Matvei Michkov is expected back in the Philadelphia area by August 23 at the latest, and that timeline appears to line up with the rest of the Flyers’ young core.
Philadelphia Flyers/Phantoms writer Jamey Baskow said on August 13, in response to fan questions about whether Michkov had returned, that the winger still had not been back in mid-August. Baskow added that this is when most of the younger players, and likely the team as a whole, are expected to reconvene.
The same expectation applies to several other prospects. Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Oliver Bonk and Porter Martone are also expected to return, along with the rest of the youth. The word here is that the majority of the team should be back around August 23.
Michkov’s summer has been built around work, not downtime. He trained in Russia throughout the offseason, with stops in Perm, Moscow and St.
Petersburg, and also spent time at Artemi Panarin’s camp. The Flyers even sent a coach over for about two weeks of three-a-day work that included gym sessions, ice time and conditioning.
Michkov stressed that he did not really take a vacation, instead concentrating on nutrition, recovery and preparation after what was described as a rocky sophomore year.
Earlier late-July interviews and reports pointed to an early-August return once those training cycles wrapped up, but that schedule moved back a bit. Even so, with training camp set to open on September 17, a return by August 23 would still leave him plenty of time to get settled and work with the group.
Michkov is entering the final year of his entry-level deal after what was a strong summer of work, and Flyers fans are watching closely to see whether he can rebound toward, or beyond, his 63-point rookie season. There is also the language side of things, with hopes that he keeps building on his English after choosing to remain in Russia for the summer rather than stay in Voorhees, NJ as he originally said he would.
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