Junkyard Dog Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 (edited) Pretty rough for an 18 year old to deal with, especially months prior to the draft. Father won't see his son drafted or his future grandchildren https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/whats-at-stake-tonight-will-clock-strike-midnight-for-washington-capitals https://www.sportskeeda.com/ice-hockey/news-who-matvei-michkov-s-father-andrei-top-prospect-s-dad-found-dead-mysterious-circumstances https://www.sportskeeda.com/ice-hockey/matvei-michkov-s-father-passes-away-nhl-twitter-offers-condolences-this-awful-losing-father-months-set-drafted "Andrei Michkov was just 51 years old at the time of his death. He was a devoted father who raised Matvei and gave him a solid start in life. His sudden and tragic death is a huge loss to the Michkov family, who are mourning the loss of a wonderful person." Edited April 4, 2023 by Junkyard Dog 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nergish Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 Wow, poor kid. My condolences. A few months before the draft... Hoping this is now just part of the sad origin story of the one of best Russian athletes of all time. Let's draft him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post -Vintage Canuck- Posted April 4, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 4, 2023 Sad news. Hopefully, he gets a loud cheer from everyone in the building when he's drafted. It's going to be an emotional moment for sure. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFan Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 My Dad died when I was 18. It's devastating at that age. I wonder if he had enemies within the federation. There seems to be a lot of Russians dieing in mysterious ways. I read an article recently that the Russian sports federation was going to disallow athletes playing in/for other countries. I put it down as anti Putin propaganda, but who knows. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Devron Posted April 4, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 4, 2023 Discovered in a pond. Russia is a rough place. That’s why I respect their jersey decisions. We just don’t know how bad it is or know anything really 6 6 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Elias Pettersson Posted April 4, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 4, 2023 Wow, I feel so bad for him. I lost my daddy too. After seeing this, I now am 100% fully supportive of the Russian players in whatever choices they make. And this should be a wakeup call to those who think there is "no threat". 3 1 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Monahan Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 3 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Wow, I feel so bad for him. I lost my daddy too. After seeing this, I now am 100% fully supportive of the Russian players in whatever choices they make. And this should be a wakeup call to those who think there is "no threat". It's easy to assume this was a case of a Russian man being "disappeared" but that seems a little premature at this point in time. Has Matvei done or said anything to put his family in jeopardy? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 Just now, Sean Monahan said: It's easy to assume this was a case of a Russian man being "disappeared" but that seems a little premature at this point in time. Has Matvei done or said anything to put his family in jeopardy? His father was found in a pond. That doesn't happen every day. It could very well be just a random event, but the thing is we don't know. I haven't heard or read anything about Matvei doing or saying something anti-Putin. But we don't know anything about his father and his views on the war, etc... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Citizen Erased Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 23 minutes ago, Sean Monahan said: It's easy to assume this was a case of a Russian man being "disappeared" but that seems a little premature at this point in time. Has Matvei done or said anything to put his family in jeopardy? Maybe he was not “disappeared”, but it sounds like he was a victim of foul play. It’s tragic either way and I feel bad for the kid and his family and friends. I’m not suggesting you don’t btw. I just wanted to express my own condolences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Elias Pettersson said: Wow, I feel so bad for him. I lost my daddy too. After seeing this, I now am 100% fully supportive of the Russian players in whatever choices they make. And this should be a wakeup call to those who think there is "no threat". Sorry to hear that amigo... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post HKSR Posted April 4, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 4, 2023 1 hour ago, Devron said: Discovered in a pond. Russia is a rough place. That’s why I respect their jersey decisions. We just don’t know how bad it is or know anything really Exactly. If I was Russian and my family was still in Russia, I'd do everything I can to keep them safe. Even if that means I don't wear a pride jersey during a warmup skate. 1 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook007 Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 9 minutes ago, HKSR said: Exactly. If I was Russian and my family was still in Russia, I'd do everything I can to keep them safe. Even if that means I don't wear a pride jersey during a warmup skate. Absolutely... Its blown way out of proportion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammertime Posted April 4, 2023 Share Posted April 4, 2023 3 hours ago, -Vintage Canuck- said: Sad news. Hopefully, he gets a loud cheer from everyone in the building when he's drafted. It's going to be an emotional moment for sure. Hmmmm "in the building when he's drafted??? Like per say in Nashville?? The type of event that He and "His family" might attend? Canucks seem to have always been trend setters. Mogilny provided a lot of firsts during his career: first Russian player to defect from the Soviet Union, first non-North American to lead the NHL in goals (with Selanne) and the first Russian named to the NHL All-Star Team (1992). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post SilentSam Posted April 5, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 5, 2023 9 hours ago, Sean Monahan said: It's easy to assume this was a case of a Russian man being "disappeared" but that seems a little premature at this point in time. Has Matvei done or said anything to put his family in jeopardy? He dosent have to ,. RuZ mafia try to extort everything they can from Russian Athletes. It was rumoured P.Bure had the same happen to him. although he was never outspoken about it,. The reasons are obvious . It does continue today,. But opening your mouth could have lethal consequences. This from an article in the early 2000’s : Three examples of extortion Let's start with this man, Oleg Tverdovsky. He is a top defenceman in the National Hockey League. He regularly appears on the All Star team of the best players in the league. And when he first signed with Winnipeg Jets his contract of one million dollars made headlines in his native Ukraine. His parents still lived there. And one day a group of men dressed in black masks arrived at their door and kidnapped them. