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| ROUND 1 | TEAM | ORIGINAL | PLAYER | DETAILS |
|---|
| 1 |  | - | This will be short. As much as the Blackhawks don’t deserve phenom Connor Bedard for covering up sexual assault for a decade, they won the lottery. They are taking Bedard. Chance of selecting Michkov: 0% | |
| 2 |  | - | Anaheim are one of the best drafting teams in the league, so MIchkov would make sense for them but I think it will be too tempting to take Adam Fantilli here. He’s a player that can instantly come into the NHL next season and put up 50-60 points, maybe more, and then years down the road put up 100 points. Him at 1C and Zegras at 2C will make a powerful center depth. Selecting Michkov: 10% | |
| 3 |  | - | The Blue Jackets seem like a team that would be all in on Michkov, if they were drafting 5-7 I’d guarantee you they’d select the Russian. They aren’t afraid to draft Europeans and just three years ago shocked the league by selecting Russian forward Yegor Chinakhov with the 21st overall pick. No one had Yegor going that early but the Blue Jackets weren’t scared to take the chance, so Michkov makes a lot of sense for them. BUT their GM, Jarmo Kekäläinen, made these comments after the draft lottery, “I think there'll be a great center iceman available at 3." So that means Leo Carlsson or William Smith most likely. And that makes perfect sense for them because they are much better than their record showed and they desperately need a number one center. Both Carlsson and Smith could only need one more year before making the jump to the NHL. That’s much better than waiting for a winger that won’t make the jump for another four seasons. Chance of selecting Michkov: 20% | |
| 4 |  | - | The Sharks make a lot of sense as a team to snag Michkov, as they aren’t afraid to draft Russians. They have drafted eight since 2017. Though it should be noted they tend to just take late fliers on them; the only Russian they have drafted since 2017 before round four was Artemi Kniazev in the second round in 2019. They did take Nikolay Goldobin in the first round (#27) of 2014’s draft. All that said, it's still hard to see SJS taking Michkov because their new GM Mike Grier already said they want to make a quick turnaround and waiting more than three years for a player won’t help that plan come to fruition. When asked about Michkov after the draft lottery, he said, “He’s got a contract for another three years or so. He’s a good player, a talented player, but he’s going to be under contract over there for quite a bit.” That doesn’t sound like a guy sold on waiting for Michkov. He also mentioned William Smith, a kid that went to high school with Grier’s son. Smith will probably only need one year in college before making the NHL jump, so I think that would be much more interesting to Grier than Michkov. They probably want to make the most of the Tomas Hertl and Logan Couture years. Still I could see San Jose taking the chance on Michkov. Chance of selecting Michkov: 40% | |
| 5 |  | - | Now here comes the true test: the Montreal Canadiens. The fans desperately want their team to draft Michkov but how realistic is it? There was some promising news shortly before the draft lottery, when some Canadien radio was talking about how Montreal would not be interested in MIchkov if they fell to him. But after the draft lottery GM Kent Hughes didn’t shoot down the idea of drafting the Russian. He said, “I have to believe if you're considering Michkov and another player that you deem very, very comparable in terms of talent and potential then those factors are probably going to weigh him down, but we're not there yet where I can say to you that we believe there others equal to him or he's equal to them for that matter." Basically it sounds like if there’s a guy they seem around the same level as Michkov they will take the other player because of the contract issue. Outside of Bedard and Fantilli there isn’t a player close to Michkov but if their scouts think otherwise they could certainly pass on Michkov. They could also be wary of drafting another small forward, since they recently drafted Sean Farrell (5’9”), Filip Mesar (5’10”), Jan Mysak (5’11”), and Xavier Simoneau (5’6”) among other, and they already have Cole Caufield (5’7”), Nick Suzuki (5’11”), Rem Pitick (5’11”), Rafael Harvey-Pinard (5’9”) and Brendan Gallagher (5’9”) on the team. Adding another 5’9” forward might not be appetizing to them. Maybe they aim for the big, almost NHL ready defensemen in David Reinbacher. He’d make a perfect partner for 5’10” Lane Hutson. Chance of selecting Michkov: 60% | |
| 6 |  | - | Of all the teams, no team needs someone more like Michkov than the Coyotes, who have never had someone close to Michkov’s capabilities. But also of all the teams that could potentially be in on Michkov, the Coyotes scare me the least. There’s a couple reasons as to why. First, it would not surprise me if Michkov tells the Coyotes during the draft interviews that he won’t play for them. Why would he? He doesn’t have to come over, he can stay in Russia for as long as he wants making big money. Why would he fly across the globe to play for a poverty franchise that can barely fill a college stadium, making under a million for three years on his Entry Level Contract? Sorry to the Coyote fans for all of that, but I simply don’t see MIchkov wanting to play in the desert. The second reason as to why I see Coyotes skipping on Michkov is the Coyotes are a team that don’t have room to swing and miss on their first round picks. They get by the skin of their teeth as is, so if someone doesn’t hit it hurts them a lot and they do miss a lot. For those two reasons I think they grab someone that’s more of a sure thing. If Reinbacher is gone then Zach Benson or Ryan Leonard makes sense. They might even reach on offensively skilled defensemen Axel Sandin Pellikka. Chance of selecting Michkov: 10% | |
| 7 |  | - | The Flyers are a big wild card. If they didn’t fire their terrible front office a couple months ago I would have guaranteed they would not draft Michkov. A small, Russian winger you have to wait more than three seasons for? No way they would pick him. Unfortunately they fired their GM Chuck Fletcher and hired former player Daniel Briere. Briere himself is a former small (5’9”) skilled forward, so maybe he can see something in Michkov. The question for Briere is does he want something more sure that can help him in 2-3 seasons to make himself look good or does he take Michkov as a security blanket, basically saying “Hey you can’t fire me until this Michkov kid comes over and we see what he does.” But then Michkov might never come over at all. It’s tough to tell. Something that makes me think they don’t draft MIchkov is they made Keith Jones Team President of Hockey Operations. Keith won’t make the draft pick but you have to think his overall plan is to play the hockey he likes and he’s old school, so they might look at someone like Ryan Leonard, Dalibir Dvorsky, Colby Barlow or big boy Matthew Woods. Chance of selecting Michkov: 30% | |
| 8 |  | - | And that leaves the Capitals. I guess there’s no 100% guarantee that they will take Michkov but the fact they snagged Ivan Miroshnichenko last summer because he fell into their laps makes me think they would do the same with Michkov. Yes, he wouldn’t come to the NHL until after Ovechkin retires (assuming he retires after his current contract) but you must select him. He’s franchise altering and the Caps are too smart of a team to let that go. They know that whoever they pick will at best be NHL ready in 2-3 years and even then how much of an impact will they have? Might as well select the person that will take three years but has an instant impact when he arrives. Chance of selecting Michkov: 90% | |
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