Matvei Michkov’s usage: first 30 games of 2025-26 compared to the first 30 of his rookie year

Matvei Michkov has played 110 games so far in his career. And throughout that stretch of time, the one topic of conversation that comes up far, far more often than anything else is his minutes. Or, to some, his lack thereof. Whether it was John Tortorella who healthy scratched him in his rookie year, or current coach Rick Tocchet seemingly curtailing his minutes much to the consternation of fans, Michkov\'s usage is a lightning rod of sorts. But one thing we can compare now is how his minutes through the first 30 games of 2025-26 compare to the first 30 of his rookie season.

The upside, if there is one

A few things so far through this 30-game span versus the opening 30 games of his rookie year are clear. Tocchet isn\'t likely to bench Michkov for mistakes, something Tortorella did 13 games into the winger\'s NHL career. There haven\'t been quasi-blowups between the two on the bench like there were between player and coach last season. The lines of communication, even with the language barrier, seem to be open. But Tocchet expects a standard that he probably didn\'t see in training camp, namely Michkov not coming in fit as a fiddle. There was definite rust to open the season, with the last 15 games seeing Michkov looking a bit more like himself. The coach still hasn\'t quite unleashed the forward, something he addressed earlier this week.

\"I think for him it\'s game management,\" Tocchet told Jason Myrtetus on Dec. 11 . \"Learning to be a pro, like training in the offseason, how you eat, how you come prepared to practice, sleep, there\'s a lot of things. He\'s a 20, 21-year-old kid, he just turned 21. He\'s a great kid but there\'s certain things that he\'s got to learn to be a pro. I know the fan base, they love him and the infatuation with him, and they are worried about this and that, and minutes. We\'re trying to make him the best version. He\'s going to have to go through this process. I know some people can\'t understand that, but that\'s how you build a culture. And for him to be a star player which I think someday he will be, he\'s got to do the things.\"

Tocchet also stated that part of the reason for the harmony between the two is that Michkov hasn\'t been kicking and screaming about the somewhat diminished time on ice. He was the first to acknowledge he didn\'t come into shape in ideal condition after a few months away from the daily grind. And it\'s something Tocchet appreciates. After all, he didn\'t need to be on the outs with his sophomore phenom in the initial days of his tenure behind the Flyers bench. The coach stated it was a bum ankle which put Michkov\'s training behind schedule heading into training camp and the exhibition schedule.

\"The thing is the kid\'s buying in, he\'s watching video everyday,\" Tocchet says. \"He works harder in practice, he\'s started to eat better. There are certain things that he\'s started to do and he understands if he wants to be the player he wants to be, and being on a winning team, that\'s what he\'s got to do. The accountability, he said he didn\'t prepare the way that he should\'ve, he owned it. He\'s not deflecting anything, \'Well it was this, this, this.\' There\'s no excuses. How can you not love the kid for that? So it\'s no different for him or anybody else. We all got to be accountable to each other and that\'s how you build things around here.\"

Tocchet credited Michkov for taking short shifts, sometimes in the range of 30 seconds because he doesn\'t want to \"get caught\" on a long shift or possibly being hemmed in his own zone. And Tocchet admitted he\'s started to use him more late in games where Philadelphia has a slim one-goal lead. \"I\'ve put him out there, I\'m starting to get a little bit more trust in him.\"

More trust means more minutes?

Thus far, 30 games in, the minutes Michkov is seeing are not as many as he had under Tortorella in his initial 30 games in 2024-25. It\'s perhaps fairly evident from the eye test. But a deeper dive shows that there are clearly some differences with how Tortorella used the Mad Russian and how Tocchet is using him now.

Let\'s not get too far into the weeds in terms of how exactly Tortorella handled Michkov versus how Tocchet has handled him thus far over 30 games. One doesn\'t need to break down 180 periods of hockey to see where the trends lie. However, let\'s break it down in terms of minutes per period to see where some of the differences have been. For Tortorella, they were sometimes all over the map. For Tocchet, there seems to be a consistency or methodology Tortorella didn\'t have. Note the overtime periods were not included in this table, just the three regulation periods per game.

