The Philadelphia Flyers were expected to have plenty of options at the No. 7 spot in the 2023 NHL Draft, but after an interesting top-six in the draft, they may have had arguably the best prospect not named Connor Bedard fall into their lap. <h2>Superstar potential</h2> <div align='center' style='padding-top:20px;padding-bottom:20px;'><img src='https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/300339.webp' width='100%' border='0' alt='image' loading='lazy' defer /></div> At 18-years old, Michkov has plenty of time to develop into a great player, and while six teams passed on him, the overall consensus was that he can become a great NHLer one day. Despite his age, Michkov excelled in the KHL a season ago, putting up 9 goals and 20 points in 27 games, and for a young player in one of the toughest leagues in the world, this showed the Flyers scouts enough to pick him high in the draft. <h2>Criticism</h2> One person that doesn't have him rated very highly is former Canadiens scout Grant McCagg, who had this to say on the latest episode of The Stick Podcast. <q>I honestly think he could be the next Yakupov, said McCagg much to the shock of the hosts. He doesn't blow me away... he's not super fast, he's not big, I wouldn't call him a gritty player. He's gonna have problems dealing with the NHL, in the playoffs especially.</q> It is worth noting that McCagg had him rated highly in his pre-draft analysis, but for some reason, things seem to have changed. <q>I just don't picture this guy being an impact NHL playoff player. The teams didn't just pass on him because they had character concerns, said McCagg. I've talked to a lot of scouts.</q> Ultimately, it's going to be a few years before we can get a gauge on Michkov, but right now, it seems a little early for a former scout to be making these types of predictions. As Read on Hockey Feed - <a href='https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/former-nhl-scout-buries-1st-round-pick-matvei-michkov?fbclid=IwAR1ufALCQgzYMIepJzv0ZirSWbT4C1BjPprwTybeMmFx_pgr91FDZ11qR-Q&mibextid=9R9pXO' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Former NHL scout buries 1st round pick Matvei Michkov</a>