Flyers Focus: IIHF World Championships and Much More

The Flyers blogs on Hockey Hot Stove are powered by Phans of Philly, Lights On Electric, Liberty Valuation Group, New Balance of Mount Laurel,The Mens and Boys Store and Carl’s Cards and Collectibles. Welcome aboard our new playoff sponsor, Team Toyota.

Three Philadelphia Flyers players are at the 2026 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland with their respective national teams. Below are Day One results and upcoming games for Saturday, May 16.

Canada 5 – Sweden 3. Team Canada shrugged off a three-goal Tre Kronor outburst in the second period of Friday’s tournament opener at BCF Arena. With the score tied at 3-3 in the third period, Flyers winger Porter Martone notched the primary assists on goals by Connor Minton (3:21) and Dylan Cozens (12:59) to put Canada ahead to stay. Meanwhile, Flyers center prospect Jack Berglund recorded the lone assist on a Jacob Larsson goal (8:21) and secondary helper on a Lucas Raymond power play tally (11:04) during the second period. Veteran Flyers forward Carl Grundstrom did not dress for the game.

Team Canada vs. Italy. Canada is right back in action on Saturday, taking on Italy at 10:20 a.m. EDT. The game is scoreless in the first period as of this writing. Canada is idle on Sunday before playing Denmark on Monday.
Sweden vs. Denmark (May 17). Tre Kronor is idle on Saturday before playing the Danes the next day. On Monday, the Swedes are the designated home team against Czechia.

Team Toyota Spotlight: Matvei Michkov

The 21-year-old second-year winger had a very tough start but a strong regular season finish in 2025-26. After the Olympic break, Michkov led the team in scoring over the rest of the regular season. He struggled badly in the postseason but assisted on Cam York’s series-clinching overtime goal in Game Six against Pittsburgh and played a strong overtime period in Game Two against Carolina.

Michkov met with general manager Daniel Briere on Thursday to discuss his offseason training plan. According to Briere, the player plans to spend at least part of his offseason in Voorhees, working out over the summer. The exact schedule has yet to be determined. On Exit Day two days earlier, Michkov took a page from countryman Ivan Provorov’s playbook. After his media session, Michkov went on the Flyers Training Center ice to skate and shoot some pucks. Provorov did the same on at least one Exit Day during his Flyers’ tenure.

On Wednesday, Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet pent considerable time discussing Michkov’s challenging second season in the NHL and first Stanley Cup playoff run. There is more attention — and pressure — on Michkov than any other young player on the team. There are still adjustments that Michkov has to make in terms of playing faster and making decisions with and without the puck but the will to reach his full potential is there with the 21-year-old winger.

“We’ve got to let this kid breathe, because I think he made a lot of strides.” Tocchet said. “It’s almost like a vengeance tour. It’s something I think every player should have that kind of motivation in their head.”

Finally, on Thursday, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere had his say. To no one’s surprise, the subject soon turned to Michkov’s roller coaster second NHL season. From a statistical standpoint, Michkov led the team in scoring down the regular season stretch before a rough playoff run. In other areas — his skating, conditioning, mastery of English and on-ice decision making — Briere believes Michkov will ultimately benefit from his 2025-26 trials and tribulations.

“The big thing for Matvei is adapting. I think he’s a very smart young man. He will adapt and he will learn from what happened this year,” Briere said.

Briere recalled some of his own experiences in becoming fluent with English and adjusting to the pro game. He also recalled late in his own playing career how much highly touted young teammate Nathan MacKinnon struggled in his second pro season.

“It’s how he’s going to adapt to it,” Briere said of Michkov. “He will figure it out.”

Michkov’s offseason training plan — and continued immersion in speaking English without needing a translator — will fully be determined in upcoming weeks. Briere said on Thursday that Michkov will at least spend part of his summer in Voorhees. He’s already been working on greater English mastery. (In fact, Michkov already attempted his first English interview in the locker room late in the season, but needs further work before he’s comfortable in a press conference setting). He’s already comfortable greeting people in English and making basic small talk.

Cold War in Philly Countdown: 11 Days

Eleven days remain until the exclusive world premiere of the Cold War in Philly documentary at the Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia on May 27. Be sure to follow Hockey Hot Stove and the Flyers Alumni on Twitter/X for your chance to win two passes to the premiere (a $150 value). The package includes:

Reserved Seating
Alumni Panel Q&A
Commemorative Program
Cold War In Philly Gift Bag

During the Broad Street Bullies era, big winger Don “Big Bird” Saleski wore number 11 for the Flyers.

Tough two-way right winger Don “Big Bird” Saleski was born on Nov. 10, 1949 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The late bloomer was drafted from the Western League’s Regina Pats by the Flyers in the sixth round (64 th overall) of the 1969 NHL Draft.

Saleski is best known as a member of the Broad Street Bullies teams that won the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup championships and reached the Finals again in 1976. Along with Dave “the Hammer” Schultz, Andre “Moose” Dupont and Bob “the Hound” Kelly, Saleski was regarded as one of the team’s most pugnacious players.

In reality, Saleski worked very hard under the auspices of Fred Shero to successfully make himself into a solid two-way checking forward. There was much more to his role than being a secondary policeman. Saleski had a career high 205 penalty minutes in 1972-73. However, he never even reached 100 penalty minutes again after the 1974-75 season that saw the Flyers win their second straight Stanley Cup.

The player had became a valuable penalty killer and hard-working checking forward who was adept at using his 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame to win most battles for the puck. He served the Flyers better on the ice than in the penalty box.

The big forward even managed to put up three consecutive 20-goal seasons for the Flyers from 1975-76 through 1977-78. He also reached 45-plus points twice, topping out at 47 points in 1975-76 and 27 goals in 1977-78. For his Flyers career, Saleski dressed in 476 regular season games (118 goals, 117 assists, 235 points, 602 penalty minutes, plus-101) and 82 playoff games (13 goals, 17 assists, 235 penalty minutes).

The Flyers traded Saleski to the Colorado Rockies on March 3, 1979 in exchange for the 1979 second-round Draft pick the club used on the selection of defenseman Blake Wesley. Having thrived under the quiet and innovative – but firmly in control – coaching of Shero, Saleski did not like or appreciate the style of Colorado head coach Don Cherry.

“Freddie was the best coach in the league. He didn’t yell to get his point across to you or earn respect. He didn’t have to,” Saleski recalled. “With Don, all he knew how to do was holler. He didn’t realize that just hollering longer and louder wasn’t going to make guys play better.”

After a heated confrontation with Cherry during the 1979-80 season, Saleski was demoted from the Rockies to the Fort Worth Texans of the Central Hockey League; the first time Saleski had been in the minor leagues since spending most of the 1971-72 season with the Flyers’ Richmond Robins farm team in the American Hockey League. Saleski served out his penance for the rest of the season and playoffs and
then retired with no regrets at age 31.

Saleski made his permanent home in the Delaware Valley. In the years after his playing days, he became a successful businessman.

Flyers Daily: Special guest Daniel Briere

Flyers Daily host Jason Myrtetus conducted an exclusive one-on-one interview with Flyers general manager Daniel Briere for half an hour after the GM’s group media availability session on Thursday. Briere was able to talk in further depth on a variety of topics from the 2025-26 season and the upcoming Offseason.