Flyers Focus: Michkov, Tocchet, & What’s Next

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Following a 2-1 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the Philadelphia Flyers (25-20-11) entered the Olympic break. With two regulation wins in their last 14 games, Philly badly needed the break.

Before reaching the break, on-going issues between head coach Rick Tocchet and star winger Matvei Michkov escalated.

Private issue made public

Interviewed by the PHLY Flyers Podcast during the Flyers Charities Carnival, Tocchet responded defensively to a question about Michkov’s ice time. Oddly, Tocchet neglected to mention that Michkov’s 18 shifts were not artificially low. Denver Barkey also skated 18 shifts. Bobby Brink skated 20 shifts. The two shift differential was due more to Sean Couturier taking two faceoffs in the third period flanked by Brink and Trevor Zegras. Zegras lined up on left wing for those shifts.

Former Flyers coach Alain Vigneault emphasized the number of shifts and their average lengths whenever questioned about someone’s total ice time. Conversely, Tocchet didn’t go that route. He opted instead to once again focus mainly on the conditioning question. On Thursday, Tocchet volunteered that a player showed up late for treatments with the staff.

Tocchet did not name names. However, Michkov was the immediate suspicion. Tocchet all but confirmed it by bringing up the treatments again three days later; this time in reply to a Michkov question. Briere then officially confirmed it in his pregame press conference on Tuesday.

Left unsaid: Tocchet needlessly turned a private internal matter into a public one. That was the probable source of the organization’s reported unhappiness with Tocchet’s handling of the situation.

Rick Tocchet comments on Matvei Michkov's season low 10:21 TOI 👇 pic.twitter.com/u58CSTNNaw

— PHLY Flyers (@PHLY_Flyers) February 1, 2026

There’s little question the on-going discussion on the Russian winger’s sophomore slump accelerated into overdrive thanks to it. Concerns over his in-game stamina have been covered exhaustively. But while “honesty is the best policy” seemed to be Tocchet’s intent, the tact and tone was not received well by a portion of the fan base.

As a result, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere was forced into damage control mode on Tuesday as he spoke with the media.

In looking at the situation, let’s begin with things that can be equally true. Matvei Michkov did not come into the season prepared to match his rookie year levels. Rick Tocchet is right to be frustrated, but were airing those concerns in public the best pathway forward?

Michkov’s Mistakes Hurting Flyers Chances

Matvei Michkov reported to training camp with a body fat percentage near the outer end of what’s considered acceptable for the average non-athlete. However, for a professional athlete, it was nearly double the range of what today’s NHL teams expect of their players.

came into his sophomore season unable to compete at the highest level. As reported by Kevin Kurz of The Athletic, the Russian forward was able to get down to an appropriate playing weight through a team nutritionist. However, he’s has struggled with his cardio conditioning. His baselines still below average according to team sources. For one, his between-shift recovery times are still in the higher-than-average range.

The Olympic Break offers some respite and opportunity to build himself up for the stretch run. He plans to do a lot of skating over the break. He’ll work on other training aspects over the offseason.

Michkov can still have a decent finish. However, any expectation that he can magically return to his rookie season standards in that window is wishful thinking. This is something that can only be achieved through a full off-season program.

“He admitted himself that he wasn’t in the best physical condition coming in,” Briere said to reporters on Tuesday. “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 and the amount of travel we have.”

Hard Lesson Learned

Michkov’s rookie season saw an impressive scoring output. He led all first year players with 26 goals, to go with 63 points in 80 games.

Prior to his rookie season, Michkov trained specifically to prepare for John Tortorella’s infamous Day One skating test. Michkov completed the test, which is all Tortorella looked for. Completion time was irrelevant.

As the 2024-25 season progressed, Michkov was able to power through it. He lacked straight-ahead speed. However, his edgework on his skates was well above-average. Michkov showed an aptitude for using his lower-body effectively to shield the puck. He he looked every bit a superstar in-waiting.

However, when given some proverbial “rope” with a new coach (and no skating test to worry about), Michkov came to camp unprepared. The organization pointing to a lack of training due to an off-season injury. However, subsequent indications are that Michkov’s off-season regimen was off-track even before that. Regardless of the injury, Michkov showed a lack of maturity, both on- and off-ice.

Michkov has lacked attention to deal in Year Two. For one, he’s taken far too many careless penalties. For another, he’s made some shockingly low-percentage decisions on when to exit the defensive zone, when to make a play near the attacking blueline, and where he’s supposed to go when supporting the play.

Regardless of pre-camp injury, Michkov did not come adequately prepared. While portions of the fan base solely blame head coach Rick Tocchet or on Michkov’s linemates, the player properly assigned the blame to himself.

Therefore, call this a hard lesson learned for Michkov and one that he needs to internalize as he goes into the final year of his entry level contract.

Does Tocchet Needs To Throttle Back Public Criticism?

Tocchet has every right to be disappointed and frustrated that the future “face of the franchise” blew his chance to make a good impression.

For those who’ve watched each game this season, there are times with Michkov starts off the game strong, then tails off by the middle period. Other games, if he started off slowly, he didn’t have impact at all especially if it came in a back-to-back scenario.

As a result, it’s understandable that Tocchet didn’t trust him enough to hold up in the game’s tightest moments for much of this season. However, Tocchet’s lack of patience with questioning regarding Michkov’s ice-time certainly brings back recent memories of how he handled the Elias Pettersson situation in Vancouver.

There’s also been criticism of him regarding playing Michkov on the left wing, specifically that the move has affected his offensive capabilities. The view here is that’s a bit overblown. He is able to play relatively position-less in Tocchet’s system in the offensive zone. More importantly, it’s covered for some of Michkov’s defensive inefficiencies. When he comes up the ice on the left wing, he has the puck toward the boards. It’s not exposed over the middle. Once in the offensive zone, he’s not discouraged from swooping around to make plays from the right side.

The belief here is that if he returns to a higher level of stamina next season, he’ll slot back to his preferred position on the off wing. (By the way, hockey coaches use the terms “natural wing” and “off-wing” in reference to handedness, not personally preferred attack side).

Adjusted Long Term Expectations?

The Flyers are in a unique situation with Michkov. While he seemed ahead of schedule last season, this year has been a hard reset on expectations. The question was whether he is on the path of superstardom. Now it’s whether those standards were a bit too lofty. Michkov has a potential developmental apex of an Artemi Panarin. Of course, whether he gets to that level in his career is uncertain.

That stated, Tocchet’s comments are likely also bourne from the frustration of seeing his team slip in the Eastern Conference playoff race. But it’s also important that the coach cools the temperature a bit when it comes to the long-term handling of Michkov.

The Flyers, like many NHL teams stuck in the middle of a grinding Olympic schedule, haven’t had the benefit of rest and additional practice time. And that has only compounded Michkov’s struggles.

Hope for a turn in Michkov’s season came in Thursday’s game. Michkov’s ice-time increased to nearly 15 minutes (substantially up from last Saturday’s numbers against Los Angeles). He averaged 44 seconds in his 20 on-ice shifts. On one second period shift, he powering around the Senators defense, looking for a passing opportunity.

It’s moments like that where Michkov shows his box-office level skill. Once the Flyers return from the Olympic break, it’ll be on him to give Tocchet reasons like that to keep him out there as they try to make a playoff push.