He also says he thinks the organization sees Michkov as too one-dimensional. It blows my mind that the team cares so much about that when that « one dimension » is something the team has been missing for 40 years.
No you can’t win a Cup with all offense, but you can’t win with a top-6 filled with good two-way, 60-point players, which has been the strategy for decades
wolceniscool
Florida made the finals while being the smallest in the league. We’ve added 2 6’3 guys in each and dach and slaf. Moneyhab is back and is another 6’2 iirc. I think you can make a solid argument about drafting him regardless.
As for his alleged attitude problems, hopefully he wouldn’t be so arrogant as to dismiss a hall of famer with the same stature coaching him.
I think we’ll do good regardless who we pick.
slowflo123
Picking at 5 should go for best player available, full stop. Drafting for need later in the draft is fine, but there are certain guys that are only available through the draft.
DogNard
So what’s Ryan Leonard’s nickname going to be?
bosomarly
Im gonna feel much better about this when he drops to Washington at 8
DelugeQc
That draft cant come too fast. Boring reading for the past week or so. »Specialists » giving their 2 cents about things they have no control over and that can go wither ways for every single teams except for the Hawks. I mean, I read that Anaheim was going over Fantili for the russian kid, come on now…
noragepetit
Avoir 1 gars un peu plus petit par trio cest tu tant grave? Un trio avec Slaf- PLD- Michkov je vois pas le probleme
Ghost_Idol
Of course, when you look at our roster, first thing you can think about is « No way we need more offense » /s. Also, what a bonehead argument. « We already have Caufield, why would we want a bigger superstar? Even tho we drafted Slaf and one of the reasons was to explicitely not reach for size in future drafts. And even tho taking the short player with better offensive abilities has paid out quitte well. Oh well, lets reach for a « project » ». So tired of this, we should be grateful that we didnt score the 1OA because I swear the management would have done everything to persuade themselves Bedard is too risky.
TheSmallLebowsky1
Imagine having « two Caufield » , the horror.
Physical-Asparagus48
I don’t think anyone, including the media, will have a clue who they are taking until they make the pick next week.
WarrenGZefawn
So draft him and wheel him for a vet. I always look at players at capital and the more they are worth the more you can get for them.
epoidacapo
This is the kind of argument you make when drafting a roster on paper, but in reality you really do want someone as dangerous offensively as Cole/Michkov etc. on the ice at all times (at least at even strength and PP).
If all 12 forwards were like this and the team isn’t going anywhere, then it’d make sense to shake things up. But even then, you draft BPA and then make moves based on asset value.
crissdecaliss
Leonard is an inch or two bigger than Michkov. This is nonsense
kavghanistan
Man I love Arpon but this is not a good take. Michkov is a generational talent. If we’re ignoring the Russian factor, this is a guy with top 2 talent in the last what, 8 drafts?
I don’t care if our top line doesn’t exceed 5″11″ if they score a combined 150 goals every season. If you’re concerned about size, look for bigger players to fill roles via trade or free agency. You will not find or acquire a player like Michkov any other way than by drafting him.
Hockey4Life27
So drafting for need again. Just chose the BPA. These are the same guys who will complain they picked off positional need.
Also I guess Point and Kucherov are too small to be on the same team then 😨, two guys under 6 feet
paul_33
As we all know a team can only have one goal scorer. That’s the real recipe for a cup
ignominieux
Horrible points. I can’t wait for the draft so all these talking heads can finally shut up. The only one reporting on the draft who’s worth a damn is Bobby Marg.
dpjg
This team is so fucking stupid sometimes. Or maybe all the time. We keep making the same dumb mistakes.
samisnotreal
I would love to take Leonard at 5
juliusceasarsalads
Fucking ridiculous man, like to me that’s just such a bullshit reason to not take a player. Who cares if Michkov is a redundancy because we have Caufield, if it’s an issue then use him as a tremendous trade chip. This isn’t as complicated as it seems, If we don’t want Michkov as a player then use him to get something else rare that we do want. I get it, he’s a flawed player that we won’t get a chance to develop for a few years but my god. Where’s the front office that felt brave enough to take a swing on Slafkovsky last year because they felt he had the highest ceiling?? Cmon Kent show us some balls here! Take the risk and see what happens!
eriverside
I’m not a professional analyst by any means, but this opinion makes very little sense to me.
