Flyers' Matvei Michkov Draws Intriguing Comparison to NHL Superstar

Over the last several days, Flyers star winger Matvei Michkov has understandably been the talk of the NHL world, especially amidst the team's terrible start around him, and the noise didn't get any quieter with rumors of an interest in a trade away from Philadelphia.

On Wednesday, Flyers general manager Danny Briere held a press conference to address those rumors, where he revealed that both Michkov and his agent, Paul Theofanous, had nothing to do it.

Of course, when there's smoke, there's fire, and Briere and Flyers governor Dan Hilferty flew to meet the Flyers in Edmonton to help quell the flames as best they could.

In his press conference, Briere noted that Michkov simply draws a lot of attention, and highly-publicized beefs with teammates are really just like brothers fighting.

Most importantly, Briere declared that "there's no doubt" he and the Flyers believe in Michkov, and, according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, something that gives Briere that confidence is his own experience as player mentoring a budding superstar.

You'll recall that, in 2014-15, Briere played his last season in the NHL as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, serving as a veteran leader for players like Gabe Landeskog, Ryan O'Reilly, Matt Duchene, Tyson Barrie, and... none other than a 19-year-old Nathan MacKinnon.

"Someone called me on Wednesday and said to me, 'Do you remember who Daniel Briere played with in the final year of his career?'" Friedman started in his latest episode of the "32 Thoughts" podcast. "Michkov is in his third season, he's 21. MacKinnon was in his second season, and he was 19 at the time. That was a very tough season for MacKinnon. And this person said to me, he sees a lot of similarities between MacKinnon in Colorado at the time."

After impressively scoring 63 points in his rookie season, just like Michkov did, MacKinnon cratered down to 38 points in just 64 games in his sophomore season with Briere on the team.

MacKinnon never reached those rookie scoring heights again until his fifth NHL season, when he scored a then-career-high 97 points as a 22-year-old in 2017-18.

"Overall, Briere sees a common thread between 19-year-old MacKinnon and 21-year-old Michkov. Two very, very headstrong, talented players who needed to be reined in and understood. And this person said to me, 'Do not underestimate how much Briere thinks about that and compares the two.' So, he sees Michkov as a long-term investment."

It's an especially interesting comparison, too, knowing now that MacKinnon has scored no fewer than 111 points in each of the last four seasons, which includes two 50-goal campaigns in 2023-24 and 2025-26.

He's a Calder Trophy winner, Stanley Cup champion, a Hart Trophy winner, and a Rocket Richard Trophy winner. If the Flyers get half of those accolades from Michkov, barring the Calder ship that has long since sailed, they'll be in good shape. Fortunately, the Russian phenom is pacing for 40 goals in his third full NHL season thus far.

For Flyers fans, it should come as more than good news that Briere honestly sees and believes the similarities between Michkov and someone as talented and dedicated to winning as MacKinnon.