As is expected from young players in the KHL, Matvei Michkov is consistently being benched by SKA St. Petersburg. However this time, the reason may be more than just the KHL's distrust of young players - it may be in retaliation to Michkov's NHL aspirations.
It's believed that this is coming directly from the head coach of the team, Roman Rotenberg. In St. Petersburg's last game, Michkov was scratched in favour of career depth forwards like Brandon Leipsic and Alex Galchenyuk.
It should be stated that the KHL has always behaved this way when dealing with younger players breaking onto the professional roster. The KHL is not a development league, and the teams behave as such, not dressing young players if they don't believe they give them the best chance to win. In reality, the best way to develop a prospect in Russia is to get them out of the KHL as soon as possible.
However, with the political situation ongoing in Russia and how that permeates into cultural activities like hockey - it is possible that there is some retaliation to Michkov's desire to play in North America.
