The 2023 NHL Draft is just around the corner, and with that it means it’s time for the final edition of Steven Ellis’ mock draft. Ellis joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli on the Daily Faceoff Show to talk about the mock draft, including the prediction of Matvei Michkov going fourth overall to the San Jose Sharks and how the Philadelphia Flyers may push to get him.
Steven Ellis: So Michkov to the Sharks makes the most sense to me, because Mike Grier was new last year to the team, he’s in this rebuilding mode, and this is a guy that by the time they may be competitive, Michkov will be ready to go. We’re obviously waiting three years for him, a lot of prospects outside of maybe the top five in most years take two to three years, so it’s not this huge wait that some people are making it out to be.
It’d be interesting to see if other teams go out there and try to make a move. The Washington Capitals have been a team that’s been linked to them, and part of that’s the Russian factor. Could the Philadelphia Flyers make a move? If he doesn’t go to San Jose, does Montreal pick him? I think just for a long term future, it makes sense for him to go to San Jose, but they could also go the Will Smith route, which would make a lot of sense to me to get that number one center.
Frank Seravalli: So before we move off of Michkov, I wanted to just point out, I mentioned on the DFO Rundown earlier today with Jason Gregor that there was some speculation heading into the weekend that the Flyers are one of the teams that’s interested in Michkov. Now, not only do I think that’s accurate, but I do have reason to believe that part of the push for the Flyers to make the moves, whether it’s Kevin Hayes or whoever it might be to get them into the first round, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny, they want to take whatever they can get and cobble that together, I think in a package to try and attempt to move up from seven to the four-five range to guarantee that they could try and get Michkov.
Now that’s not set in stone, we have no idea how the draft board is going to play out, and I personally don’t think the Sharks have any interest in moving number four, but just something to keep an eye on as we get closer to draft night that if you see the Flyers accumulate additional first round picks, that that could be part of their motivation is to try and get their hands on a player that, for a team that’s just beginning it’s rebuild, the timing might actually be perfect to finally get him into their lineup in 2026.
You can watch the full episode here:
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