knowing how competitive we’ve been told he is, it’s going to be great. It’s going to be fun to see. I know I’m really excited about that.”
Briere also expects Michkov to be guided by his new teammates, too. The only other moves that the Flyers made on Monday were announcing a two-year contract extension for Garnet Hathaway, taking him through the 2026-27 season, and a one-year extension for defenseman Erik Johnson. Both players are viewed by the Flyers as the right kinds of guys to have in the dressing room to help foster a positive culture.
Regarding Hathaway, Briere expressed confidence that he will still be effective for the next three seasons, even though he’ll be turning 35 in November of the final year of the deal. Supporting Briere’s argument is the fact that Hathaway played in all 82 games last season, and 84 games in 2022-23, when he was traded from Washington to Boston midseason.
“If you watch the way he trains — it’s not like we signed him for six or seven years. I’m pretty confident that Garnet is still going to be playing the same way that he’s been playing this past season,” Briere said. “I really have no worries there with him. … We wouldn’t have done it if we felt that there could be an issue there.”
As for Johnson, the defenseman can serve as a sounding board for some of the young defenseman already on the roster and in the organization.
“His leadership in the room was amazing when he came,” Briere said. “Some of the players loved him. Coaches all loved him. It’s the intangibles that he brings. At the end of the day, he’s also a 6-foot-4 right shot defenseman. He’s not going to be in the way, slowing the growth of our young guys. He’s there to help them grow. That’s the way we see it.”
So is the Flyers’ offseason now over? Not necessarily.
Briere left open the possibility that there could be a trade or two in the works. The Flyers have plenty of capital to get a deal done, particularly now that they have three first-round picks and three second-round picks in next year’s draft.
While Briere isn’t in a rush to dangle those picks — he suggested that he’d like the scouting staff to get a better handle on the 2025 draft class before letting any of them go — he hinted that there might be more news coming. And soon.
“We’re still trying (to make trades),” he said. “At the moment, we’re having some discussions with a few teams on a few different things. If that doesn’t happen in the next week, there’s a good chance that (the roster now) is what will be at training camp. We’re always trying.”
Regardless of whether the Flyers bring in any more notable names, though, the 2024-25 season just became more exciting, both for the fans as well as those running the organization.
“We never thought when we drafted (Michkov) last summer that this would result in him coming over a year later,” Briere said. “It’s really exciting.”
(Photo of Daniel Briere, Matvei Michkov at Keith Jones at the 2023 NHL Draft: Danny Murphy / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
