The Philadelphia Flyers are a five-win team. They're a five-win team, and we are now in a situation where their star player, and leading scorer, is looking for an exit ramp from Philadelphia because of a situation that never should have been allowed to fester in the first place. Of course I’m referring to Kevin Weekes’ report that stated both “Michkov would likely want a new start elsewhere” and “It’s his preference to have a fresh start elsewhere”. Which appears to be a shock to the front office.
Last season, the Flyers were the good vibes team. In April, head coach Rick Tocchet said about Michkov, “he's not a loner, but he was alone a lot. Now he's around the young guys. I think it's huge development for 'Mich,' even with the language barrier. He's actually stepped up his English, he's more involved. He's out to dinner with the three rookie guys. I think that's huge for his development too.” And now the locker room is in disarray, the on-ice product is unwatchable, and our Russian little brother wants out.
If one argument between glorified pylon Nick Seeler and the leading scorer on the team has led to this dramatic of a situation, everyone needs to be held accountable.
Once again, this is a five-win team. Yes, losing will make the locker room tense. But this is beyond tense, and it is absolute negligence from everyone in a leadership role on this team. I'm talking Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim, Sean Couturier, Tocchet, Danny Briere, Keith Jones, all the way up to Dan Hilferty.
This goes beyond Rick Tocchet’s coaching system
I don't have very strong feelings about Rick Tocchet's coaching style or system, although I acknowledge many do. However, I do have very strong feelings about the way that this season has started and the absolute malpractice that has happened in the month and a half since.
Let’s go back to the beginning of the season. We all remember the nine-game losing streak; the start was incredibly slow. We talked about how there was a shortened training camp and a truncated preseason. I can excuse some of the team's lack of preparedness on that, but we are now a month and a half into the season and none of those issues have been solved. That is on Tocchet and Briere.
Since then, the locker room appears to be in shambles with players and Tocchet himself taking snipes at each other through the media.
- Couturier has called this team soft.
- Seeler was critical of a me, me, me mentality.
- Noah Cates mentioned a meeting where the team was called fragile.
- And Tocchet, well, he lets the players figure it out amongst themselves, “We’ve all been in situations where something is being said, whether it’s in the room or in the media. The best thing is to address it the next day. And sometimes as a coach you have to stay out of it.”
So not only was there a lack of preparation, there's also been a lack of adjustment, a lack of accountability, and a lack of hockey IQ coming from the top. I don't quite know who is making excuses for who, but it needs to stop and it needs to stop right now. This is a five-alarm fire, and we cannot go one more day with this whole thing lingering. What are we doing???
The Flyers have made Matvei Michkov’s career harder than it ever had to be
Michkov has been treated like crap ever since he stepped on NHL ice, first by John Tortorella and now by Tocchet. Actually, let’s go back a little further and talk about Briere. Briere drafted Michkov with the seventh overall pick in 2023 and was responsible for bringing him stateside for the 2024-25 season.
In a feature for the Philly Inquirer, Alex Coffey writes, “He couldn’t speak or understand English and struggled with the cultural differences. Everyday tasks that were easy in Russia suddenly became hard. Slava Kuznetsov, the team’s skating coach and translator, was on call 24 hours a day.” This is one of my biggest issues with the support the team provided him. Kuznetsov is a skating coach, and according to the Flyers, a translator. How on god’s green earth did this team think it was totally chill and fine to not have a designated interpreter for the forward that was meant to represent their future?
In his first few months playing in the most competitive and most talented hockey league in the world and speaking very little of the English language, Michkov was being both healthy scratched and stapled to the bench by Tortorella. Coincidentally, there was also a screaming match on the bench between the two! "(Michkov) is going to understand one way or another how we do things here, and what's expected ... accountability on the ice and the accountability of being a pro," Tortorella later said.
The turmoil between Tocchet and Michkov has been very well documented. It all started in October 2025 when Tocchet was asked about Michkov’s ice time and where he is at physically. Tocchet said, “I think he dealt with something this summer, something with an ankle, I didn’t even know about, and it limited some of his training. So he’s a little bit behind the eight-ball when it comes to that. But it’s something we’re going to correct. But I think he got a little bit behind the eight-ball when he came to camp.” In February, he told PHLY at the Flyers Charities Carnival “Matvei did not come into camp in shape, and it's hard to play yourself (into) shape.” In April, he told John Clark, “Mich, he had a tough first half. We know the reasons why, or whatever. I'm not going to bring up the out of shape stuff, I got killed for that.”
That’s three separate, public instances of talking about Michkov’s conditioning. Mid-season, Briere had to hold a press conference to say everything is fine. Weird how we’re still dealing with this fine situation nine whole months later.
Matvei Michkov should be the priority, not the problem
I cannot speak to what type of man Matvei Michkov is behind closed doors, nor do I care to. I care about what I see on the ice, and that is one hell of a hockey player who has done every single thing asked of him by spending the summer in Philly working on his conditioning and English, yet is still being treated poorly. By the coach who spent all of last season stopping just short of calling him fat, and the media that kept reporting on it. Now by teammates who do not have an ounce of the hockey talent that he does. No wonder he wants out; he has no support other than Porter Martone, apparently. This is just what I'm garnering from a video clip that's under a minute long. I am sure he is still close enough with the guys who made space for him last season.
Rick Tocchet has to go. Today. Before the clock strikes midnight. And that should not be the only move. Honestly, I need Danny Briere to take a really good, long look in the organization and consider who is not on board with Michkov being the future he is building around.
I have moved on from my list of untouchables. Right now it is only Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone. And the goalies, they’ve done nothing wrong. I don't care what changes at this point, other than sweeping and dramatic changes need to happen right now, this second. The whole organization is out of time.
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