1. NHL teams are structured in 4 lines. The top 2 do most of the scoring. Teams that rely on a single line to score can have some success but can’t win it all (RE: Edmonton McDrais). If you have 1 superstar goal scorer on your team, one of your top 2 lines is missing a superstar goal scorer. So the idea that having 1 CC means you shouldn’t have 2 makes no sense to me.
2. If MM reaches expectations he’d be better than CC. I’d rather have « better than CC » than « CC ». Don’t get me wrong I love the kid, but an upgrade on any player is welcome.
3. Is he seriously saying we shouldn’t want a great player because we’ll have to pay him like a great player? In that case let’s just load up on 3rd liners and call it day. Won’t win any cups, though.
4. If having CC and Better than CC on the same team is an issue, AND paying them is an issue, we can trade them to fill an organizational need. It’s easier to demande an overpayment on an elite player than on a good or average player.
5. Is this guy afraid of success? We need to be bold. The more I think about it the more I think SJ will go for it. But if they miss, we gotta go for it. I keep saying this, this is realistically the best chance we’ll have at getting a superstar. We keep getting high picks in shitty draft years. This is our opportunity to get a game breaker. We need him.
6. See y’all tomorrow.
BlazeOfGlory72
This is probably the weakest attempt yet to convince people that passing on the obvious best player available is somehow a good idea. I don’t get what it is with the Habs media, fanbase and management, where we all seem to want to twist ourselves into pretzels to avoid making the obvious pick, and instead convince ourselves that the less talented player is somehow the better choice.
xXxWeAreTheEndxXx
Yes, we only need one guy who can score. The rest of the roster should be offensively limited guys who have “good character”. That’ll totally win us a cup
bcgrappler
Don’t forget the rumors that we passed on Quinn Hughes because we had victor Mete.
DW_Jitters
Can’t wait for us to pass on Michkov. Going to be funny to see how quickly the fanbase gets behind whoever they pick.
WintertimeLivingEasy
I don’t believe for one second that Habs personnel said Michkov was a one-dimensional goal scorer like Caufield.
29 Comments
Full article: https://theathletic.com/4616366/2023/06/22/matvei-michkov-2023-nhl-draft/
He also says he thinks the organization sees Michkov as too one-dimensional. It blows my mind that the team cares so much about that when that « one dimension » is something the team has been missing for 40 years.
No you can’t win a Cup with all offense, but you can’t win with a top-6 filled with good two-way, 60-point players, which has been the strategy for decades
Florida made the finals while being the smallest in the league. We’ve added 2 6’3 guys in each and dach and slaf. Moneyhab is back and is another 6’2 iirc. I think you can make a solid argument about drafting him regardless.
As for his alleged attitude problems, hopefully he wouldn’t be so arrogant as to dismiss a hall of famer with the same stature coaching him.
I think we’ll do good regardless who we pick.
Picking at 5 should go for best player available, full stop. Drafting for need later in the draft is fine, but there are certain guys that are only available through the draft.
So what’s Ryan Leonard’s nickname going to be?
Im gonna feel much better about this when he drops to Washington at 8
That draft cant come too fast. Boring reading for the past week or so. »Specialists » giving their 2 cents about things they have no control over and that can go wither ways for every single teams except for the Hawks. I mean, I read that Anaheim was going over Fantili for the russian kid, come on now…
Avoir 1 gars un peu plus petit par trio cest tu tant grave? Un trio avec Slaf- PLD- Michkov je vois pas le probleme
Of course, when you look at our roster, first thing you can think about is « No way we need more offense » /s. Also, what a bonehead argument. « We already have Caufield, why would we want a bigger superstar? Even tho we drafted Slaf and one of the reasons was to explicitely not reach for size in future drafts. And even tho taking the short player with better offensive abilities has paid out quitte well. Oh well, lets reach for a « project » ». So tired of this, we should be grateful that we didnt score the 1OA because I swear the management would have done everything to persuade themselves Bedard is too risky.
Imagine having « two Caufield » , the horror.
