In an 82-game (soon to be 84-game) NHL season, a 13-game sample size is a largely insignificant blip on the radar in the grand scheme. But for the Philadelphia Flyers, a 13-game sample size was all it took for the club’s famously traumatized fan base to declare a state of emergency.
Matvei Michkov, the Flyers’ prized Russian winger and face of their rebuild, looked like a shell of himself to start the campaign. The 20-year-old, less than a year removed from logging 26 goals and 63 points as a rookie, managed to light the lamp just once in the Flyers’ first 13 games of the season.
Naturally, even some of the Flyers’ most aggressive supporters began to sound alarm bells, especially after word got out that Michkov entered training camp out of shape due to a summer of inactivity (largely thanks to an offseason ankle injury).
Michkov wasn’t scoring. He didn’t have his legs going. He just didn’t look like Michkov.
Well, that’s changing.
Matvei Michkov is starting to look like himself
Now 16 games into the season, Michkov has found the back of the net in three consecutive games, and while it’s exciting to see his scoring numbers rise, it’s his overall play that’s really encouraging. He looks more spry. He looks more decisive. He looks more confident. And for the first time all season, he’s creating plays for himself.
Look no further than his goal against the Ottawa Senators Saturday afternoon as evidence of this.
A case can be made that Michkov, despite his young age, is already the Flyers’ best player, so this gradual return to form comes as a colossal relief. Still, Michkov is averaging less than 15 minutes of ice time per night, which isn’t exactly a positive indication of a head coach’s faith in a player’s overall performance.
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet also hasn’t had much of a choice, though. For much of the season’s early going, Michkov wasn’t just looking out of sorts — he was a legitimate liability at times.
Tocchet admitted that Michkov was “behind the eight ball” to start the season, but he has also acknowledged the progress he’s seen from the 2023 seventh overall pick. And with goals in three straight, Michkov is beginning to earn more of Tocchet’s trust.
In Wednesday night’s loss against the Edmonton Oilers, Michkov earned 16:05 of time on ice — the most ice time he’s seen in a game in nearly a month. Sixteen minutes still isn’t optimal for a player of Michkov’s caliber, but it’s at least a step in the right direction.
Given his hot hand, it’s hard to argue with the uptick in ice time.
Against Edmonton, Michkov scored the Flyers’ only goal of the night with a beauty on the power play that tied the game at one goal apiece late in the second period. It was Michkov at his best — finding open ice, identifying a shooting lane, and ripping the puck through with accuracy.
For a goal-scoring savant like Michkov, it should come as no surprise that his shooting has been a primary focus in practices as of late.
“[Michkov] has been working on that downhill shot. He shoots a million pucks,” Tocchet told the media after Wednesday night’s game.
“It was a great shot, but it was a great placement. And he works on that every day. Gotta give the kid credit. It was a hell of a goal.”
Michkov isn’t just passing the eye test either. The numbers are also reflecting his upward trajectory.
Michkov impacting the game beyond just scoring
In October, his 5-on-5 play-driving numbers left much to be desired, to say the least. But in November, he’s been playing like the offensive spark plug fans were expecting at the start of the campaign. Over the Flyers’ last six games, Michkov is leading the team (minimum 30 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time) with a 58.35 Expected Goals For percentage — a significant increase from his 50.31 xGF% over the first 10 games of the year. To boot, his less-than-desirable 46.46 5-on-5 Corsi For percentage from October has soared to a whopping 60.16 since November 1.
Michkov has been noticeable all season, but not always in a good way. Now, he’s impossible to miss for all the right reasons.
Granted, Michkov isn’t completely out of the woods yet. His play away from the puck is still very much a work in progress, although no one will ever be mistaking him for a Selke candidate. But for the time being, Michkov continues to build momentum offensively. And for a team that’s averaging just 2.17 goals per game since November 1 (29th in the NHL), they’ll take all the goals they can get.
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com.
