The Philadelphia Flyers saluted the crowd following their heartbreaking overtime loss to the Carolina Hurricanes that ended their season on Saturday night.
It was a successful season overall for the Flyers, but the talking points in the days after the loss continue to be around Matvei Michkov.
Michkov was a healthy scratch for the second time this postseason in that Game 4 loss, and he was noticeably absent from a photo shared of the Flyers at the Phillies game on Sunday afternoon. That was predictably blown out of proportion on social media to the point where the photographer had to clarify that Michkov had prior commitments and did, in fact, show up to the game with his teammates.
Rick Tocchet opened up about Michkov’s season and future with the Flyers on Monday morning, which will hopefully cool things down a bit.
No matter what happens with the Flyers this offseason, the biggest storyline to follow is going to be centered around Michkov following his sophomore slump.
Elliotte Friedman weighs in on Flyers’ Matvei Michkov
NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman weighed in on the Michkov drama on this week’s 32 Thoughts podcast.
“Obviously, that’s the biggest Philly story of the offseason… First of all, they can really benefit from a temperature turn-down. The season’s over. Relax. This goes in the background for a little bit. And they try to sort things out.”
Friedman emphasized that he’s on the inside, but it’s “very obvious” to him that there’s a problem with Michkov.
“It’s always easier to solve your problem than trade your problem. Especially in this NHL,” he said. “If I was in charge, you would have to convince me why this would have to go into a different direction.”
Michkov is still just 21 years old. He wasn’t even supposed to be in North America yet. He’s a young player trying to find his way in a new country and has dealt with some personal issues as well.
Friedman knows what most sane Flyers fans think: It’s too early to give up on Michkov.
“I think he’s way too young to give up on. Unless there’s something going on there that’s so bad that I don’t know about,” he continued. “To me, he’s still young to give up on.”
Of course, trading Michkov at this point would be selling low on a former top pick. Even if someone does offer full value for Michkov in a deal that makes sense for the Flyers, it would take a lot for Danny Briere to pull the trigger.
Flyers can’t trade Matvei Michkov after Cutter Gauthier situation
Friedman noted that the Flyers were already forced to trade a former top pick in Cutter Gauthier, acknowledging that Jamie Drysdale has become a big part of the team’s blue line. That would make it an even worse look for Briere and the Flyers if they decided to trade Michkov just a few years later.
“Michkov, I still say, was a really good pick by the Flyers. I just don’t think you can give up that easily. I think if I’m Briere, we have to find a way to make this better,” he said. “And we as the organization has to be better, and Michkov has to be better. You would have to show me a trade that really made sense for me to do this.”
It’s also noteworthy that there hasn’t been much hubbub from the locker room or even around the team about Michkov getting scratched in the playoffs.
“So I would say to the players, I would say to Tocchet, ‘You can’t find guys like this. If we’re going to move on from him, we better be sure, better be sure, that there’s absolutely no chance that it works out here for him.”
Michkov has to hold up his end of the bargain as well.
“I would also say to Michkov, ‘I’m not going to trade you. So your best answer is to make it whatever you’re not delivering, you have to change that to.'”
While all of the focus is on Tocchet and Michkov, it’s not only the Flyers’ front office but the player’s agent that needs to step up as well.
“The other person I didn’t mention who has to be a factor here are Michkov’s representatives. This is where an agent really matters. Agents are not only about negotiating contracts, that’s important, but agents have to be a conduit.
“The best agents when a team is unhappy — I’ve heard some of them say this to me, they’ll be in situations and an agent will say to me, ‘My guy has to be better.’ Sometimes it’s the organization’s fault. Sometimes it’s the player’s fault. But the best agents, they know when their guy is a part of the problem, and a team can go to them.”
Will Flyers get calls on Matvei Michkov this summer?
Friedman spoke more about the Michkov situation on The FAN Hockey Show on Monday morning.
“Any time you have a guy like that, who was a healthy scratch twice in the playoffs, people call you and they say, ‘What are you thinking here?'”
The trade buzz around Michkov will likely be there all summer, but Friedman reiterated that he would not give up on him so soon.
“I would be wary about giving this guy up on this guy too soon. I think this is where the organization, the agent, the player, and the coach have to work together and say ‘This dude’s really talented. He was a high pick for a reason. We better exhaust all options here before we move on.'”
There may be an offer presented to Briere that changes things, and would then be an option, but someone with Michkov’s talent is hard to replace.
“When you get these players at the top of the draft, they’re hard to replace. I would exhaust every option before I moved on from someone like this,” Friedman said. “You would have to tell me it’s unworkable before I would be convinced to do that.”
It was clear that Michkov and Tocchet didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye this season, and the head coach poured fuel on the fire when bringing up that the Russian forward came to camp out of shape. But that doesn’t mean it’s a relationship destined to fail.
Friedman once again pointed at a situation with two former Flyers legends in regards to the Tocchet-Michkov drama.
“I compare it to Jay Feaster telling John Tortorella and Vincent Lecavalier, ‘You guys better learn how to work with each other,'” Friedman recalled. “He pointed to Lecavalier and said, ‘I’m not trading him,’ and he pointed at Tortorella and said, ‘I’m not firing him.’ And they won a Stanley Cup.”
A Stanley Cup would obviously be fantastic, but a working relationship with Michkov putting up 60 or 70 points would be a good step forward as well.
All in all, Friedman isn’t buying that the Flyers would look to trade Michkov.
“You would have to prove to me that it can’t work. You would have to prove it to me. And then I would be mad that it can’t work because remember the fanfare they drafted this guy over,” he said. “He wanted to be a Flyer. He didn’t want to play for a lot of other teams. He wanted to be a Flyer. You would have to tell me that it’s impossible to capture that magic before I would give up on him.”
