This has probably felt like the longest season of Matvei Michkov’s career. A vacation car accident, lessons in training, and some disputes with head coach Rick Tocchet — some more private than others — have left fans a bit more divided on the young star’s future ceiling. True, Michkov has not taken a step forward in his raw production totals despite being a year older and more experienced.
However, when you’re pushing for the playoffs, nobody cares about year over year statistics; just get in the tournament any way you can. The good news: he’s making up for lost points when they’re hardest to come by, and the Flyers are also enjoying a furious run to the postseason as a result.
Offense has finally come around
Halfway through the season, we reached an inflection point with the discussion around Tocchet’s distribution of ice time, specifically with Michkov’s usage. It’s not often that the general manager of the team has to hold a press conference to publicly reassure that the relationship is fine. Month to month, the ice time hasn’t changed much. He hovered around 14:30 until March, when he averaged closer to 16 minutes per game. Michkov needed the break, and the rest of the coaching staff seemed to agree. It’s not like he was doing much in the way of scoring to force their hand — he just needed a reset, as did the rest of the team.
Teamwork makes the dream work.#PHIvsNYI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/ovGaqkboOG
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 4, 2026
Here in April, he’s playing the fewest minutes of any month this season, 13:53, and we haven’t heard much talk at all about getting him more time. Winning cures all, and they’re winning a lot of hockey games. Even better, Michkov is one of the biggest contributors. Over the last 14 games, he’s got two goals and 12 assists. He’s a point per game player since the beginning of that west coast trip in Anaheim, and the Flyers are 10-4-0 in that time. Michkov’s shooting percentages by month are interesting in that he has a month where he shoots five percent, and then the next month is 20 to 25 percent. His whole year followed a pattern like that, and if he continues, he’s due for a bunch of goals this April. It’s in everyone’s best interests to add a few more games.
Mich on the MONEY. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/sHdeSTmGC4
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) April 11, 2026
He’s gotten two of them in the six critically important games in April, most recently the game winning goal on Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets. Michkov has done this almost exclusively on the right of Noah Cates, who leads the team in points since the Olympic break, and a rotation of Denver Barkey and Alex Bump on their left wing. These are fine players, but they don’t scream “offensive powerhouse”, and it’s very encouraging that Michkov is producing at a high level anyway.
By the advanced numbers
Looking at the guys who have gotten regular time this year, Michkov is fourth on the Flyers in Expected Goals Share this season on the whole, per MoneyPuck. If you include some smaller sample sizes, Porter Martone, Tyson Foerster, and Denver Barkey have better numbers, but have done so in less than half of the minutes. The change to playing the right side has proven to be good for his production— he’s at 16 points in 19 games since the trade deadline deal of Bobby Brink opened a spot on his natural side– and has four of his ten multi-point games. Looking at his season shot map, with darker colors being more Expected Goals, there’s more of a trail going up the right wing towards the faceoff dot despite most of his games being on the left side this season.
On the power play, it’s been especially weighted to the right side, though it’s a bit more position-less being set up in the offensive zone.
League-wide, among forwards with 1,000 minutes, Michkov cracks the top 100 in points per 60 minutes with 2.41. With 32 teams in the league, and three players on a line, he comes in right at the bottom of that arbitrary “first line caliber” of production based on his efficiency in those minutes. Assists per 60 lifts him into the top 80, and third on the Flyers behind Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny. Most surprisingly, even his On-Ice Expected Goals Against per 60 is in the top 20 in the NHL for forwards. His being lower in the lineup and not killing penalties surely has an impact there, as does Noah Cates being his center, but it’s impressive to show so well on both ends of the ice as a young, still developing winger who wasn’t ever touted as a guy who was going to get behind the puck on defense.
Making the playoffs would be a huge boost of confidence for Michkov. One of the first things he mentioned upon signing with the Flyers was his desire to win and bring Stanley Cups back to Philadelphia, and he’s doing his part despite a lot of background noise– self-inflicted or otherwise. There’s no doubt he feels at least some responsibility to turn the team around given the fanfare and expectations around his draft day and eventual signing. It’s a nice luxury to have such a high upside and efficient point producer playing more of a depth role on a playoff-bound team. Should he stay hot, he could do some damage against Pittsburgh. In eight career games against the Penguins, Michkov has three goals and four assists, and we’ll be facing at least four more if the Flyers take care of business the rest of the week.
