Flyers Rookie Camp preview: Matvei Michkov preparing for first on-ice experience with Philadelphia

The Philadelphia Flyers open their 2024 Rookie Camp Thursday in Voorhees, New Jersey. The annual event brings 25 skating prospects and two goaltenders to get hands-on orientation from Flyers staff before NHL Training Camp opens next week.

The on-ice portions of Rookie Camp are free and open to the public as is typically the case with Philadelphia Flyers practices at Flyers Training Center. Practices are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and will last approximately 90 minutes. 

Michkov on-ice

There is a special buzz in the community regarding the arrival of 19-year-old forward, Matvei Michkov. The exciting prospect arrived this summer far earlier than General Manager Daniel Briere and the Flyers imagined when selecting him in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. The high-talent forward came with an even higher expected wait time of three years by everyone in the NHL community. Despite his impressive offensive talent, Michkov fell to 7th overall to an elated Philadelphia front office before kissing the Flyers emblem on draft night following selection in June 2023. 

Fifteen months later, Michkov gets ready to step onto the ice and skate with his new hockey club for the first time. After his arrival in America one month ago, there has been minimal video of Michkov skating around the rink in Philadelphia Flyers colors outside of the NHLPA event in Washington, D.C. last week. 

Development Camp invitees return

First-round draft selection Jett Luchanko returns to the ice after impressing last month during the teams’ Development Camp in July. Forwards J.R. Avon, Denver Barkey, Alexis Gendron, Matt Miller, Massimo Rizzo, Santeri Sulku, and Josh Zakreski represent eight returning forwards for the Flyers. Zakreski, a forward for Portland Winterhawks of the WHL, receives a second chance to impress Flyers management on an amateur try-out basis.

Several forwards on AHL contracts with Philadelphia will join the top prospects for the Rookie Camp experience. Sawyer Boulton, Nick Capone, and Jacob Gaucher are expected to join the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the 2024-25 regular season. 

Eight defensemen return from July training headlined by 2023 first-round pick, Oliver Bonk. He will be joined by Emile Chouinard, Spencer Gill, Matteo Mann, Hunter McDonald, Ethan Samson, Sam Sedley, and Carter Sotheran at the Flyers Training Center for Rookie Camp. Rounding out the blue line are a pair of defensemen who saw time in for Lehigh Valley last season, Emil Andrae and Helge Grans. 

Goaltender Carson Bjarnason returns to the crease for the 2024 Flyers Rookie Camp. Sam Hillebrandt joins him as an amateur try-out. That spot was most likely reserved for goalie Alexei Kolosov. There have been questions regarding the 22-year-old Belarusian netminder returning to the hockey club since his departure from Lehigh Valley last season. 

Rookie camp practice and game schedule

The schedule for the rookie camp features a practice day on Thursday beginning at 11 a.m. at the Flyers Traning Center. A morning skate will occur in Voorhees on Friday before the Flyers rookies travel to Lehigh Valley for the first scrimmage game against the New York Rangers rookies at PPL Center on Friday at 7:05 p.m. Tickets are still available for the Philadelphia Flyers vs. New York Rangers Rookie Series via the PPL Center website.

The teams will participate in a second scrimmage on Saturday at 5:05 p.m. featuring a different collection of players. Michkov is expected to play in one of the two games, however, the line-up for the games has not been announced. Following the scrimmages, the rookies return to South Jersey for practices on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to finish off the rookie camp. All three practices are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. in Voorhees, New Jersey.