Minutes per period Michkov under Tortorella Michkov under Tocchet Under 2 minutes 0 1 2:00 to 2:59 1 1 3:00 to 3:59 7 13 4:00 to 4:59 24 38 5:00 to 5:59 27 28 6:00 to 6:59 18 8 7:00 to 7:59 8 1 8:00 to 8:59 3 0 9:00 to 9:59 2 0

As you can see, despite scratching him for two games, it appears Tortorella gave Michkov a bit more wiggle room in terms of usage. Whereas Tocchet used Michkov just once over seven minutes in a period so far (7:17 in the second period against Florida in the home opener), Michkov had 13 periods under Torts where he saw seven minutes or more in the opening 30 games. If you toss in the 6:00 to 6:59 segment, that works out to 31 periods under Tortorella where Michkov saw over six minutes in a period. For the same time span, it\'s just nine periods under Tocchet. On the other end of the spectrum, Tocchet has used Michkov under four minutes in 15 periods compared to Tortorella, who only had him play that same amount in eight periods.

As well, Tocchet has used Michkov from 4:00 to 5:59 per period over two-thirds (66) of the 90 periods thus far. That\'s 73.33 per cent of the time. So, in short, Tocchet seems to be leaning towards the side of caution, pleased with Michkov\'s progress and defensive side away from the puck, but clearly not quite ready to let him run amok. He\'s not giving Michkov an extraordinary amount of ice time to shake off the rust or get his offensive production humming. Part of this might be ensuring Michkov\'s play away from the puck is airtight before giving him more time and opportunities. Of course, the argument could be made the player only improves away from the puck with more shifts and opportunities. As well, Tocchet and the organization this year seem more focused on winning while at the same time developing players. And while Tocchet has started showing Michkov some trust in late-game situations, he\'s still not stretching his neck out for the sophomore talent.

Just as telling at even strength, total TOI

Of course, if you limit a player\'s ice time over three periods, chances are the player is going to have fewer minutes each game than some might expect or anticipate. And this is also another rather telling stat. The Flyers have yet to lose many games despite what some might consider to be a smaller slice of playing time Michkov has had over last year. But looking at the two 30-game segments, it\'s quite an incredible contrast considering how much Tortorella was often torched for supposedly not using Michkov more. See the table detailing even strength usage below.

Even Strength minutes per game Michkov under Tortorella Michkov under Tocchet Under 9:59 2 2 10:00 to 10:59 1 2 11:00 to 11:59 2 8 12:00 to 12:59 8 5 13:00 to 13:59 2 7 14:00 to 14:59 5 4 15:00 to 15:59 2 1 16:00 to 16:59 5 1 17:00 to 17:59 2 0 18:00 to 18:59 1 0

Again, as much as Tortorella was maligned for gluing Michkov to the bench sometimes, the numbers show he leaned towards using him far more often than Tocchet has thus far. When it comes to 15 minutes being the line in the sand, Tocchet has had the forward play under 15 minutes at even strength 28 times so far. For Tortorella, that number was 20. Michkov saw 15 minutes or more 10 times over the first 30 games under Tortorella whereas with Tocchet that number is just two.

Of course, the total ice time takes into account the power play time, sometimes seeing Michkov get a boatload of time and other occasions getting a shift or two on one of the power play units. Tocchet has used Michkov over five minutes on the power play four times this year. As for Tortorella, that number was just once (8:26 against Edmonton on Oct. 15, 2024). But that all factors in to the numbers below for total time on ice.

Total ice time Michkov under Tortorella Michkov under Tocchet 12:00 to 12:59 0 5 13:00 to 13:59 3 3 14:00 to 14:59 6 12 15:00 to 15:59 4 6 16:00 to 16:59 1 3 17:00 to 17:59 3 0 18:00 to 18:59 4 1 19:00 to 19:59 6 0 20:00 to 20:59 0 0 21:00 to 21:59 3 0

Again, Tortorella used Michkov for a total of 17 minutes or over 16 times. With Tocchet that happened once where Michkov played 18:48 against Winnipeg in the fourth game of the season. Everything else has been less, with two-thirds of the games seeing the forward under 15 minutes of total ice time per game.

What the future holds

Clearly, Tocchet isn\'t going to let Michkov dictate how he\'s used. If the 21-year-old can continue to play defensive-minded hockey away from the puck, and cut down on the penalties he\'s taking, he should see a modest bump in his playing time. While Tocchet probably would love to see Michkov cutting down on some mistakes, and not blow the zone which he still occasionally does, at some point he\'s going to have to loosen the reins a bit to see what Michkov is capable of. As it stands now, Michkov is still trying to win Tocchet\'s trust. Nobody is suggesting the kinks can\'t be ironed out. He could see his time increase as the season progresses. As it stands now, the usage is probably a chunk less than many expected.

Talking Points