Flyers

Transcript: Matvei Michkov Exit Interview

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: May 12th, 2026 · 10:56 AM EDT

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The Flyers are holding exit interviews on Tuesday and here’s everything Matvei Michkov said to the press, translated by Flyers advisor Slava Kuznetsov:

• did he feel more like himself down the stretch: “After the break I started feeling the game better, you all see what happened before and after (the break), there were tough games in the playoffs, I think the team did really good to make the playoffs this season. We could have played Carolina a bit better.”
• on Game 4 benching in the Canes series: “Coach decision, I’m a player that should go on the ice and do my job, if the coaches decide I have to miss the game I have to take it (accept it), go back on the ice and train and work.. unfortunately we cannot control what we cannot control.”
• on training here or going back to Russia (or elsewhere): “Just planning to work and after this press conference going back on the ice and start working as of right now.”
• what was his relationship with Rick Tocchet this season: “Simple work relationship, a good relationship.”
• what did he learn about his game this year/linemates: “Played with Noah Cates the whole season, plus/minus went right away to zero, and not to minus. On a (bigger) scale, Noah Cates helped. Our third lineman was changing most of the season, pretty much every game a different guy, all of them were skilled enough and played and helped and it was a good experience.”
• does he have a good understanding of what the team wants from him this summer: “Can I skip that question?”
• is there anything he wants to work on specifically? – “Not sure what to answer on that question but I will work, I’ll put the work in. (asks the reporter if they think he wasn’t ready after the Olympic break) – next year I plan to be even better than I was after the Olympic break.”
• why do you think his strong regular season finish didn’t carry over to the playoffs: “Good question… I don’t know how to answer it. In the playoffs the whole team plays really good, I was trying to help in defense and do what the coach told me. What the coach told me to do, that’s what I was trying to do. It was first playoffs for me and I can’t say it was easy… I’m a player that a team expects me to score and make plays. But at the end of it it’s 8 games with one assist, and that was a (I think he says ‘fluke’ here).”
• how was his relationship with his teammates, and what does it mean to have some young guys now to connect with: “A lot of young players came into the team. All of them good guys. I can see there’s a fire in their eyes, they want to work, it’s good to play with the guys and compete with them, it helps me to grow as well.”
• excitement level to make another run with this team, and go further: “100%, you’re right, next season we want to go further than the second round, this season was the first round and we passed it, we tasted playoffs really good, next season we need to go even further so the progress will show, every player has to work harder to make that happen.”
• what was it like seeing the playoff atmosphere here: “unreal atmosphere, a lot of kids wearing my #39, I am a little bit ashamed I couldn’t score for them in the playoffs, but I thank the fans for being there, without them there would be (nothing), we play for them and are on the ice for them to be happy and enjoy the game”
• message from front office on how to approach the summer: “We have not talked, we didn’t have that meeting yet. It’s going to happen Thursday.”

I’d like to know why he asked to skip the question about what the team wants from him this summer. He was asked about it again as a follow up (the last question), and says he didn’t meet with Danny Briere and the staff yet, so maybe that was the reason for passing on the question the first time. He also declined to say specifically if he was going to train here or return to Russia, or elsewhere.

The only other question/answer that stood out to me was Michkov talking about being a player expected to “score and make plays,” and it speaks to this idea that he’s not a 200-foot player and may never be that type of player. Rick Tocchet seems to want to jam the square peg into the round hole, and fit the player to the system, i.e. everyone plays a role and maybe that just doesn’t fit with Michkov’s skill set, but we’ll find out next season.