NHL Insider drops WILD new trade report...

Tuesday night, ESPN's Kevin Weeks reported that Matvei Michkov of the Philadelphia Flyers wants a new start away from the team. He is 22 years old, he's in the last year of his entry-level deal, and has 10 goals and 14 points in 20 games for a Flyers team that is 5-10-5. Within hours, reporters were saying that the Flyers never heard it from him and the Flyers were scrambling to do damage control. And on the same day that all of this is going down, the Rangers have made multiple moves calling up a 29-year-old center from the Hartford Wolfpack who has played 13 NHL games. So Philadelphia may be about to lose an explosive young scorer and the Rangers continue to make roster moves. I think it's pretty interesting. The Rangers have a very interesting opportunity here to acquire a franchise changing player. The Rangers have been short on goals for not only this year, but the last couple of years. And obviously, they made some moves to try and address that. But Chris Drury should be on the phone. But before we get into all of that, a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. If you guys are enjoying the daily content on the New York Rangers, I'm going to continue to bring you guys daily updates on everything that's happening with the team. And guys, I am doing a jersey giveaway here on the channel for whatever comes first, either 15,000 subscribers or the Rangers make the playoffs. So if you want your chance to win a jersey, make sure you are subscribed to the channel and I'll keep you up to date with everything that's going on with the Rangers. So according to multiple league sources, Michkov would likely want a new start somewhere else, and he is now considered a prime trade candidate moving forward, is how Weeks put it. Now, you do have to notice the wording of everything that has been coming out over the last 24 hours. It says that he would likely want a fresh start, and that is a preference and not necessarily a straight up trade request. Emily Kaplan of ESPN followed up saying that Michkov has not formally requested a trade and the report was news to the Flyers front office as well. David Panetta came in off the top rope and said that the Flyers have not been informed by Michkov's camp about wanting out. General Manager Daniel Briere was not speaking that night, but he was traveling back from the NHL GM's meetings, but it does sound like he will address this at some point, because it's pretty crazy that the Flyers found out about this the same way that we all did. But let's talk about the player for a second. If he does want a fresh start, it's pretty interesting with the Rangers, because that player has been one of the best things about their team this season. 10 goals in 20 games, 14 points on the year. He's tied with Zegras for the team lead. Roughly 16 minutes a night, whereas last season, if you compare it to then, it was roughly 15 minutes a night. And the Flyers are still the worst team in the East by points percentage this year. Now, they did win the other night a 3-1 win in Vancouver, which everyone is beating up on Vancouver. So this is not a team that has necessarily quit, but this is a player that sees his ice time, his usage, and a lot of frustration coming between... Players and coaching staff and a Flyers reporter outlined just how impressive he has been. So he got to 10 goals in 16 games. And in the last 20 years, only Gagne, Carter, Konecny and Couturier have done that for the Flyers. As of roughly 10 days ago on November 1st, he had scored a third of all the Flyers goals. this season 10 of their 30 and that was the highest share at the time in the NHL and he's actually been putting his name up there with some of the greats in the Flyers organization his 123 career points as of October 24th tied him with Ron Suter for the fifth most by a Flyer at 21 years old or younger also joining Lindros, Zezel, Gagne and Barber. One thing to keep in mind is that he is absolutely hot this season at least offensively he's shooting at 34.5% which is not necessarily sustainable and he will cool off a bit but that's not to say that he's not a great young player. This is not a player that is going to end up getting traded because he's bad or underperforming. He's being traded because that is a bad situation in Philadelphia. This is a good young skilled player. So why would a 22 year old with this much skill and that's performing that way want out of that team? If you go back to his rookie year, 26 goals, the most by any rookie in the league that year. However, he finished fourth in Calder Trophy voting, drafted seventh overall in 2023. Then last year, new head coach Rick Tocchet kept benching him for conditioning penalties and short shifts. He still played almost all the games last year with 81 games played and roughly 15 minutes a night. So he was in the lineup, just not being trusted with the big minutes and in different situations. In the playoffs last season, he was a healthy scratch against the Pittsburgh Penguins in game five. And talking about being trusted in different situations, he only played roughly 10 minutes a game in the four playoff games he did dress for against his roughly 15 minutes last season in the regular season. And Elliott Friedman was quoted as saying, you can't find guys like this when talking about and describing Michkov. And that was all the way back on May 12th when Elliott Friedman was talking about Michkov's season coming to an end and the fact that the player and the coach We're definitely not on the same page whatsoever. And obviously, keep in mind that the team has never come out and said that there's friction, but you can pick up on it if you're a fan of not just the Flyers, but of the sport. So this is a young, skilled player that the Flyers coach has not trusted whatsoever. And a lot of the other teams would pay to find out if the coach is wrong. So what would Michkov change for the Rangers? What would he add? And what would it cost? The Rangers are 10. Eight and one third in the Metropolitan Division still. So the team is not necessarily broken. They did get off to a hot start and they're continuing to put games together. But look at who leads them in scoring. It's Adam Fox, a defenseman, an elite defenseman at that with 22 points. Now Lafreniere has 18 points. Zibanejad has 16. And then after that, the list drops off. And then in games like Monday and a 3-1 loss to the Oilers, you're playing guys like Luke Glendening less than four minutes a game. So maybe they could use a young scorer, add some more offense. This team and Mike Sullivan, you know, he brought in a new system. They look a little bit more structured defensively, but they're still having some trouble putting the puck in the back of the net. They are also nine points behind the Metro leading Carolina Hurricanes. Six Rangers are also on injured reserve right now, including goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who's out for the rest of the season. And you do have some cap space with that. Beleno, Dursey's out right now on IR, Sikora, Albert Schmitz, which we'll get to later in this