The Flyers are staring at a brief but meaningful window if they want to lock Matvei Michkov into the longest deal available under the NHL’s new rules.
September 15 is the cutoff. Once the calendar flips to September 16, the maximum length for a contract extension with your own player drops to seven years, and the maximum for an unrestricted free agent falls to six. That shift has already sparked a flurry of business around the league, with teams moving quickly to beat the deadline and squeeze in one more year of term while they still can.
Ottawa got in on it with Drake Batherson. Buffalo handed Noah Ostlund an eight-year deal that could prove to be a steal at $6.6 million per year. Washington most recently joined the rush by giving 21-year-old winger Ryan Leonard an eight-year contract carrying a $10.5-million AAV.
So the question for Philadelphia is obvious: should the Flyers try to do the same with Michkov?
They already used this opportunity once this summer, signing Tyson Foerster to an eight-year extension on July 1 at a $7.1-million AAV. Now the conversation shifts to the Flyers’ most important young forward.
Michkov is eligible for an extension, but there has not been much noise about a long-term agreement. Even so, it feels like a topic the team at least needs to explore.
The hesitation is easy to understand. If Michkov had come into last season better prepared and delivered a stronger sophomore campaign, this probably would have moved faster.
A more convincing year would have made it simpler for the Flyers to commit to him for the long haul. Instead, there are some doubts about whether he can grow into one of the team’s best forwards.
Still, that is the job. NHL general managers are paid to take calculated swings.
The Flyers have spent the summer around Michkov, and they’ve seen him on the ice in Voorhees over the past couple of weeks. That might be enough to make them more comfortable.
A few conversations about how he spent the offseason and what he expects from the coming year could go a long way toward shaping whether the team is willing to make a serious offer.
And if Leonard can land $10.5 million annually for eight years, it’s fair to ask whether Philadelphia should at least consider something in the neighborhood of a $100-million contract for Michkov. A top-line player producing at a point-per-game pace is going to command massive money soon enough, and if Michkov becomes that player or more, the logic for trying is pretty straightforward.
But there’s another side to this, and it may be the more realistic one.
Michkov may not have any interest in signing right now.
That would make sense, too. He can take the bet on himself and wait to see whether he truly becomes one of the NHL’s elite offensive players.
If he had followed up last season with a strong step forward, the Flyers might already be more comfortable putting a major offer on the table, and he might have had a number worth accepting. Something long-term, lucrative, and fair enough that it wouldn’t feel like he was selling himself short.
Instead, the range of possible outcomes is wide. If Michkov rebounds the way the Flyers hope - if he leads the team in scoring, becomes a force on the power play, and turns into a real game-breaker near the top of the lineup - then his next contract could climb to around $15 million per year.
If he settles in as a strong 65-point winger who helps in all three zones but doesn’t quite become the explosive star people imagined, the number could land much closer to Leonard’s salary range. That is a huge difference.
From Michkov’s point of view, why rush into anything less than what he believes he can earn? The extra year on the front end may not matter much if he reaches the level everyone is chasing, because the back end of the deal would likely still pay him like a star.
For now, both sides can probably afford to wait. The Flyers can gather more evidence.
Michkov can build toward a season that changes the conversation. And unless things get much farther down the road without a deal, there is no real emergency attached to missing this September 15 deadline.
If next summer arrives and he still hasn’t signed an extension, then the concern starts to rise. But the likeliest path right now is simple enough: the Flyers let a few months play out, hope Michkov starts his third season strongly, and then revisit the numbers early in 2027.
Michkov’s friend Ivan Demidov already chose security in Montreal with an eight-year deal at a $9.15-million AAV, but that contract was viewed as a major underpay from the moment it was signed. Michkov probably wants no part of that kind of outcome.
If he’s going to commit, he’ll want to know the price reflects what he can become. For now, that means showing it on the ice first.
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