Rick Tocchet’s first season behind the Flyers bench brought plenty to like: a strong push down the stretch, an end to the five-year playoff drought and a first-round series win. But the biggest question mark hanging over the year was Matvei Michkov, whose uneven season turned him into a focal point of the conversation around the team.
Chris Pronger thinks the answer starts with the winger’s preparation.
“I think he's going to earn the opportunities that he's going to be given,” Pronger said on NBC Sports Philadelphia's Flyers Talk podcast. “I think that's probably where Rick Tocchet wanted to come in from.”
Pronger didn’t sugarcoat what went wrong last summer. Michkov, he said, arrived for camp in poor shape and paid for it early.
“If we're just going to speak about his season last year, he came in out of shape,” Pronger, a Hockey Hall of Famer and former Flyer, said. “He had his struggles early. ... I think there's a lot left on the bone with respect to his development and getting him to that next level.”
There’s at least reason to believe this summer has looked different. Tocchet saw a motivated Michkov only days after the Flyers’ season ended in the second round of the playoffs, and the images circulating online since then have pointed to a player taking his training seriously.
“I think you can tell, just by the pictures that I've seen this summer and some of the training videos and some of the things that he has posted,” Pronger said. “I think everybody can expect a much improved, very well-prepared Matvei Michkov for his third season and last of his entry-level deal.”
Michkov arrived in Philadelphia with enormous expectations and backed them up with a standout rookie year. But he’s still only 21, still adjusting from Russia to the NHL, and still working through the bumps that can come with that kind of transition. Add a new coaching staff to the mix, and some growing pains were probably inevitable.
Pronger said that’s where the coaching side has to be flexible.
“I don't think you treat any player exactly the same,” Pronger said. “You kind of meet them where they are.
Some want you to talk quietly to them and some don't want you talking in front of the team. There are different ways to go about it.
Some want to be talked to very directly and others you want to beat around the bush. You get to know their personalities, you get to know how to connect with them in a positive manner so that you get the most out of them.
I don't think there's a one size fits all as it relates to that.”
Michkov’s struggles last season made him a lightning rod with the fan base, and Pronger said the Flyers would prefer far less noise this time around.
“Some people were on his side, some people were on the coach's side,” Pronger said. “At the end of the day, everybody in Philadelphia is on the Flyers' side and they want to see this kid excel, they want to see Rick Tocchet use him in the best manner possible. But he has got to go out and earn that and come into camp in shape, which clearly it looks like he is.”
In Other News...
Flyers Offseason Theory Around Michkov Misses The Bigger Question
A social-media theory picked up a little steam around the Flyers this week, with some fans wondering whether the clubs aggressive offer-sheet play for Leo Carlsson was really about creating a path to move on from Matvei Michkov. The chatter has no supporting evidence, but it did manage to turn one of the summers most eye-catching moves into a referendum on what Philadelphia is trying to build and who it values most.
What actually happened is simpler: the Ducks matched the Flyers offer sheet, and the whole episode ended without any player movement or compensation changing hands. More importantly for Philadelphia, there has been no reporting suggesting the team wants to trade Michkov, and management still appears to view him as a central piece of the rebuild rather than a name to dangle in some hidden deal. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jackets Still Have A Marchenko Situation To Watch
With the Flyers settling their own development plans for Jett Luchanko by sending him to Lehigh Valley for the full season, the focus around camp shifts to the kind of roster questions that can still reshape the lineup before opening night. Philadelphia has no shortage of those decisions to make, and the center picture is one of the more interesting ones as the team sorts through how best to use its younger pieces alongside the established core.
One possibility worth watching is whether Trevor Zegras gets a look down the middle when camp opens. It is the sort of trial that could affect both the daily lineup and the longer-term shape of the forward group, especially with the organization trying to balance patience, fit and upside. For a Flyers team looking to make smarter use of its talent, that kind of camp experiment can carry more weight than a standard preseason subplot. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Injury Crunch Could Pull A Familiar Flyer Into Focus
Edmontons training camp is already running into injury trouble, and the ripple effect could eventually shine a light on a few familiar names around the league. With Frederik Andersen, Alec Regula, Matt Savoie and Mattias Janmark all set to miss camp, the Oilers may be forced to examine the free-agent market for help at a time when cap space is tight and depth matters more than ever.
Among the veterans being mentioned as possible fits is Luke Glendening, who spent part of last season in New Jersey and Philadelphia and gave the Flyers one goal in 10 playoff games. Adam Henrique is also being floated as another experienced option, but for now the situation remains more about possibilities than movement, with Edmonton still sorting through how it wants to patch the roster. [Read more 🡒]