Forward of the Russian national team among players under 25 years old Matvey Michkov got under a powerful power reception of NHL veteran Alexei Yemelin during a match with Minsk “Dynamo” at a friendly tournament in Sochi. It seems that the fault of a powerful defender is not here – yesterday’s junior is to blame himself. Welcome to adult hockey!

Michkov is already a brand

Matvey Michkov is no longer just a talented Russian striker, but a real brand that symbolizes the bright future of Russian hockey. He is compared with Alexander Ovechkin, and for good reason – Michkov broke his record, becoming the youngest player in the adult Russian team. A debut at the age of 16 is not all that the star forward has flashed. He became the youngest puck scorer in the Russian team, was remembered for a spectacular game at the 2021 World Junior Championships with 12 goals, brought SKA-1946 victory in the Kharlamov Cup, scoring a lacrosse goal in the final and made him talk about himself as a potential member of the Olympic Beijing 2022 team. All this is due to intellectual hockey and excellent technique.

Matvey Michkov / Photo: © Tom Pennington / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Michkov did not make it to the Olympics, but at the NHL Draft in 2023 he will definitely be in the forefront and will be of interest to absolutely every NHL club. There is no doubt that his name will be in the top three of the best young hockey players in the world.

Got hit by force

In the KHL, the forward does not yet have great merits – last season he played only 13 games in which he scored 5 points. So far they haven’t started throwing him into battle in SKA, mostly Michkov fought on the youth front. This off-season, he got a chance to play for the Russia Under-25 team, made up of the most talented young players in the KHL. It seems that the coaches had no other contenders for the title of captain except Michkov.

At a friendly tournament in Sochi, this team met Dynamo Minsk the day before. Defender Emelin, who signed a contract with the Minskers in the summer, did not stand on ceremony with the young star of the Russian national team and in the second period caught him with a power hold. Michkov did not read the opponent’s maneuver, was aimed at the goal and missed the moment when it was still possible to group up and avoid a hard collision. Instead, rolling on his legs apart, he caught the attack with his left knee and immediately fell to the ice, writhing in pain.

Photo: © KHL / Yury Kuzmin

Emelin patted Michkov on the back, making it clear that he did not want to harm him. But the St. Petersburg striker was no longer up to the opponent’s apologies: he went straight to the locker room, and from there to the MRI. There is no exact information about the results of the study yet, but SKA coach Roman Rotenberg, who should be in the know better than anyone else, said that Michkov was probably out for two months.

What was it?

Emelin immediately after the match hurried to justify himself: “No one beat the knee in the knee. This is pure power. Do you think I should have let the player into the center? They played against me the same way, sometimes even harder.

It is curious that the opinions of hockey experts were divided on this matter: Vladimir Plushchev called Emelin’s game too tough for a friendly tournament, and Leonid Weisfeld noted that Michkov himself was to blame and injured his knee due to the fact that he changed the direction of movement.

It seems that there really is no outright villain in this situation – Emelin has never been shy about meeting opponents hard, and the young forward has not yet got used to this, because at the adult level he will not even have three dozen matches. Emelin was not hired to babysit young people, albeit very talented ones, which means that Michkov will have to seriously think about how he sees his immediate hockey future. If, having recovered from this injury, he continues to climb the goal without a second thought, then this can literally slaughter his career. And in the decisive year before the NHL draft, this is the last thing Michkov needs.