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At 31:47 minutes, Eliotte Friedman says that Michkov has seemingly refused to meet with teams that want to talk to him.



EDIT: He refused to meet with SOME teams. We don’t know who tho.

by Hinya

41 Comments

  1. bsaures

    That some flags so red you swear we were still in the soviet union

  2. FxSpecter

    That might be why KH is looking to move up in the draft (for fresh prince) or looking to draft Benny boy. When you are a highly touted generational hockey prospect and you refuse to talk to teams that are potentially drafting you, you aren’t the one making that decision, someone else in power is.

  3. brasseur10

    If true, there is no way we draft him. But why would he refuse to talk to us?

  4. JehovahsBestWitness

    There has to be more to the story. Maybe it’s a KHL thing?

  5. boostedgts

    My first thought was exactly what Eliotte said, he has a team preference and is trying to *maneuver* it for the cards to fall in the direction he wants. So what do you do? If the first 3/4 teams (assuming, Russians typically like Montreal) want to talk, you play hard to get so they don’t take the risk.

    But then you also open yourself to another can of worms:

    – is the guy a team player?
    – can he handle a rebuilding team?
    – does he have an alternative agenda?
    – can we trust him?
    – **will he want to play for us?**

    Edit: I’m not stating he wants to come to Montreal, but there’s no way he’s going to shun away 10+ teams without burning bridges.

  6. Who cares where he wants to go (if true). He is an asset, if he refuses to play with the team that drafted him, we can always sell him for a kings ransom.

  7. FlashyChapter

    This is a mess. I will not blame the Habs if they skip him and he becomes a star. Way too much risk.

  8. Hockey4Life27

    Not something I wanted to hear today 😐. If this is the case, big red flag. You can’t waste your top 5 pick if you think we won’t play for your team…

  9. And that’s why we will stay away from him. Lots of red flags beside all that talent.

  10. BlazeOfGlory72

    Man, it’s going to be so lame to draft in the top 5 of a draft with an incredibly talented top 5, only to end up with a lower tier player.

  11. unKappa

    It’s gonna be hard to blame KH if we skip him. For all we know he doesn’t want to play here at all.

  12. anxiousnl

    Christ, just when I’ve warmed up to the idea of possibly drafting him. Hope we can move up or down with our pick.

  13. It’s actually infuriating that every single time the Habs draft high the draft is either mediocre or some shit like this happens lmao

  14. flepine44

    People need to realize that the red flags with Michkov are not only the Russian factor, but mainly his personality/off-ice issue.

    Stay away from that and go with the high-upside somewhere else. Best scenario you scoop Smith/Carlsson if they drop, worst case you jump on Benson/Leonard. Even if Michkov ends up the better talent. Avaliability is the best ability.

  15. BennyBreast

    Friedman is still being kinda cryptic about it. He’s saying SOME teams haven’t yet been able to get a commitment from him for a meeting. Not like he’s outright refusing everyone.

  16. WintertimeLivingEasy

    Sounds to me like his agent declined a meeting between a scout and Michkov, we have no idea why.

    And it’s not Bobrov because he wasn’t in Russia.

    And other teams have not confirmed they are able to meet him before the draft.

  17. Take that coupled with Michkov forcing his way out of SKA Petersburg to get more playing time and then the rumblings about him yelling at teammates and coaches, and then player himself — regardless of the whole Russian thing — becomes hard to sell to GMs who want a reliable, culture-setting franchise cornerstone early in the draft.

  18. rontzeeez

    That’s apparently cap, his teammates say otherwise

  19. bathbwoi

    I was very high on Michkov but if this is indeed true I definitely don’t want us to draft this clown. Not worth the headache and mind games.

    It was ok to take a risk on the waiting 3 years but if he is t even meeting with teams that want to talk to him that skyrockets the risk factor on him by 100 percent.

    Sounds like he has a piss pour attitude, no thanks.

  20. bathbwoi

    Also, could this have something to do with the rumour of the habs wanting to jump up in the draft? Maybe the habs know michkov doesn’t want to go to MTL and wants to go to a specific team higher up in the draft? And said team knows this and that’s why they are willing to trade down?

  21. WesMcCauley

    So many mixed reports

    Anthony Martineau talked to one of his trainers (Daniel Bochner) and he said the exact opposite.

    Now Elliotte is one of the best person in this business so I’m sure his sources are good too.

    But I really have a hard time believe he doesn’t want to talk to specific teams…

  22. shogun2909

    So that’s why Kent tries to move up, actually kinda want to go big on that 2nd overall but scared of what the Ducks might ask

  23. 88Sephiroth88

    Trying to pull off a Jagr huh?

    Either way, we have to remember that the Habs have never reveal their cards. Even if Hughes had the 3rd pick 2020 (left over of Byfield or Stutzle), he probably wouldn’t have revealed his strategy unlike Dorion.

  24. PopEquivalent1061

    Mad respect for Michkov pulling a Jagr

  25. sc24Habs

    Where there’s smoke there’s fire. We don’t need a cancer in the locker room no matter how talented.

  26. Hard to believe. For a guy that is adamant that he will be at the draft and he absolutely wants to play in the NHL, it would make no sense to say no to interviews.

  27. meowpeh

    Yikes he can stay in the KHL for all I care if this is true

  28. ignominieux

    Let’s not exaggerate. Eliotte chose his words very carefully and made sure not to jump to any conclusions. He just said it was difficult to arrange a meeting for now but he’ll wait for developments. We should all do the same and not assume that Michkov has tried to strong-arm anyone or is choosing his destination…

  29. Sentenced2Burn

    **Clip actually starts at 36:20**

    Y’all need to actually *listen* to the damn thing instead of just reading OP’s title (which is a bit misleading) and then diving right into the comments

  30. bcgrappler

    This seems like post final pre draft days.

  31. ukrainianhab

    Pass.

    Don’t believe all rumours but this is just way too many red flags.

  32. NoStressT

    Friedman starts by saying “it’s really difficult to confirm this right now”.
    How is that a fact? Throwing something like that without the necessary backup is borderline unprofessional.
    I’m kind of tired for this anti Michkov trend at the moment, simply because the guy is Russian and plays in KHL. Who said he was an issue in the locker room?
    We keep hearing plenty of bad rumours towards him, but all of them are only rumours, not one as a proper backup.
    On the other side, we know for a fact that he wants to play in NHL, his agent confirmed that too, he said he wanted to be there for the draft. Wouldn’t it be kind of a suicide to claim to play for an NHL team and refuse any interview on the other hand?
    We can’t get any information on him but somehow, everything that filter is here to degrade him. Fudge that, The only thing we got for sure, is that his coaches have nothing but good things to say about him.

  33. matt_spos

    All these things coming out about this guy and the red flags , yet habs fans will meltdown if they pass on him lmao

  34. Professional_Mode804

    People are overreacting to this. This seems like a similar situation to the “character issues” talked about in the past. It’s all mostly speculation. We still don’t know much.

  35. dphizler

    This type of bullshit needs to stop

    The player should be banned from the NHL if he refuses specific teams. It’s unfair to that team.

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