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In Hainsight: Conclusions Fast Approaching |
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Follow me @KarineHains for all updates about the Montreal Canadiens and women's hockey
Over 48 hours ago, it was thought that Pierre-Luc Dubois was minutes away from being a Los Angeles King, but the deal still hasn’t been announced. According to some sources, late yesterday afternoon, the Kings hadn’t even been given the OK to negotiate an extension with Dubois and serious insiders reported that the Canadiens might not be out of the running just yet. Personally, I’ve had enough of this never-ending story and I’d just like some closure. Thankfully, since the draft is tomorrow and there’s a good chance picks are involved in the deal for the disgruntled center, we should soon know his landing spot and it won’t be a minute too soon.
As for the other storyline, Matvei Michkov is now in Nashville and has started meeting teams ahead of tomorrow’s draft. While those interviews are normally conducted at the combine, teams couldn’t meet the forward then since he wasn’t in Buffalo. The fact that Montreal has met him just means the Canadiens are doing their due diligence and I expect most teams who are picking in the top-10 have requested a meeting with the Russian prodigy.
Who will pick him and when remains the talk of most towns right now simply because while there is no denying that he’s extremely talented, there are other things to factor in. The war between Russia and Ukraine is still going on and it complicates matters. If it was just the fact that Michkov is under contract for the next 3-years with his Russian team, it wouldn’t be such a big issue, after all, when teams draft NCAA players, they often wait 3 years to have them in their system.
But it’s more complicated than that. Once that contract reaches its last season, St. Petersburgh SKA could want to sign Michkov to an extension and put pressure on the young man to do so. Not so long ago, Alexander Romanov saw his ice-time drastically cut when he was in the last year of his contract since his team wanted him to stick around, Romanov didn’t cave in, but he could have done. There’s also the distinct possibility that Russian authorities decide that Michkov must do his military service, just like they did for goaltender Ivan Fedotov last off-season as he was about to cross the ocean and report to the Philadelphia Flyers.
There lies the dilemma, Michkov is insanely talented, but can a team afford to gamble on the fact that he’ll come over once his current contract is up? In such a deep draft with so much talent ripe for the picking, a rebuilding team might just want to opt for a player whose path to the NHL will be far less uncertain. This year’s pick is of such pivotal importance for the Canadiens that it would be perfectly understandable if the Habs decided not to roll the dice, after all, if Michkov is still available at number 5, it will mean that the other 4 teams before Montreal have also decided that for whatever reason, it was best to go another way.
For now, until tomorrow night, we wait to see who will dare to play Russian roulette…
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
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