Matvei Michkov sat down for his exit interviews Tuesday morning in what most fans thought was going to be the most interesting exit interview for the Philadelphia Flyers in quite some time.
With all the noise surrounding Michkov about his potentially unstable future with the Flyers and how head coach Rick Tocchet might not be his biggest fan right now, and just other annoying stuff when you just want to enjoy watching a player you like on the ice — it was going to be a hot ticket to get ready and see what the 21-year-old winger was going to say before he left for the summer and we wouldn’t get to see him until training camp.
While he addresses some of those overarching concerns, Michkov was fairly straightforward in his answers — as much as he can be speaking through translator Slava Kuznetsov — and expressed his undying desire to truly get better and to come back next season ready for anything.
Michkov has one thing on his mind this offseason
When asked what his plans are for the offseason, if he was going to stay in Philadelphia and work or go back home to Russia to train over there, he was non-committal to a specific destination but wanted to stress just how hard he is going to work.
“Just planning to work and after this press conference, I’m going back on the ice and starting to work as of right now,” Michkov said.
The location is unknown for the time being — we might get clarity on that later when Rick Tocchet has his exit interview Wednesday and Danny Briere and Keith Jones the following day — but we do know that Michkov is going to put in the work and immediately. It wouldn’t be surprising if he’s already on the ice in Voorhees at the time of writing.
Michkov kept it blunt on his relationship with Tocchet
Michkov was then asked more directly about his relationship with coach Tocchet, in an attempt to see if he will say anything inflammatory about how he was benched throughout the season or dealt with healthy scratches. Instead, the winger kept it very blunt.
“Very simple work relationship. A good relationship,” he said.
There’s not much else to say about that. Michkov won’t give the media or reporters anything of value when it comes to how Tocchet handles him and his opinion of the coach. But he does know that there are times where he needs to step up for his coach.
And one of those coaching decisions that have appeared to cause a stir this season is limiting Michkov’s ice time and playing him further down the lineup than he did under John Tortorella last season. But, he certainly isn’t hating it and credits the move for his underlying game.
“Playing with Noah Cates the whole season, plus/minus right away went to zero, not to minus,” Michkov said. “On the big scale, Cates helped. Pretty much every game, a different guy as the third and the thing was that all of them were skilled enough and played and helped. It was a good experience.”
It’s the most obvious thing in the world, but Michkov won’t throw his teammates and linemates under the bus for not playing with the most offensively gifted players in the world. Sure, he scored more when playing with Travis Konecny last season, but that was last season and he was a negative defensively. Now? He’s shown improvements on that side of the puck overall and we saw a brief return to the offense later in the season.
After the Olympic break, Michkov led the Flyers in scoring with 22 points in 26 games. During that same stretch, players like Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, Tage Thompson, and Tim Stutzle, had the exact same production — and of course, Michkov had fewer minutes than all of those top-of-the-lineup forwards.
Taking accountability for his playoff performance
But then that all came to a screeching halt when the playoff started. In the eight games he played, he earned one single assist and looked to be ineffective in all three zones of the ice.
“After the break, I was starting to feel the game better,” Michkov said. “You all saw what happened before and then after. It was tough games, the playoffs, but I think the team did really well to make the playoffs this season. I could’ve played against Carolina a little bit better.”
Michkov was then asked why that post-break production didn’t translate. Was there anything specific going on? What it the playoff atmosphere?
“Good question,” Michkov said, smirking. “I don’t know how to answer it. In the playoffs, the teams play really good. I was trying to help on defense and try to do what the coach told me. What the coach told me to do, I was trying to do. It was the first playoffs for me, and I cannot say it was easy. I’m not happy with my game in the playoffs. I’m a player that the team expects me to score and make plays but at the end of it, it was eight games and just one assist.”
That underperformance led him to being a healthy scratch for Game 5 of the Penguins series, and then in the deciding and final game of the season, Game 4 of the Hurricanes series. The 21-year-old was asked about being a scratch in the postseason.
“It was a coach decision. I’m a player who should go on the ice and do my job. If the coach decides I have to miss the game, I have to take it. To go back on the ice to train and work to be the best. Unfortunately, I cannot control what I cannot control.”
Regardless of the single point of production or missing two games or playing just over 94 total minutes across those eight games, Michkov had a positive experience being in the NHL playoffs for the first time and remarked how he felt so supported by the fans.
“Unreal atmosphere,” he said. “A lot of kids were wearing my No. 39. I’m a little bit ashamed I wasn’t able to score for them in the playoffs. I thank the fans for being there, without them there would be nothing. We play for them, we are on the ice to make them happy and enjoy the game.”
Michkov excited about the future
And now, we go forward. While Michkov has had a hellish season from just about all angles — not performing on the ice and the attention from every single Flyers fan and him being talked about every single day — we can hopefully put this all behind us with a successful 2026-27 campaign after a successful summer.
He is looking forward to building up this team with this core of young guys, who he thinks the world of.
“Lots of young players came into the team. All of them good guys. I can see that there is a fire in their eyes, they want to work. It’s good to play with the guys and compete with them. It’s helped me to grow,” Michkov said.
And now we look to the goals of next season, and they’re plain as day: Be better, work hard, and make it past the second round of the playoffs.
“It’s 100% right. Next season we want to go more than the second round. This season, Pittsburgh was the first round and we passed it. We tasted the playoffs really good. Next season, we need to go even further so the progress will show and every player has to work even harder to make that happen.”
