Teams across the NHL are racing to beat the midnight Eastern time deadline to sign eight-year contract extensions. At midnight, the new collective bargaining agreement kicks in. This lowers the max contract length to seven years for a team's own players. One team, the Philadelphia Flyers, is not in a hurry.

The Flyers need to sign Matvei Michkov to a contract extension soon. He is a restricted free agent at the end of this season. And that could open him up to an offer sheet from another team. However, a contract extension does not appear to be coming soon.

“(Daniel) Briere says there were ‘some talks' with Matvei Michkov's camp about an extension, but ‘nothing really to say at the moment.' No, they're not signing him to an 8-year extension today,” Kevin Kurz of The Athletic reported on Tuesday.

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Michkov had a bit of a turbulent season with Philadelphia in 2025-26. The Russian phenom scored 20 goals and 51 points, but seemed to be at odds with head coach Rick Tocchet. Briere does not expect many issues this coming season. He even said things were a bit exaggerated last year.

“I think a lot of it is his personality. He’s very polarizing, and I think it’s not all that bad because he strikes me as one of those guys who, when things are good and he’s in the spotlight, he’s not afraid of the big moment. So, I try to see the positive in it, but … I thought last year was overblown in his case,” Briere said, via Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The Flyers will try to get something done before the summer arrives. For now, it's a wait-and-see game between them and Michkov's camp. It will certainly be interesting to see which side blinks first.