Flyers

Matvei Michkov Says John Tortorella is One of the Best Coaches He’s Ever Had

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Apr 30th, 2025 · 2:24 PM EDT

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This is more than a week old, but I don’t think our casual readers have seen it.

It’s Matvei Michkov in a 40-minute interview with former NHL/KHL player Nikita Filatov and Russian soccer star Andrey Arshavin, who played mostly for Arsenal and Zenit St. Petersburg.

The interview is in Russian, but part of it was translated and shared on social, and the stuff about John Tortorella is really interesting:

Matvei spoke candidly about his relationship with Tortorella.

"If you worked hard in practice,
if you played hard for him, he trusted you"

Also funny stories about Zamula, Kolosov, Fedotov, English and many other things. pic.twitter.com/fMnAiwrazP

— Uggg (@Uggg_uggg) April 26, 2025

Michkov: “When I was coming here, the Russian guys were telling me that he (Tortorella) doesn’t like Russians and basically that he’s a tough coach. But when I came here, he always treated me normally, with respect. And in principle, we found a common ground. He is a very honest man. He says what he thinks about you to your face. If you’re shit, he’ll tell you you’re shit. Some people don’t like to be told the truth to their face. But that’s the kind of person he is. He said what he thought. That’s why I think he was honest. If you worked hard in practice, if you played hard for him, he trusted you. (follow up question about benching) – Looking back now, sitting here, I think it actually helped me. Because I come to the bench and I’m the kind of person who is, how do I put it, fiery? And he’s the same way. And it’s understandable that when we are both on emotions, it was hard for us to find a common ground and so we had certain misunderstandings. We’d come into the locker room, and he’d say, well if he was wrong, he’d say, ‘Sorry, I was wrong. I probably shouldn’t have done or said that.’ I’d say, ‘I’m sorry too, I was wrong, I was emotional, I just wanted to win badly. Every shift I want to score and make passes. He said, ‘I understand, I like people with a lot of heart and passion for the game.’ I really liked our coach… You know, when I think about my past, and who I’ve been coached by, I think Tortorella is one of the best coaches I’ve had.”

That’s a mature response from a 20-year-old. Most grown men don’t speak like that. It seems like Michkov responded well to Torts because he himself is a fiery and competitive dude and there’s a mutual respect with people who carry themselves similarly.

Maybe there was some narrative-weaving among fans and media that the two didn’t get along, or that Michkov didn’t appreciate his ice time or early-season benching, but this quashes the thought, if it still exists. He even goes on to say he was upset that Torts was fired and wanted some more time to work with him.