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of two hundred thousand American dollars or they would kill Tverdovsky's parents. Alexei Zhitnik was a brash young star forward with the Los Angeles Kings. According to a Russian mobster testifying in camera before a US Congressional inquiry Zhitnik liked fast cars, faster women and bragging about how much money he made playing hockey. He "liked" doing this until one day a group of Russian mobsters took him underneath a boardwalk in Long Beach, beat the crap out of him and demanded protection money. Alexander Mogilny is a star forward for the Vancouver Cannuck, Buffalo Sabres and now the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had to go to the FBI when he received a clear and credible threat of extortion for half a million dollars. He was lucky. The mobster was caught and sentenced to 8 years in jail. I would like to take a moment here and ask a simple question: How many people know who Peter Schmeichel or Brian Laudrup are? Could you put up your hands? The reason why I engage in this kind of exercise is to tell you that the players that have been mentioned are the equivalent of Schmeichel or Ladurup. These are not obscure, little known players working in the outer fringes of hockey. These are some of the biggest stars in the National Hockey League today. 80 per cent experience extortion But the situation does not stop at the NHL. In North America there is a series of minor or junior leagues where younger players are groomed for success in higher leagues. These players - some as young as 15 or 16 - are open to the same kind of extortion. Junior players can expect to receive threats from mobsters. While investigating this story Canadian police contacts told me of two Russian junior players in Western Canada being extorted by members of the mob. To give you some idea of how widespread the problem is let me introduce you to Michael Bopp. Mr. Bopp was a senior lawyer with the 1996 US Congressional investigation into the Russian mafiya and their reach into North America. As part of his inquiry he interviewed hundreds of people connected to hockey: players, coaches, agents. And he claimed that eighty percent of Russian hockey players in North America were either being extorted or were under the threat of extortion by Russian mobsters. Mob killings of people related to hockey Now bad as the situation might be in North America, it pales in comparison with what is going on in the former Soviet Union. We spoke about Peter Schmeichel - the Danish goalkeeper who used to play for Manchester United. Well let's talk about the situation at the Manchester United of Russian hockey - TSKA Moscow. In the 1970s and 80s - the Moscow Red Army team or TSKA practically owned hockey in the Soviet Union. They had a long string of championships and most of their players played on the world championship and Olympic winning team. So it was a surprise when their skate sharpener - the equivalent of the guy who cleans the boots - was killed in a mafia style assassination attack. Nor was he the only person killed by the mob. One of their junior players was also killed by the mob. Possibly you don't think there is much of a problem if only junior personnel are being killed? Well then take the case of Ms. Larisa Nechayeva - she was the President of Sparta Moscow - the chief rival of TSKA Moscow. She was shot and killed by the Russian mafia. Or the President of the prestigious TSKA St. Petersburg hockey team: he too was killed by the mob. Or how about this story that was told to me by Mrs. Valentin Sych. One April morning in 1997 she and her husband were leaving their dacha outside of Moscow. As they were driving along a flat bed truck with seven men and a Kalashnikov machine gun mounted on the truck drove in front of them. The men fired three short bursts from the Kalashnikov through the window screen of the car. They severely injured Mrs. Sych, the driver and killed her husband. Why? Well, he was the President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation. So you had a situation where the guy who sharpens the skates to the very president of the Ice Hockey Federation were all victims of the Russian mob. In fact, so bad was Russian mob control of hockey that the TSKA Moscow team - the Manchester United of Russian hockey - had to stage a raid using their former army connections to bring in tanks and SWAT teams to free their club of mob control. The Russian mafia wants money So why do some Russian mafia figures gravitate towards sports people? Is it some fierce love of hockey which makes them kill the skate sharpener of TSKA Moscow? A passion for a great sport that makes them assassinate the presidents of the biggest clubs in Russia? No, of course not. There are in fact four main reasons why the Russian mafiya gravitated towards sports figures. The first reason and one that we have seen is extortion. The salaries of hockey players are published. They are well known and for a country crumbling into economic shambles they are astronomical. The average wage of librarians and teachers at the Moscow State University is around 500US$ a month. The average wage of a National Hockey League hockey player starts at around one million dollars a year. But actually extortion is not the principal reason for mafia involvement. Although we have seen that 80% of hockey players can expect to be extorted - really that type of extortion comes from low level criminals. Tverdosky, Zhitnik and Mogilny were all threatened by the bottom feeding level of Russian criminals. The big mobsters go after sports figures for other reasons. the entire article is worth the time to read. https://www.playthegame.org/news/the-russian-mafia-and-hockey/ 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 6, 2023 Share Posted April 6, 2023 Oh man, that's very sad news I have this weird feeling that Michkov might be available to us at #8. I'd love to draft him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 Matvei Michkov: “Family love will overpower important movements in certain situations”… 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeNiro Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 7 minutes ago, Elias Pettersson said: Matvei Michkov: “Family love will overpower important movements in certain situations”… I mean that’s a big reach to connect those two… There is a war going on there. Maybe he was anti war or anti Putin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elias Pettersson Posted April 7, 2023 Share Posted April 7, 2023 24 minutes ago, DeNiro said: I mean that’s a big reach to connect those two… There is a war going on there. Maybe he was anti war or anti Putin. True. But the thing is we just don’t know. Another Russian player on Montreal didn’t wear the jersey tonight. This is not just a coincidence now. This is a pattern. Between the individual Russian players that have refused to wear a pride jersey combined with the several teams with high profile Russian players that canceled the jersey wearing altogether, this tells me there is a legitimate threat happening in Russia that we aren’t privy to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cripplereh Posted April 8, 2023 Share Posted April 8, 2023 That just sucks.Any time a lived one passes it's hard on you.My father passed in the only vacation we had together in my mud 20's. Feel for him and hope he gets all the support he needs. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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