Per Bob McKenzie, teams have scheduled interviews with Michkov for the upcoming draft
The @TSNHockey 2023 NHL Draft Final Rankings will be released on Thursday. Top 96 plus 14 honourable mentions.@CraigJButton mock draft on Friday.
Also, a little draft news to pass along.
For all the talk about NHL teams being stymied in their efforts to talk to Russian… https://t.co/Poae24xFPn
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 19, 2023
by rontzeeez
6 Comments
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No disrespect to Eliotte; he’s a very credible source. But his reporting of Michkov on his podcast seemed to be more speculative than anything. At least he made sure to tread lightly. Hopefully (and I strongly think we are), we’re one of the teams interviewing Michkov.
That’s good to hear. Now I’m curious if those are the same teams that reported to Eliotte who finally managed to set things up, or different teams altogether. Whatever it is I can’t wait to see Mckenzie’s list.
i just don’t want dvorsky. not at 5
>”No elite NHL draft prospect has had less live viewings/interactions with NHL GMs/executives/head scouts in his draft year than Michkov.”
I’m fully in the “I don’t believe a single word coming out Michkov regardless of the source” camp.
Here’s the potential situations:
* MM declined some teams for interviews because he’s trying to force his way to a specific team
* MM declined because he figures he’s going top 10, so there’s no sense in seeing teams drafting too low when he has limited time on this trip
* MM declined because the logistics weren’t in place yet
* MM declined because he doesn’t understand the process
* MM’s management saw the backlash and booked some meetings
* MM always had meetings in the books and it was misreported
* Media is being fed misinformation
* Media is milking the situation for all the clicks they can get and are willing to ruin the kid’s reputation in the process
My final opinion: MM is the only player comparable to Bedard. Bedard is the most highly regarded prospect since McDavid, who is himself one the most highly regarded player since Gretzky/Mario. That’s not to say MM is equivalent to McDavid/Gretzky/Mario, but that’s as close as we can ever get to getting a true generational forward since we’re not getting our hands on McDavid or Bedard. Based on that, draft him. Doesn’t matter what the issues are, draft him.
Put another way, if Malkin is a locker room cancer (total hypothetical), would need to be smuggled out of russia (he defected), is a prima donna (total hypothetical), doesn’t take instructions well (total hypothetical), would you honestly pass on Malkin for Smith/Carlsson/Leonard/Benson? Hell no. You take Malkin every day. Same situation here.
I don’t know if SJ is passing on MM. But if they are, we need to draft him. If he’s off the board we take the best C remaining and call it a day (and if we’re lucky that C becomes our 1C, giving us the best C depth we’ve had in decades if SZK becomes 2C). Use the rest of the draft picks to select or trade for a top pairing RHD and goalie prospect. Its not complicated.