It’s inarguable that young Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov has massive potential, but two years into his NHL career, the talented forward is not yet on the radar for a potential Team Russia Olympic squad.
Russia, of course, is banned from international competitions at all levels, which means no NHL players will be representing their nation at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
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Tampa Bay’s superstar winger Nikita Kucherov said it best: it’s not a best-on-best competition without Russia, but the reality is the reality.
The hockey powerhouse’s exclusion has long raised questions of what their squad would look like if they were competing in the Olympics, and two Russian legends recently weighed in on the topic for themselves.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, iconic forward-turned-SKA St. Petersburg head coach Igor Larionov chose his roster, which came with a few surprises.
Kucherov, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, Alex Ovechkin, and Evgeni Malkin were among the obvious choices at forward, and Montreal Canadiens starlet Ivan Demidov managed to sneak in on the third line as well.
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As for the fourth line, though? Players like Vasily Podkolzin, Ivan Barbashev, and Vasily Podkolzin all got in ahead of the Flyers’ Michkov.
Larionov also opted for a “PK guy” in Ilya Mikheyev for roster depth, so Michkov wasn’t particularly close to being considered.
But, Larionov isn’t the only coach to omit Michkov from their hypothetical Olympic roster.
Former Russian national team head coach Ilya Vorobyov, a two-time Gagarin Cup-winning coach with an Olympic Gold Medal to his resume, didn’t include Michkov, either.
Vorobyov, in his interview with MatchTV, had a number of roster overlaps with Larionov’s team, though youngsters like Danila Yurov, Dmitri Voronkov, and Pavel Dorofeyev made his cut in addition to Demidov.
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Vorobyov’s explanation for Demidov likely tells us why Michkov wasn’t on his team.
“He is a young boy, and just starting his career. The level of wingers in the Russian national team is very high,” the sage bench boss said of Demidov.
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“We need to look at who would have been eliminated due to injury, and what line Vanya would have ended up in. What would he have brought to those three? I really like Demidov as a player. He is the future young star of the national team. But the Olympics are a fleeting tournament, and there is no time for experiments. And we need not only those guys who score.”
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So, with Demidov in, and the likes of Ovechkin, Panarin, Kucherov, Kaprizov, Kirill Marchenko, and others occupying the wings, there was no room for Michkov.
Michkov, of course, was the captain of the Russia U20 and Russia 25 teams back in 2022-23 and dominated representing his country in the 2021 U18 World Junior Championships.
In that tournament, the now-21-year-old led all players in scoring with 16 points and broke the Russian single-tournament goals record with his 12 tallies.
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Oh, and Michkov was named MVP and Best Forward.
Kucherov and Ilya Kovalchuk previously held Russia’s goals record with 11 apiece.
Michkov has proven he can handle and produce in the international spotlight, but a frustrating sophomore season in the NHL under new Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has seemingly left him with his fair share of doubters.