I don’t think anyone, including the media, will have a clue who they are taking until they make the pick next week.
So draft him and wheel him for a vet. I always look at players at capital and the more they are worth the more you can get for them.
This is the kind of argument you make when drafting a roster on paper, but in reality you really do want someone as dangerous offensively as Cole/Michkov etc. on the ice at all times (at least at even strength and PP).
If all 12 forwards were like this and the team isn’t going anywhere, then it’d make sense to shake things up. But even then, you draft BPA and then make moves based on asset value.
Leonard is an inch or two bigger than Michkov. This is nonsense
Man I love Arpon but this is not a good take. Michkov is a generational talent. If we’re ignoring the Russian factor, this is a guy with top 2 talent in the last what, 8 drafts?
I don’t care if our top line doesn’t exceed 5″11″ if they score a combined 150 goals every season. If you’re concerned about size, look for bigger players to fill roles via trade or free agency. You will not find or acquire a player like Michkov any other way than by drafting him.
So drafting for need again. Just chose the BPA. These are the same guys who will complain they picked off positional need.
Also I guess Point and Kucherov are too small to be on the same team then 😨, two guys under 6 feet
As we all know a team can only have one goal scorer. That’s the real recipe for a cup
Horrible points. I can’t wait for the draft so all these talking heads can finally shut up. The only one reporting on the draft who’s worth a damn is Bobby Marg.
This team is so fucking stupid sometimes. Or maybe all the time. We keep making the same dumb mistakes.
I would love to take Leonard at 5
Fucking ridiculous man, like to me that’s just such a bullshit reason to not take a player. Who cares if Michkov is a redundancy because we have Caufield, if it’s an issue then use him as a tremendous trade chip. This isn’t as complicated as it seems, If we don’t want Michkov as a player then use him to get something else rare that we do want. I get it, he’s a flawed player that we won’t get a chance to develop for a few years but my god. Where’s the front office that felt brave enough to take a swing on Slafkovsky last year because they felt he had the highest ceiling?? Cmon Kent show us some balls here! Take the risk and see what happens!
I’m not a professional analyst by any means, but this opinion makes very little sense to me.
1. NHL teams are structured in 4 lines. The top 2 do most of the scoring. Teams that rely on a single line to score can have some success but can’t win it all (RE: Edmonton McDrais). If you have 1 superstar goal scorer on your team, one of your top 2 lines is missing a superstar goal scorer. So the idea that having 1 CC means you shouldn’t have 2 makes no sense to me.
2. If MM reaches expectations he’d be better than CC. I’d rather have « better than CC » than « CC ». Don’t get me wrong I love the kid, but an upgrade on any player is welcome.
3. Is he seriously saying we shouldn’t want a great player because we’ll have to pay him like a great player? In that case let’s just load up on 3rd liners and call it day. Won’t win any cups, though.
4. If having CC and Better than CC on the same team is an issue, AND paying them is an issue, we can trade them to fill an organizational need. It’s easier to demande an overpayment on an elite player than on a good or average player.
5. Is this guy afraid of success? We need to be bold. The more I think about it the more I think SJ will go for it. But if they miss, we gotta go for it. I keep saying this, this is realistically the best chance we’ll have at getting a superstar. We keep getting high picks in shitty draft years. This is our opportunity to get a game breaker. We need him.
6. See y’all tomorrow.
This is probably the weakest attempt yet to convince people that passing on the obvious best player available is somehow a good idea. I don’t get what it is with the Habs media, fanbase and management, where we all seem to want to twist ourselves into pretzels to avoid making the obvious pick, and instead convince ourselves that the less talented player is somehow the better choice.
Yes, we only need one guy who can score. The rest of the roster should be offensively limited guys who have “good character”. That’ll totally win us a cup
Don’t forget the rumors that we passed on Quinn Hughes because we had victor Mete.
Can’t wait for us to pass on Michkov. Going to be funny to see how quickly the fanbase gets behind whoever they pick.
I don’t believe for one second that Habs personnel said Michkov was a one-dimensional goal scorer like Caufield.
Talent beats size. Everytime.
We don’t need another undersized winger
That’s why the Habs consoder drafting Zach Benson
he’s really not a very good writer