- Pro Hockey Rumors picks the three Metropolitan Division players with the most to prove in 2026-27
- Matvei Michkov, Ville Koivunen and Kent Johnson all took a step back last season
- Read below for the numbers behind each case and what a second bad year would cost
Matvei Michkov is running out of runway in Philadelphia.
Bradley Keith of Pro Hockey Rumors named the Flyers winger one of three Metropolitan Division players with the most to prove this season, alongside Pittsburgh’s Ville Koivunen and Columbus forward Kent Johnson. The series covers players under 25 who are past prospect status and still chasing the version of themselves everyone was promised.
Michkov’s case is the loudest. He enters the final year of his entry-level deal off a second season that went the wrong way, 51 points in 81 games after 63 as a rookie, with his ice time dropping from 16:41 a night to 14:50.
The playoffs were rougher. Rick Tocchet scratched him during both the Pittsburgh and Carolina series, and the 21-year-old finished Philadelphia’s run with one assist in eight games at 11:50 a night.
There was a real finish to the year, though. Michkov piled up 22 points over his final 26 regular-season games, and Danny Briere said last week that nothing is happening on an extension until that plays out.
Here’s Michkov at his break-up day session after the season ended:
Koivunen’s spot on the list is a different kind of pressure. The Penguins handed him an eight-year extension at $4 million a season in August, after 47 career NHL games, making him the longest-signed player in the building.
His NHL production hasn’t arrived yet. Koivunen had seven points in 39 games at 12:44 a night last season while posting 41 points in 34 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and Kyle Dubas has stacked the forward group deep enough that nobody is guaranteed a nightly spot.
Johnson has the shortest leash of the three. The fifth overall pick in 2021 fell from 57 points in 68 games to 22 in 76, his ice time cut from 17:18 to 13:14, and his shooting percentage sank to six percent on 114 shots.
Talent was never the issue. Check out the Michigan goal that made him a highlight-reel name in 2023:
The Columbus forward turns 24 in October and is in the last year of a three-year deal worth $1.8 million per season. The Blue Jackets won 40 games, missed the playoffs and added Valeri Nichushkin over the summer, so the internal answers have to come from players like him.
All three open camp in mid-September. Michkov is the one with the most money riding on how the next eight months go.
