The Philadelphia Flyers have fallen out of the playoff picture during the month of January, with young star Matvei Michkov taking the brunt of the criticism.

Michkov, 21, has 13 goals and 29 points in 54 games this season, which is a nine-point drop after 54 games in his rookie year.

The 5-foot-10 winger has seen his playing time reduced throughout the season, and head coach Rick Tocchet has suggested that Michkov wasn’t in good enough shape to begin the 2025-26 campaign.

General manager Daniel Briere gave his young cornerstone a vote of confidence on Tuesday despite Michkov’s public friction with his head coach.

“One thing I can tell you is Michkov is not going anywhere, let’s make that clear,” Briere told reporters on Tuesday. “He’s going to be here for a long time. He’s going to be a good player here for the Flyers, and what he’s going through right now is part of the learning process.”

The disconnect between Tocchet and Michkov became public on Sunday when Tocchet joined PHLY Flyers Podcast on the concourse of the Xfinity Mobile Arena and questioned Michkov’s fitness entering the season.

The comments came after Michkov skated only 10:21 during the team’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, which was his lowest of the season. Michkov is averaging 14:34 of ice time this season, which is more than two minutes less than he averaged last year under head coaches John Tortorella and Brad Shaw.

“We’ve all talked about it, and I’ll be very frank… Matvei did not come into camp in shape,” said Tocchet on Sunday. “It’s hard to play yourself in shape. I have not told him or any of our players to, ‘Take a guy one-on-one, come out of the corner with a puck, or to make a play on a rush’… He’s having a tough time in those situations.”

“I mean, I get it. Maybe [other players] don’t have [his] skill set. But we’re trying to get him to that level, right? How to develop him: practice, making sure that you’re on time for treatments, and things like that. There’s so much into that, the way you eat.”

Adding fuel to the fire, the Flyers went 4-8-3 in the month of January and have fallen to sixth place in the Metropolitan Division with a 25-20-10 record.

The Perm, Russia, native admitted in November that he put a significant amount of time resting during the off-season as he recovered from an ankle injury that was nagging him at the end of the 2024-25 season.

It’s something the organization was aware of heading into the season, but it doesn’t change the fact that Tocchet has not felt comfortable leaving Michkov on the ice for longer periods of time.

“[Michkov] admitted himself that he wasn’t in the best physical condition coming in,” Briere said. “It’s going to be tough to catch up. He’s in better shape than he was when he arrived this season. Unfortunately, everybody is in better shape than they were in training camp, so it’s really tough for him to catch up with the amount of games that we have, the amount of travel we have. … He’s going to do that in the off-season.”

While Tocchet’s public comments towards Michkov were harsh, Briere believes that this adversity will help Michkov in the long run.

“Rick Tocchet wants Matvei to succeed,” Briere said. “He wants to develop him to be the best player that he can be. Along the way, there’s tough lessons that come with that. … Him and Matvei have a good relationship. Sometimes they are fiery. Sometimes when you’re not winning, things are done and said. But they always come back to the table and they want the best for this team, and Rick wants the best for Matvei.”