video. A bunch of guys are out on the IR right now. And remember, Michkov is still on his ELC. Of course, he's due a lot more money after this season, but he is a restricted free agent. He is still an RFA after this year. And the Rangers, if they want to go out and make another big splash, they do still own their 2027 and 2029 first round picks. They did trade their 28 and 30 first round picks. And while no insider has linked them to really any team yet, something is bubbling here. We can see that he wants out of Philadelphia. And fans are starting to talk about what if the Rangers went out and acquired a young star like this? And again, the Flyers still have complete control of him. He's an RFA after this year as he's still on his ELC. So the Flyers keep his rights unless somebody trades for him and they have to obviously. Trade him away for that to work. Michkov himself said that contract extension talks have not started between him, his agent, and the Flyers. He also has up to $3.3 million in bonuses reported, so his number is going to jump significantly on his next contract. Now, the Rangers have paid for forward help in the... Recent past this past offseason, the Rangers made a couple of trades and they do hold on to their first in 2027 and 2029 still, but they went out and traded their 2028 first round pick to Vegas in return for Pavel Dorofeev. Which cost a 26th pick in the 26th draft and that 2028 first. He also went out and got Liam Greentree for some offensive help while it's not immediate for Artemi Panarin in the trade with the LA Kings last year. So the Rangers have shown interest in making big splashes like this to get some forward help. They want to retool. They want this to be a quick turnaround to a playoff spot. They don't want to rebuild. So I have no doubt that the phone will be ringing And Chris Drury. Has to try and make a move here. But speaking of making moves, and let me know how you feel about that in the comments below. Would you try to acquire Matt Bay-Michkov if you are the New York Rangers? But speaking of moves, that takes us to some moves that the Rangers have actually made. So the Rangers have recalled Glenn Godden from the Hartford Wolfpack ahead of their game tonight. against the Calgary Flames. Now, who the heck is Glenn Godden? Well, he's 29, and he has 5 goals and 9 assists in 16 AHL games so far this year, and is tied for the Wolfpack lead in points with 14 with Liam Greentree. Again, that ties him with Liam Greentree in points, and Mark Delgazzo, who's currently with the team as well, in assists, and he is second. in the team in goals across his entire pro career in the AHL he has 363 points in 487 games in the NHL ironically playing for the Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks he gets to play against his former team tonight and he has 13 games played and one assist split between those teams the Blues drafted him in the fourth round in 2025 and he is a six foot one And he's going straight into the lineup tonight against the Calgary Flames, which is the Rangers' last visit to the Saddle Dome ever. And he had a goal and an assist in Hartford last night before getting the call up to the Rangers. Luke Glendening, who was in that fourth line center position, is 37. He's played 7 minutes and 33 seconds, 7 minutes and 31 seconds, 6 minutes and 8 seconds, and then on Monday in Edmonton. He played less than four minutes. Coach Mike Sullivan tried playing Will Cooley at center, and that has not really lasted either. Now, I think he's a better option, depending on skillset and what you need in a certain game, than Luke Glendening at fourth line center. He is a natural center, and he's been putting together some really good performances in the AHL. And again, he's slotted in to play fourth line center tonight, which means you don't really have to produce that much, but if you can chip in for a goal... I think that's pretty good usage and he's probably going to be able to play a little bit more than less than four minutes. So to make room for this move, the Rangers placed Albert Schmitz on IR. And if you missed it yesterday, he is injured and he is week to week with an upper body injury. Albert Schmitz, of course, the fifth overall pick in last year's draft, 18 years old, and he has zero points in 17 games played so far this year. But despite that. He's looked pretty good. He was a late scratch against Seattle on Saturday. He sustained some type of upper body injury. And now. We will not see him for another week or so. And head coach Mike Sullivan said that he doesn't actually know exactly what he's dealing with, which I don't really buy, but they're not going to tell you exactly what the injury is. So the Rangers top pick from last year's draft dealing with an injury has played pretty good this year. Scott Morrow comes back into the lineup. He's also looked pretty good. And of course, another roster move with Godden coming up, 29 year old center that has had a really good showing in the AHL so far this year. So to wrap it all up with a bow, acquiring Michkov would be a tall order, but boy, would it change. The dynamic of this forward group, 14 points in 20 games on a really, really bad Philadelphia Flyers team. Now, keep in mind that Michkov hasn't filed a traditional formal trade request and the Flyers have heard nothing from his camp specifically, but things are starting to boil there. And we saw it already last season. I think that that was a wake up call for the Flyers. I think that that was put in the media intentionally. And I think that there's going to be a lot of teams calling the Flyers about this. And there's going to be some enticing deals and the Rangers should absolutely be in the middle of all that. And really quick before I go, the Rangers are in Calgary tonight to take on the Calgary Flames. This is how the lines shake out tonight. Perrault is on the first line with Zibanejad and Lafreniere. You have Cartier, Miller, and Dorofeev on the second line. Cooley, Laba, and Bjorkstrand are back together on the third line. And then Godin, the newly called up centerman between Tolvanen and Hamilash on that fourth line. On defense, it is Gavrikov with Fox. You have Pettersson with Schneider. And Robertson is staying in with Scott Morrow. Also, keep an eye out for Brendan Othman. At the time I'm recording this, not sure if he's actually getting into the lineup. But if you remember at last year's trade deadline, he was traded to the Calgary Flames organization. So, a former Ranger on the other side. You have a new call-up who's playing really well in the AHL. And again, some new look lines. And a young defenseman. And Scott Morrow, that's actually been playing very good. So I'm very excited to see how that all plays out. But let me know in the comments below. Are you excited for tonight's game? And should the Rangers go out and acquire Michkov? Let me know in the comments below. Comment yes or no. And let me know how you feel about all of that and everything we discussed today. But guys, my name is Darius Dominguez. This is Rangers Digest. Thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next video.