{"id":444525,"date":"2026-02-04T04:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/444525\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T04:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:17:12","slug":"rick-tocchet-wants-matvei-to-succeed-the-latest-on-michkovs-complicated-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/444525\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rick Tocchet wants Matvei to succeed\u2019: The latest on Michkov\u2019s complicated season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere must have figured the noise had gotten a little too loud. In an unscheduled and hastily announced media availability, approximately 15 minutes before the game against the Washington Capitals at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday night, Briere addressed some recent comments from coach Rick Tocchet, who on a PHLY podcast on Sunday at the Flyers\u2019 Wives Fight for Lives Carnival said that winger Matvei Michkov \u201cdid not come into (training) camp in shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was one of several times this season Tocchet has mentioned Michkov\u2019s substandard conditioning level, and the tone in his voice suggested he\u2019s incredibly frustrated with the second-year winger. Briere\u2019s aim seemingly was to calm the waters regarding that vital player-coach relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cRick Tocchet wants Matvei to succeed,\u201d Briere said. \u201cHe wants to develop him to be the best player that he can be. Along the way, there\u2019s tough lessons that come with that. \u2026 Him and Matvei have a good relationship. Sometimes they are fiery. Sometimes when you\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michkov\u2019s agent, J.P. Barry, declined to comment on Tuesday about Michkov\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

Tocchet has been criticized by some for not giving Michkov the kind of minutes or role he had last season, when he led all NHL rookies in goals with 26, and posted 63 total points in 80 games. Michkov was averaging 14 minutes, 32 seconds, of ice time per game headed into Tuesday night, well down from his 16:41 per game last season. The coach has made it clear he doesn\u2019t believe Michkov can handle an increased workload from a physical standpoint, and it stems from Michkov\u2019s arriving to training camp in suboptimal shape.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something Michkov has previously acknowledged<\/a>. In November, he said: \u201cFor the first time in my life, I took four months off. No hockey. Training is not the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s now February. How is Michkov\u2019s conditioning still an issue?<\/p>\n

Multiple team sources have indicated that now, even months after his slow training-camp start, the Flyers believe Michkov still may not be able to do the things he needs to do from a physical standpoint \u2014 on a regular enough basis \u2014 to earn a larger role. Whereas last season he was routinely able to absorb hits along the wall or in scrums in the corner, and emerge from those scrums with the puck, for example, the thought is that he now struggles with that because his strength is lower than it should be.<\/p>\n

Throughout the early part of training camp and the regular season, Michkov\u2019s cardio levels were what needed primary attention. His body fat percentage when camp opened also was concerning to the team. With the help of a nutritionist provided by the Flyers, Michkov lost the needed weight, which was step one. As a result, though, he wasn\u2019t able to properly strength train until more recently, which is what will help him play his style of game, considering he is never going to be a blazing-fast skater.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an ongoing process. Even if Michkov remains in the area over the Olympic break and ramps up his training, which he has indicated he\u2019s planning to do, the Flyers don\u2019t expect that he will suddenly return to the form he showed last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe admitted himself that he wasn\u2019t in the best physical condition coming in,\u201d Briere said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be tough to catch up. He\u2019s 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\u2019s really tough for him to catch up with the amount of games that we have, the amount of travel we have. \u2026 He\u2019s going to do that in the offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

And therein lies part of the problem, at least from a public-facing standpoint. Michkov exceeded expectations last season. The Flyers didn\u2019t figure he would put up the kind of numbers he did so soon, with 63 points in 80 games in 2024-25. The fact that Michkov raised the bar on expectations, but has failed to produce at the same level, has resulted in some fans pointing their fingers squarely at Tocchet, who took over behind the bench this season.<\/p>\n

To be fair, Tocchet could have dialed back the evident annoyance in his voice when he was asked about Michkov\u2019s minutes over the weekend. It\u2019s not the first time<\/a> he\u2019s shown disdain for that line of questioning.<\/p>\n

But team brass also recognizes that Tocchet is in a unique situation. Michkov does have to be handled a bit differently than other young players, considering how much the organization needs him to succeed. If Michkov were just a standard second-year winger, he may have come out of the lineup at least a few times by now, like other young players such as Cam York, Tyson Foerster, Noah Cates and Bobby Brink did in the past.<\/p>\n

Another criticism of Tocchet is that he is playing Michkov at left wing rather at right wing, but team sources said that Michkov has expressed no issues with that change. In regard to his relationship with the coach, Michkov also is often the first player on the practice ice, including on Tuesday for the morning skate.<\/p>\n

At the same time, there\u2019s a recognition from the Flyers\u2019 staff that Michkov also may be having some trouble from a non-physical standpoint after having early success as a rookie last season. On the Flyers\u2019 two-game road trip last week, for example, he got lost on the Blue Jackets\u2019 third-period game-winner, which happened a little more than one minute after the Flyers had erased a 3-1 deficit to tie it, and the next night in Boston, Michkov inexplicably came off of the ice early on a line change, leading to a Bruins goal. Michkov\u2019s ill-timed changes, missed assignments and turnovers have been sources of frustration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew there would be bumps along the way,\u201d Briere said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s kind of what is happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tocchet and Michkov coexisting and eventually thriving together is still likely going to be paramount to the rebuild. Tocchet, who is in the first year of a five-year contract extension, will have to help Michkov reach his full potential if he\u2019s going to succeed as the head coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I can tell you first of all, Matvei Michkov is not going anywhere,\u201d Briere said. \u201cLet\u2019s make that clear. Matvei is going to be here for a long time. He\u2019s going to be a good player here for the Flyers. What he\u2019s going through right now is all part of the learning process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hope remains that Michkov has learned a valuable lesson that he\u2019ll take with him into the offseason. The Flyers believe Michkov is strong-willed young man who is still just 21 years old, who has been through a lot in his life, and who will hopefully come out on the other end just fine. They are under the impression that Michkov also is frustrated with his season, which will help fuel him for 2026-27, when he enters the third and final season of his entry-level contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I know about Matvei is how driven he is,\u201d Briere said. \u201cHe wants to be the best player he can be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Flyers general manager Daniel Briere must have figured the noise had gotten a little too loud. In…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,4,1467,56,5205],"class_list":{"0":"post-444525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","13":"tag-philadelphiaflyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116010434612666508","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}