Photo Credit: SKA
Over the span of the past few weeks Matvei Michkov’s usage with SKA St Petersburg in the KHL has diminished dramatically. The seventh overall draft pick went from centering the second and third lines during the pre-season, to receiving less and less ice time in the last three outings for SKA during the pre-season. Moreover, after being benched for the first two games of the regular season, today Michkov will be making his much anticipated 2023-24 season debut. More than likely he will be utilized as a limiter (13th Forward in the KHL), a role that was previously held by a 17-year-old in Ivan Demidov.
To be clear, this is actually the third healthy scratch for Michkov with SKA, as he was a healthy scratch during the August 25th pre-season game. Injury speculation immediately began, as it is very rare that a talented teenager is benched.
The KHL continues to be a frustrating league, developmental wise, for prized young prospects. I think Flyers fans became worried of Michkov’s benching because it’s very hard to get accurate information from Russia, and most fans wouldn’t want a young talent like Tyson Foerster benched for the first two games of the season if he made the team outright out of camp.
