- Rick Tocchet says he would take back his February criticism of Matvei Michkov’s conditioning
- The Flyers coach called talk of a rift with his young winger “overblown”
- Read below for what Tocchet wants from Michkov in a contract year
Rick Tocchet wants a do-over on the Matvei Michkov comments that blew up his first season in Philadelphia.
The Flyers coach was asked about his relationship with the 21-year-old winger in a Q and A with Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, and he did not dance around the February blowup.
“I think it’s a learning lesson for both of us. I think the relationship has been overblown, and I think he’s talked about it. In saying that, in February, I was frustrated. I should have probably kept the remarks about him being out of shape. I had already said it four times, I don’t think I needed to say it a fifth time. As any coach, you learn a lesson. So, I would take that back.”
Kurz published the full conversation Thursday morning:
The original comments landed on Feb. 1, after Michkov played a season-low 10:21 against the Kings. Tocchet told the PHLY Flyers crew the winger never showed up ready.
Catch the clip that started it:
Days later, general manager Daniel Briere went out of his way to tell reporters Michkov was not going anywhere. The winger finished with 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games, down from the 26 goals and 63 points he put up as a rookie.
Then came the playoffs, where Michkov got benched twice and managed one assist in eight games at 11:49 a night.
Tocchet is not pretending last season went well. He is arguing the coaching part of it worked.
“But the way we coached him, the way we tried to make him understand certain things, I thought the coaches did a great job with him. Saying that, he still played some really good games for us. It’s not like he was horrible.”
Conditioning is the piece that got settled over the summer. Michkov spent chunks of the offseason in Russia skating and lifting with Artemi Panarin, Mikhail Sergachev, Andrei Kuzmenko, Vasili Podkolzin, Ilya Lyubushkin and Marat Khusnutdinov under trainer Dmitry Yashankin.
Take a look at that group getting after it in July:
An ankle problem that lingered from 2024-25 wrecked most of the previous summer, which is where the out-of-shape stuff came from in the first place. Tocchet thinks that box is checked now.
What he described next sounds like a coach loosening the leash.
“I want him to be creative. I want him to come in my office and (ask), ‘What do you think about this?’ But there are still some non-negotiables. We have to have them as a coach. But I’d be crazy not to let him be creative or take a guy one-on-one, or make plays off the rush. That’s his gift.”
Michkov is playing out the last year of his entry-level deal and hits restricted free agency next July, and Briere has already said there is nothing going on with extension talks yet.
Philadelphia made the playoffs last spring for the first time since 2020 with their best forward mostly stuck in neutral. Getting Michkov back to 60-plus points is the cheapest upgrade on the roster, and Tocchet just told everyone he plans to hand him the keys.
