The Sharks cannot let this OPPORTUNITY slip...

Matvei Michkov has 10 goals in 21 games this season. No one on the Sharks has more than eight. ESPN reported that he wants a fresh start. On the other hand, their GM says that is not true. Philadelphia is 5-10-5, and that's worse in the East by point percentage, and their best player that they call a part of their future has just became a prime trade candidate. Nobody has linked him to San Jose, but I think this would be the perfect fit for San Jose as he fits the young core. Igor Chernyshov, Keaton Verhoff, and a second-round pick for Michkov on top line with Celebrini and Smith. The catch in all this is the contract to the Sharks pay him or to somebody else. On November 10th, ESPN's Kevin Weeks reported that Michkov would likely want a new start elsewhere in the last year of his contract and called him a prime trade candidate. ESPN's Emily Kaplan added that the Flyers have not been made aware of a direct trade request from his camp. Read that carefully because he hasn't come out and said, hey, I want to be traded. It's just reports out there that he wants a fresh start. Flyers GM Danny Brière said this report is not true. Quote, there's no doubt that we believe in him. He's a part of the solution for the future. Michkov was asked if he is happy as a Flyer. He said, quote, yeah, of course. He and Nick Seeler, who had an altercation on the bench in a game last week, had dinner and made up. That is three soft denials from a team that is 5-10-5 and a player who was on the last year of his deal. In October, the Hockey News had whispers about him and floated the Blackhawks as a fit. In April, he was a healthy scratch for Game 5 against Pittsburgh. This fall, Rick Tocchet said he did not come into camp in shape. Smoke is not a trade, but on a player who's on an expiring deal, that's the smoke. And that's where I want to start. So what would a player like Michkov do for the San Jose Sharks? The Sharks are 8-11-2 with 18 points in 21 games. They score 2.52 goals a game, 28th in the league. Their power plays convert 18.99% of the time, 23rd in the league. That is a team with a star and not enough around him. Macklin Celebrini has 23 points in 19 games. Will Smith has 14 points in 21. After Smith, the next Sharks forward is Stenberg with 12 points, then Toffoli and Misa with 11 each. There is a cliff after Celebrini and a long flat line after Smith. Right now, the top line is Misa, Celebrini, and Smith. Give Celebrini a winger who shoots like Michkov, who already has 10 goals on the season this year, five of them coming on the power play, where the Sharks are 23rd in the league. His 15 points would rank second on the team behind only Celebrini, and his 10 goals would be the most on the team. That is the whole, who is he though? Michkov is 21, born December 9, 2004, and he went 7th overall in the 2023 draft to the Flyers. As a rookie, he scored 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games and finished 4th in Calder Trophy voting. Last season, he scored 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games. A 20-goal scorer at 21, and he only was averaging about 14.50 a night on ice last season. Michkov makes $950,000 this season, plays 16.07 a night, and his 10 goals are tied for 20th in the NHL. And, of course, in that draft, San Jose had the fourth overall pick, and they went with Will Smith, and Michkov was still on the board. Smith has been really good for the Sharks, and I really like his play and his, obviously, relationship with Macklin Celebrini. I think that's so great that we drafted him, but the Sharks could have both of these players from that draft class now, which would be amazing. He did it in Philly with a team that is 5-10-5 and a minus 11 for him personally. He is putting up numbers in a bad situation, and a new life with Celebrini and Smith, I think he could put up even better numbers. But to be fair, his shooting isn't sustainable. Michkov scored 10 goals on 29 shots this year, shooting percentage of 34.5. In 24-25, he shot 13.07%, 26 goals on 199 shots. Last season, 12.27%, 20 goals on 163. So, no, he is not going to keep scoring on a third of his shots. That's just unrealistic. Expect him to cool off, but he can still put a lot of goals up on the board. And you gotta think about this, because Michkov is doing this on a team that can barely hold the puck right now, and when he gets those opportunities in games, he's burying them. So, I like this player. The number to hold on to is the 20 goals in each of his first two seasons. That is the floor, and he still has not turned 22. And that is the winger that the San Jose Sharks would currently be buying. A 20-goal scorer, not a 51. And at that price, that's plenty. The real risk is not the shooting. It is the friction in Philadelphia where, you know, obviously there was the situation with his condition in camp and then being scratched in April. If that is a Philly problem, then a fresh start is what is great for Michkov. But if it's a Michkov problem, that's something the Sharks are going to have to deal with continuously when they trade for this player. So what do the Flyers get back here? Our mock is Igor Chernyshov, Keaton Verhoff, and his second round pick. Verhoff went 9th overall in the 2026 draft, and he's at North Dakota with no NHL contract. A top 10 pick from the latest draft is the real price, and that's what moves a team that's 5, 10, and 5. Chernyshov makes $945,417 this season and next and is an RFA after 27-28. He is on injured reserve week to week. Philly gets a young forward that they can control for two more seasons. The Sharks traded their own 2027 second