One thing that hasn’t changed at the top of the Flyers lineup is the presence of Matvei Michkov. The 20-year-old now entering his second season had an up-and-down rookie year. 

Michkov started the season off strong. In his first 29 games of the season for the team, and 27 for Michkov after sitting out a pair as a healthy scratch, the Russian forward had 11 goals and 27 points. In his next 44 games, he had just nine goals and 24 points. He finished the final nine games of the season, following the firing of John Tortorella, with six goals and 12 points. 

Overall, a rookie season with 26 goals and 63 points in 80 games is a good foundation. And Michkov doesn’t feel much needs to change in his second season.

“For my own game, I don’t think anything should be changed. Work hard and everything will come,” Michkov said through translator Slava Kuznetsov. “Second season, I cannot say I don’t understand English, so there will be no excuses.”

For the team, there is one main difference Michkov wants to see.

“The first and main thing is for the team to make the playoffs,” Michkov said, “and then we’ll see.”

While a playoff appearance remains to be seen, there is no doubt about Michkov’s competitive spirit. His new head coach certainly saw it right away.

“Very competitive,” Rick Tocchet said on Thursday. “We did a 2-on-2 boxout drill and he’s trying to get to the net. I love that. And I was told that he loves to be around the net. 

“It’s a tough drill, you’re boxing out and you’ve got to spin off, and he wasn’t shy about that. The kid loves to score goals. If you look at the great goal scorers in the league, they score around that net. I think he knows that because I saw that today.”

On Friday, Tocchet’s training camp sessions included more skating drills, not all that different from what Tortorella used to run on Day 1 of his camps, albeit sans rope. Michkov was one of the better performers in the drill, something that jumped out to Tocchet.

“I’ve got to admit, he had three hard laps,” Tocchet said. “I don’t want guys to pace themselves and he didn’t pace himself. That’s a start for me.”

Tocchet is going to continue to learn more about Michkov beyond the competitive nature. His skill set is sure to be on full display. So far, Tocchet has liked what he’s seen and has heard nothing but positives from management on the budding star.

“I’ve been told a lot of good things about him from upstairs,” Tocchet said. “For me, he has just got to keep stacking the good stuff together.”