Five games into the season, Matvei Michkov has one goal, which he scored Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets.
But more significant isn’t necessarily the goal, it’s that he played 18 minutes, 48 seconds. In the first three games of the season, Michkov ranked ninth in average minutes (14:26) among Flyers forwards who skated in all three, with only Garnet Hathaway below him.
On Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, Michkov was on the ice for 12:07, his lowest total since Jan. 30. Across his 80 games as a rookie, Michkov played fewer minutes four times. He was benched in the third period for the third game this season.
The 20-year-old winger did not play in the final 1:56 of regulation or in overtime in the loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. He did not play the final 7:43 against the Florida Panthers in the Flyers’ win on Monday. And on Saturday, he did not play the final 11:48 of regulation or in overtime.
» READ MORE: The Flyers’ gifted Matvei Michkov overcame pressure as a rookie. Now he’s out to avoid the sophomore slump.
“I know he’s the lightning rod for everybody around here,” said coach Rick Tocchet, who previously said that some of Michkov’s drop in ice time has been related to the Flyers taking so many penalties — and the winger is not on the penalty kill. “Just got to relax. He’s got to get himself into shape.”
Tocchet said last week that the Russian suffered an ankle injury this offseason. Michkov confirmed Wednesday through a team translator that he “was training in the summer, got a little injury, minor injury in the ankle,” and now is getting back into playing form.
Just over a week into the season, Tocchet is starting to sound like former coach John Tortorella, who would often stress that Michkov needed to be accountable on the ice and be a pro.
Under Tocchet’s defensive-zone system, wingers have a setup in which “the wingers really have your quadrant, and that’s kind of your job … Just got to make sure you’re in the slot, covering certain people, because you don’t want those slot shots.” But it is becoming clear that while Michkov is a high-end hockey player who sometimes sees the play two steps ahead, he often puts his team at a disadvantage by leaving the zone early.
“He’s been in video sessions asking the right questions, and he’ll tell you, ‘Yeah, no, I’m in the wrong spot.’ He’s just got to know when is the time to cheat and when not,” said Tocchet, who added that Michkov has gotten better at it and is working hard on supporting the puck.
“We don’t have the puck, you can’t be at center ice. That’s the rules of hockey. It’s black and white for me.”
Tocchet wants his players to go north and not dawdle. He clearly also wants Michkov to stop cherry-picking, hoping for an outlet pass that could spring him alone on the goalie. Saturday night, the Wild’s only goal was a clear example of the youngster misreading the play.
Earlier on the shift, when it was a 50-50 battle along the wall, Michkov cheated a little and drifted into the neutral zone — when it’s a 50-50 puck, it’s not as terrible — and he did come right back into the Flyers’ end. But the issue is that as Vladimir Tarasenko put his shot on goal from the blue line, Michkov was skating backward in the neutral zone. There was no clear indication the Flyers would get the puck back — and they didn’t.
“I’m not trying to change his whole game,” Tocchet stressed. “But he has to support the puck. That’s all. You can’t go away from the puck. You have to go to the puck, right? And there’s a lot of support issues. … He likes to play on the outside and kind of, he skates backward a lot when he gets the puck. I want him to skate forward. That’s the gift of him and he can make his plays.”
Thinking about transitioning to offense isn’t a bad thing, it just has to be at the proper time and place. Regardless of whether the Flyers would get the puck back on the shot by Tarasenko, it was sent too deep to make that read in that situation.
It happened again in the third period when Michkov misread the play as three Flyers went to Wild forward Ryan Hartman after a shot was blocked again by Jamie Drysdale. It was not a great read overall by the Flyers on the ice, but Michkov disappears off screen and, had he not, he would have been in a good spot for the errant pass by Hartman. Instead, it allowed Minnesota’s Jake Middleton to pinch in and keep the puck in the zone.
“We talk about everybody wants to win around here, and everybody wants to build a culture, and you’ve got to do that first, right? I’m a big believer in that,” Tocchet said. “And, yeah, not everybody’s a system guy. Now, you don’t want robots out there, and I don’t want them to be a robot, but there’s also things you have to participate on the team part.
“Everyone has to have somewhat the same standard. You can’t let people do what they want — then you’ll lose all the time. So that’s just we have to do. And there’s growing pains with it.”
Breakaways
Practice on Sunday had Owen Tippett on the top line with Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. The trio finished the game against the Wild together when Tippett was elevated after scoring the tying goal. Michov was moved to the wing with Trevor Zegras and Christian Dvorak. Zegras and Michkov showed offensive chemistry in the preseason and Dvorak, a noted defensive-minded forward who has been playing center on the line, could provide needed support for the two creative forwards.
