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Enough Already With the Narrative that Matvei Michkov Can’t Play Himself into Shape During the NHL Season
Published:
Rick Tocchet did the media rounds at the Flyers carnival and said this about Matvei Michkov:
“So you think he should get (ice time) because he’s earned it? Or because — we’ve talked about it, and I’ll be very frank, and Charlie (O’Connor) will tell you that I’m a very frank guy. I go down swinging. Matvei did not come into camp in shape. And it’s hard to play yourself (into shape). I have not told him or any of our players ‘take a guy one-on-one, come out of the corner with the puck, make a play through the rush.’ He’s having a tough time in those situations. Other players try, maybe they don’t have the skill set. But we’re trying to get him to that level, how to develop him, practice, making sure you’re in time for treatments. There’s so much to that. The way you eat. You don’t become a star, talking in general – look at Trevor Zegras, couple of bad years, he comes here, bought into a couple of things and he’s doing a hell of a job for us. Little bit of a slump and I was trying to get him through the center position to see if — you know, this is a time to try it. Whether we can do it or not we’ll see, and keep putting him out there. I don’t know if I’ve answered the question, but that’s kind of the rules of winning, right? The crest supercedes everything, not individuals, that’s what I’ve believed.”
Reactions:
1) People are generally sick of hearing about the crest and the team and playing the game the right way and all of those tropes because the Flyers have been espousing that over various regimes for 50 years and it’s won them jack shit. Zero Stanley Cups. They’ve gotten really close on multiple occasions, and lost to some great teams along the way, but it’s now been 15 years since they’ve been a legitimate contender. Fans just want to win. I highly doubt they care if that comes in the form of 20 guys playing a cohesive, blue-collar game, or if it looks like two superstar snipers scoring 99% of the goals but maybe not being Selke candidates.
2) Enough with this shit about Michkov not being able to play himself into shape during a season. What are you doing with the guy on his off days? Get him down to Voorhees and have him skate around the rink a hundred times. If you’re on the road, send him down to the hotel gym with a PR staffer and have him run five miles on the treadmill. Is he not picking up the phone? Does he refuse to work out? You are I are 40 years old with kids and wives and other annoyances and if we can make time to get our lazy asses in shape, then surely a 21-year-old professional hockey player with nothing else to do can figure it out, with help from the multi-billion dollar ownership that runs the Philadelphia Flyers. If I gotta hear that he “came into camp out of shape” one more time I’m gonna throw this Santa Sack out the window. That was five months ago. They’re acting like Michkov showed up to camp looking like Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies. If he’s so lazy and has such a poor attitude and eats like a video gamer, and all of that is affecting his ability to get into shape, then leak that to a beat writer and let’s advance the story here, because it makes no sense as is.
3) Michkov HAS made some abysmally-poor decisions and done some stupid things on the ice this year. There was one instance the other night, can’t remember which game, when he tried to skate a puck into the zone, lost it, and two teammates holding at the blue line were totally off-balance and had to haul ass to get back because they thought he was just gonna dump the puck in. Anybody putting on the Michkov blinders is kidding themselves. The guy has been put in some tough positions this year, like playing on his off-wing constantly, yet he’s trying and doing some things that make no sense under any coach, not just Tocchet.
Otherwise, not sure this quote really gives us anything new to chew on. Good on Bill for asking it, though, and good on Tocc for answering it even though he told the media weeks ago that he was sick of Michkov questions. This whole thing is multiple parts coaching change, sophomore slump, mindset (apparently) and being used improperly. There’s a long Olympic break coming up, and the Flyers ain’t contending this season, so now is the time for everyone to take a nice break, get it figured out, and have Matty Ice finish the season strong. And while we’re at it, let’s put the guy in front of the media sometime this calendar year.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com