One of the main sticking points for those critical of Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet’s use and deployment of young winger Matvei Michkov, is keeping him on the side of the ice that he has grown up playing and has the most experience with.
As a left-handed player, Michkov still played on the right side while developing his game in Russia, and barely ever touched the “strong” side of the ice that matched up with his handedness. But Tocchet decided that when Michkov was struggling to make an impact on the game earlier in the season, to move him to his natural left side and to really simplify the transition game.
It made sense in a complete vacuum, but it certainly did not work for Michkov as the offensive struggles continued as his entire perspective on creating those chances he was known to create, came from a place where he wasn’t really familiar. He was eventually switched back to the right side and we got to see him go on the post-Olympic break tear while leading the team in scoring with 22 points in the final 26 games of the season.
But, is there a chance he goes back to the left?
This has been a controversial topic for most Flyers fans, but general manager Danny Briere has officially weighed in and given his opinion on Michkov switching between wings, while appearing on Friday’s episode of Flyers Daily.
“Everybody has a different opinion on that,” Briere said. “Late in my career, as a righty, I always preferred playing the left side. I felt I had more of the ice in front of me in the offensive zone. Now, it was a little tougher in the defensive zone, breaking out, but once you got to the offensive zone, you had more options.
“It’s getting pucks out on the wall. You’re receiving the puck on your backhand most of the time rather than your forehand. That’s the toughest part. But again, Matvei is skilled enough and smart enough that he’ll adapt to that. I think again, he’s such a great talent that he could play on either side. It’s not something I sit back and worry about too much. I think down the road we’re going to put Matvei on the ice, wherever he is, and it’s going to be a treat. That’s all I care about more than the position.”
That is maybe the most logical and thoughtful explanation of the changing of wings we’ve heard from someone with the Flyers. Michkov has simply been an offensive zone player for his entire life, so to have the puck more in the middle of the ice, rather than along the boards and on the perimeter, made sense for him.
But there is the issue with breaking out the puck and moving it up in general. Receiving pucks on the backhand, potentially needing to change your body position to make a small build-up play — it makes it more difficult than it has to be to move the puck up the ice together as a unit.
Going forward, it wouldn’t surprise us to see Michkov appear on both wings throughout future seasons and there will be reasons.
On Michkov’s offensive struggles this season and why
Briere also managed to bring up another interesting point that has not been focused on a whole lot through the week of exit interviews and throughout the season: Teams are just adapting to Michkov now and that can be a major reason why we didn’t see the same offensive pop this season.
“I think he’s an intelligent young man that will adapt,” Briere said. “You know, because teams do also adapt to him. They knew some of his tricks. And he’s going to have to come up with different tricks and find different ways to create offense. That’ll be the challenge, but I think he’s smart enough to get through it.”
The good players always find different ways to get the job done and it might just take Michkov understanding exactly how teams learned to defend him better this season, as part of his offseason training. There is an undying motivation to be the best player he can be, we certainly know that but teams did figure him out this past season.
Briere talks about Matvei Michkov learning English
Another barrier Michkov is trying to overcome off the ice is obviously trying to speak English and, you know, be able to communicate better with his teammates and coaches and just live his hockey life at an effective level.
Briere also weighed in on this situation after being asked if he’s going to focus on that this summer, and even added some personal connection to the situation.
“I think it would go a long way to helping him feel more comfortable, be easier with his teammates, you know, conversing on the ice during the play when things happen. I think he’s getting there. He’s making efforts. He’s trying. I know he’s doing extra work on that this offseason. He’s already started that. I did have a discussion with him about that.
“I was in a similar situation when I came in. I was 20 years old, my first year pro, and I didn’t speak English. … I could barely understand what was going on. They had signed a player, Martin Simard, and they sat him beside me in the locker room early in the season. And after a while, I felt better, more confident and I didn’t need him anymore. I think it made the transition a little easier after that. It made me feel a little closer to my teammates. I think it will help Matvei when he’s more comfortable with the language.
Briere continued to talk about how there could be a scenario where a player needs clarification or for his head coach to repeat something he just said, but then not enough know how to ask him to do that. It certainly sounds like a tough hurdle to climb over no matter what.
It might just be this writer but I never thought about Briere’s own struggles with the English language when he was in his first couple years in the NHL down in Phoenix.
Just another point that having a general manager that has been through some similar issues that Michkov experienced last summer, points to him potentially turning it around for the Flyers.