pick to Vancouver, so the second in this mock would have to come from another year. They keep their own 2027 first and Toronto's as well, so the picks that matter most stay in San Jose. Plus, the Flyers will be selling him at when his value has been highest as he's scored 10 goals already this season. For Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers, this is a way out of a messy situation without losing the argument that Michkov is a part of the future. A prospect, a roster forward, and a pick, not a lot of GMs would give that up easily, but I do think that it is worth it for Michkov, and you guys know I love Chernyshov, but bringing in Michkov for the future of this team, I think is awesome. The trade part is easy, the hard part comes next summer. Michkov makes $950,000 on his entry-level deal that ends in 26-27. He's a restricted free agent on July 1st. Daily Faceoff reported on November 4th that the Flyers had no talks with his camp. Daily Faceoff points to a three-year bridge near Konechny's $8.75 million. Zegras, his teammate, is on a $9.125 million deal over four years. Think about the four young forwards who have actually signed a deal, and that's kind of our closest to an estimate on what he would cost. Matty Beniers signed seven years at $7,142,857 a year with Seattle in August of 2024. Lucas Raymond signed eight years at $8.075 million a year with Detroit a month later. Wyatt Johnson signed 5 years at $8.4 million a year with Dallas in March of 2025. Cole Caulfield signed 8 years at $7.85 million a year with Montreal in June of 2023. Every one of those deals come between $7 million and $8.4 million a year. Michkov has scored 26 and 20 goals in his first two seasons, so he belongs in that conversation. That was all extensions with their current team, so a team that trades for him should expect to pay the same number. The daily face-off ceiling is Cutter Gauthier's six-year $81 million deal at about $13.5 million. $1,000,000. That is the worst case, and it's a long way from the $950,000 he makes now. So the bill for Michkov starts around $8 million a year, and it could go up even higher depending on the term. Will Smith's $950,000 deal expires the same summer, and Yaroslav Askarov's $2 million and Luca Cagnoni's $920,000 do as well. Celebrini signed a new deal at $18.8 million a year that starts in 27-28, the same season. Logan Couture's $8 million and Dmitry Rylov's $6.5 million both come off the books that summer, so that's good. That's $14 million in room, and Michkov's $8.75 million would eat up most of that. Then Smith needs a raise, and so does Askarov, so something has to give. The Sharks can afford Michkov for all three of them, not everyone. I would still pay him because a winger who scores 20 goals is hard to find. You don't see that every day. And yeah, if we can get him on an $8 to $10 million deal, that would be amazing. Of course, we're going to have to lock up Will Smith as well. That deal is probably going to come in around the Cutter Gauthier number if I was to expect. And I know, you know, Mike Greer kind of handcuffed us by signing Truba Nurse for a lot of big numbers right now, because now we're getting into talking about what new deals are going to look like next season. Yeah, we have a lot of cap coming off the books, but it would. It would have been nice to have a little bit of extra room to make a deal like this happen, but I do think that if we trade for Michkov, Greer will find a way around this and be able to ship some cap out so we can sign everybody. The Hockey News floated the Blackhawks as a fit. Weeks called him very much in demand. He already has a market as far as everyone has reported, and the Sharks haven't reportedly been in it. A team that waits for a trade request is bidding against every team that called first. The Flyers still hold their own 2027 first and second round picks. The Sharks hold two first round picks in 2027, their own and Serrano's. That is ammunition. The Sharks do not need to send back Celebrini or Smith in a deal like this, but it needs to be willing to spend a prospect and a pick. If a team gets there before the Sharks, then the Sharks will miss out on him and that'll be a 20 goal winger who will become a rival for the rest of his career. A bad Flyers season is a gift to anyone who calls now, and the longer that Philadelphia keeps losing, the less leverage that Danny Briere will have. Celebrini is locked up for five years at $94 million, so the window to build around him starts right now. A star center, a former first overall pick, a fourth overall pick on the right wing, and a seventh pick from the same draft on the left wing, now that's a team I can get behind. I'd say we go out there, make a call, see what the price would be, and if it's too high, then don't go with it. Because Celebrini is going to need a winger who can score goals, because him and Smith are great playmakers, they need a finisher, and that's what Michkov is. Obviously, it's 10 goals versus the Sharks' best of 8, and he has a 34.5 shooting percentage right now, so he's red hot. Obviously, there are some doubts in this with the whole cap situation. You'd probably have to ship out a big contract to sign all these guys next summer, but it's something that you could definitely figure out. And obviously, what to watch going forward is if Michkov does request a trade, then we will start to see talks intensify and ramp up. And subscribe to Sharks Digest to stay up to date on everything around the San Jose Sharks, including all these trade rumors. So who do you think finishes this season with more goals, Michkov or Celebrini? Let me know in the comments.