Is Matvei Michkov even closer to joining the Flyers sooner than expected?

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and there’s definitely a lot of smoke surrounding Matvei Michkov right now, especially after this past weekend. 

A report from Russian outlet Sport-Express dropped on Sunday saying that the Flyers’ top prospect would be moving on to Philadelphia, getting his current KHL contract with SKA St. Petersburg terminated in order to do so, though with the Russian pro club retaining his rights within that league. 

And just like that, in the middle of what should be a dead period for the Flyers with them out of the playoffs, Michkov Watch went into overdrive, especially after this was picked up on over on Instagram:

A few weeks ago, SKA St. Petersburg chairman Alexander Medvedev opened up the possibility of Michkov arriving to the Flyers sooner than expected when he discussed the seventh overall pick’s path to the NHL in an interview with another Russian sports outlet in Match TV, hinting, among other things, that some sort of decision on Michkov’s immediate future would be made by the end of June. 

Since then, Michkov has posted a couple of videos of him working out – curiously in Flyers gear – to Instagram, and all the while, general manager Danny Brière has been keeping things extremely close to the vest regarding Michkov in interviews since the season ended. 

So there very well could be something brewing here, but there are by no means any guarantees, at least not yet. 

A key hurdle to jump through, as reported and followed up on by The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco and The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz after word got out of Russia, is that Michkov is still a SKA St. Petersburg player under contract in the KHL. The Flyers aren’t allowed to get involved, can only do so much, and only know so much.

So if there is an out for Michkov to make his way to the NHL, it’s up to him and his representation to work that exit out with SKA St. Petersburg over in Russia. 

But if they do, then the Philadelphia Flyers’ outlook would be shifting in a major, major way.

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