Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet is really sick and tired of answering questions about Matvei Michkov and wants to focus on literally anything else.
Coming into this season, a whole lot of the conversation surrounding this team was just how much the young Russian star could level up his play in his sophomore season. Wondering if he could hit triple digits in points, if he could take his John Tortorella-led teachings and start to care about defense, and all the rest. But when Michkov was visibly not what we saw during his rookie campaign, and then reports came out of him coming to training camp out of shape and that basically affecting the first six or eight weeks of his season, the conversation topics changed but the volume did not.
And now we’re here with Michkov looking more and more like the Michkov we were used to last season, and a whole lot of fans begging for the head coach to give the young star more offensive opportunity. With game-by-game watching of how much ice-time he finished with, and some criticism for not putting him out there in 3-on-3 overtime where he would theoretically be able to flaunt his skill even more than normal; the noise surrounding the potential hindering of Michkov with how this current team is run is starting to grow into a big ball of fuzz.
So, with that hovering over a whole lot of this team, head coach Tocchet has been asked a whole lot by reporters about his deployment of Michkov and what some plans are for the upcoming games or reflecting on certain moments that have happened recently. Well, he’s getting really tired of it.
Rick Tocchet a little fed up with the Matvei Michkov questions
During Tocchet’s pre-game media availability on Monday before they host the Vancouver Canucks, there was a question asked about the intense conversation that the coaching staff and Michkov had on the bench against the Rangers over the weekend. It was blown out of proportion, but Tocchet cleared the air.
“It happens all the time. It’s just a story because it was Michkov,” Tocchet said. “It was about when he should switch or not with Barkey. He’s getting it — when to switch or not on the power play and he was getting frustrated, but that was it. … I know a lot of media people want to let him to whatever he wants but there’s a time to switch and when not to switch. That’s what it really comes down to.”
Tocchet then answered some more questions about Michkov not scoring a whole lot recently and simply said that he shouldn’t let a scoring slump affect his overall game — still get into the right areas of the ice and that he even got some scoring chances against the Rangers but just didn’t put them in.
And then after a couple more questions about Michkov, Tocchet got a little fed up.
“We’re 17-10. We got a good record. I’ve answered six Michkov questions. I mean, enough’s enough guys. I’m getting a little — you know, we got Vladar having a great year. Drysdale playing really good 5-on-5 for us. Yorkie’s doing a really good job. We’ve got a lot of other players playing a good team game.
“I mean, I appreciate it but you’re trying to make something that it’s not. He’s got to learn. And he’s trying. He’s a lot better defensively. He’s a lot better playing a team game. That’s how we win hockey games. It’s not about catering to one person, I hate to tell you guys.”
There was some clear annoyance on Tocchet’s face and it’s a little bit of a balancing act to understand where he’s coming from.
Yes, the Flyers are overperforming compared to what the expectations were before the season — even if Tocchet didn’t mention the seven overtime and shootout losses to make the record a little better. And there are certainly a whole lot of players playing extremely well like Dan Vladar, Trevor Zegras, and the two young defensemen the head coach mentioned.
But at the same time, Matvei Michkov really is the centerpiece and focal point of the Flyers’ entire rebuild. If he doesn’t become a top-line, All Star-level player then this whole plan might just go down the toilet — and that’s why so much focus has been put on him and how he’s handling a crucial and disappointing season.
It’s a balancing act but the head coach is certainly more than a little frustrated having to talk about just one of his players over and over again.
