VOORHEES, N.J. — Rick Tocchet knows the amount of attention Matvei Michkov attracts in a market like this one.

After all, Tocchet is not new to the Philadelphia sports scene. Michkov has been propped as the Flyers’ next star in the making, an all-important pillar to the organization’s patient rebuild.

Good or bad, eyes will be on No. 39. And Tocchet is feeling that early in his first season as the Flyers’ head coach.

“I know he’s the lightning rod for everybody around here,” Tocchet said Sunday after practice. “You’ve just got to relax.”

Tocchet was asked about his concern level with Michkov. The 20-year-old has gotten off to a slow start with one goal and no assists through five games. The Flyers are looking for Michkov to play himself into form after he dealt with an ankle issue this summer, which limited some of his offseason training.

The winger’s minutes have been cut in the third period of two wins. On Saturday night, Tocchet shortened his bench to pull out a 2-1 overtime win over the Wild. Michkov had some questionable puck decisions and a minus-1 rating in just 12:07 minutes. The Flyers want him to not abandon the defensive zone so quickly.

“He has got to get himself into shape, he has got to be in team position,” Tocchet said. “You just can’t leave the zone. It’s OK. I think he has gotten better at it, but there are times when you’ve just got to make decisions. I thought against Minnesota, at that time, for us to win the game, I went with the nine [forwards]. And we flipped the switch. It’s not an indictment of him. He has been working hard, supporting the puck.”

Tocchet on Wednesday mentioned that Michkov approached the coaches to go over film.

“He has been in video session every day asking the right questions,” Tocchet said. “He’ll tell you, ‘I’m in the wrong spot.’ He has just got to know when is the time to cheat and when not. We don’t have the puck, you can’t be at center ice. [Those] are the rules of hockey. It’s black and white for me.”

This is about two to three seconds before the Vladimir Tarasenko goal last night. You can see Michkov is pretty far out of the zone as the Flyers don’t have the puck in their own zone. You’ve got to think Tocchet wants more support there. Said Michkov has gotten better at it. pic.twitter.com/TDDTmKbMxk

— Jordan Hall (@JHallNBCS) October 19, 2025

It’s not like Tocchet doesn’t appreciate Michkov’s offensive gifts. He highlighted the youngster’s competitiveness in training camp and has played him on the top line and power play unit. It sounds like there will continue to be some leash.

“I’m not trying to change his whole game, but he has to support the puck, that’s all,” Tocchet said. “You can’t go away from the puck. You have to go to the puck.

“I know everybody wants a star, but we’ve got to be careful. There are baby steps that we have to do.”

It’s early, five games into a long season. Through the good and the bad, the praise and the criticism, the Flyers will have to work with Michkov, just like they do with every other player.

“We talk about everybody wants to win around here and everybody wants to build a culture,” Tocchet said. “You’ve got to do that first. I’m a big believer in that. Not everybody’s a system guy, you don’t want robots out there and I don’t want him to be a robot, but there are also things that you have to participate on the team part.

“Everybody has to have somewhat of the same standard. You can’t let people do what they want, then you’ll lose all the time. … There are growing pains with it, with young guys.”