Kevin Weekes dropped a massive report on everyone's heads on Tuesday evening when he announced Matvei Michkov's growing frustration with the Philadelphia Flyers' front office. Weekes suggested Michkov was asking for a trade, but multiple insiders have since refuted that a formal trade request was submitted, and the Flyers' front office was caught off guard by the report.
Based purely on speculation, this seems like someone directly or indirectly connected to Michkov's camp leaked this tidbit to Weekes, which leads me to believe they are looking to get something done before formally requesting that trade. Where there's smoke, there's fire, and even though everyone internally says there is no beef between head coach Rick Tocchet and Michkov, you have to think there is some connection there.
If this is Michkov or his camp's way of pushing the Flyers to choose between him and the struggling head coach, the front office has a no-brainer decision. However, given how they've made decisions in the past and handled similar situations, I'm not sure the decision-makers have the brains to make the right choice.
The Flyers seem completely against firing Tocchet. While they might believe he is doing a great job, there may be truth to the fact that since organizations have to pay coaches after firing them, the higher-ups may not want to pay him the remainder of his deal while paying another coach. If that is the case and they are okay with losing their potential star because of it, then this organization and its fans are in BIG trouble.
Flyers need to choose Matvei Michkov over Rick Tocchet
The last time the Flyers let staff members lose a top young prospect, Cutter Gauthier ended up in Anaheim. I don't think I need to explain how that worked out, since Gauthier scored 41 last season and is on pace for 73 (!!) this season. The last time that happened was the 1992-1993 season.
While I don't believe Gauthier will hit 73, the point still stands: the Flyers cannot let another young player walk. The Flyers are a mess, with barely any talent around Michkov, and he is on pace for 42 goals himself this season, for crying out loud.
If this trade request comes to fruition, the Flyers are admitting that they weren't willing to work things out with the 21-year-old Michkov. They're okay with letting Tocchet alienate him from Philadelphia, while the head coach leads this team to 2.25 goals per game (which will likely be much less if they trade Michkov).
To play devil's advocate, maybe the Tocchet-Michkov relationship is overblown, and that isn't why Michkov wants out. But if it isn't, Daniel Briere better figure out quickly what it'll take to mend this relationship. If that means getting rid of Nick Seeler, then so be it.
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