PHILADELPHIA — It’s a fine line that every organization incorporating an exciting young player into its lineup must walk. Promote that player in order to generate excitement amongst the ticket buying, TV-watching fan base, but try and do it with as little hullabaloo as possible to not add to the pressure that the player is undoubtedly feeling already.
Thus, Flyers general manager Daniel Briere pushed back on a suggestion that rookie Matvei Michkov was the franchise’s “savior” at the 19-year-old’s introductory press conference in July. “That’s certainly not what we’re putting on his shoulders,” Briere said, with Michkov sitting next to him.
Coach John Tortorella did the same on Friday, albeit in a much more Torts-like way.
“When I heard the word savior — kiss my ass,” Tortorella said. “That’s so wrong to say that about him. It’s not fair to him.”
Whether they like it or not, though, Michkov is the central talking point amongst Flyers fans who are hoping against hope that he will be the centerpiece of a perennial playoff team in the near-ish future. That means moments like Saturday with the Chicago Blackhawks in town have even more meaning — maybe not to those in the executive suite and behind the bench, but certainly to the public, which nearly filled Wells Fargo Center to capacity, something that hasn’t happened much in recent years.
The reason was the game brought an added level of intrigue with Michkov, chosen seventh in the 2023 draft, facing off for the first time in the NHL against Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick that year. There’s already a case to be made that Bedard and Michkov are the two most talented players in what was a deep first round, with Bedard the runaway winner for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year last season and Michkov the odds-on favorite this season.
It may be a bit much to expect Bedard vs. Michkov to turn into the next Sidney Crosby vs. Alexander Ovechkin, as the Flyers and Blackhawks meet just twice each season. And, it’s much too early to project either player will reach anything close to the level of those two living legends.
Instead, the discourse in the immediate future so could lean toward something like this:
Who’s the better player to come out of the 2023 draft?
Is it a silly debate? A bit. Is it productive? Not especially. Is it the sort of topic that neither Briere nor Tortorella would want to touch with a 10-foot pole? Definitely.
But it’s also what makes sports fun, and we got our first installment of it on Saturday. And, Michkov had the greater impact in the Flyers’ 3-2 overtime victory in which they erased a two-goal third-period deficit, scoring the game-winning goal on the power play.
“If there is a moment,” Michkov said after the game through an interpreter, “then you need to (finish) it in cold blood.”
MATVEI MICHKOV! GAME-WINNING GOAL! 🚨
That’s his second @Energizer overtime winner of the season! pic.twitter.com/CMH1wJSDtw
— NHL (@NHL) November 23, 2024
Notably, Michkov’s winner might not have happened had Bedard done a better job in overtime. Just after the Blackhawks won the opening draw, Bedard was stripped of the puck by Travis Konecny at the blue line. Chicago regained possession, but Bedard’s shot from the circle was deflected away by Travis Sanheim.
The Flyers came the other way. Alex Vlasic was whistled for holding Konecny, the Flyers went on a four-on-three advantage, and Michkov completed the Flyers’ win by easily slipping home a slick saucer pass through the slot by Konecny.
Although he wasn’t rewarded on the scoresheet before that, Michkov did make some plays earlier. He corralled a long stretch pass from Emil Andrae in the offensive zone with TJ Brodie draped on his back and played the puck between his legs resulting in a verbal gasp from the crowd before lifting a backhand just wide of the net. In the second period on the power play, Michkov brought the puck into the zone and spun around to feed Sean Couturier for a shot from the circle that goalie Petr Mrazek turned aside. Later in the second, Michkov’s centering pass to Couturier looked like a sure goal before an alert Ilya Mikheyev got his stick in the way at the last moment.
As for Bedard, he’s now gone 13 games without a goal, while playing his third straight game on the wing rather than his natural center spot due to his defensive struggles. But he ripped a shot off the post early in the first on a Chicago power play when the game was still scoreless, and late in the second charged past a flat-footed Joel Farabee in the neutral zone and around a lumbering Rasmus Ristolainen before a tough-angle backhand resulted in a scoring chance in front of the net by Teuvo Teravainen.
At some point, both players will presumably be surrounded by better talent, and those kinds of plays will result in actual offense.
Meanwhile, Michkov has an added difficulty that Bedard doesn’t — he’s still attempting to master the English language. Interestingly, Michkov said earlier this week through an interpreter that he’s stopped working with a tutor. Instead, he’s apparently decided to pick it up organically.
Tortorella offered some insight on the TNT broadcast earlier in the week about the weekly meetings he’s having with Michkov and interpreter Slava Kuznetsov in order to speed along the player’s NHL process as much as possible. As reported here last week, one of the primary reasons they’re getting together on a regular basis is because of Tortorella’s in-game coaching style. The coach doesn’t have time to explain to the young winger why he’s making certain decisions on the fly. At times, that’s meant Michkov has spent more time on the bench than he’d probably like.
Tortorella expanded on that on Friday.
“I think he’s getting better understanding me on the bench,” Tortorella said. “That’s the hard part for me, is within the game itself, I don’t have enough time to go down there and make sure he understands.”
“As far as our relationship, I don’t think we’ve had a bad relationship from the get-go. When he sits, things happen — I have to make decisions, but then just like any other player, I move right by it. … He’s been very receptive as far as all the things we’re doing with him.”
And Tortorella is receptive to putting him on the ice at important times in the game, too. After Couturier lost the opening draw in overtime on Saturday, the captain immediately went to the bench and Michkov hopped on. When the Flyers went on the power play, Tortorella jumped at the opportunity to put Michkov and Konecny together, something that doesn’t quite work at five-on-five but seems to when there is more open ice.
“That’s why it’s nice that we have him now, right?” Tortorella said, referring to Michkov’s arrival to the Flyers two years earlier than expected. “We knew it was going to be a little bit of a gong show as far as away from the puck. We’re going to slowly (try) to teach him that, (without getting) in the way of allowing him to play. As we’re building, this is a good year (to) have these games to teach, but not be overbearing with it to allow him to experience some success.”
Seven goals and 16 points in his first 19 career games, including two overtime winners, would certainly qualify as success.
The Flyers and Blackhawks will meet once more this season, on March 23 in Chicago. It’s probably safe to assume that the focus will again be on the two potential superstars, especially if both teams are out of the playoff race by then.
For his part, Michkov, who has a relationship with Bedard dating back to their time competing against one another before they were drafted, didn’t shy away from a question about what could be a budding rivalry between the two.
In fact, he seemed to welcome it.
“We haven’t played together against each other for a long time. I hope this is just the beginning,” Michkov said. “I think he’ll try to get it back (next game). I need to be ready for it.”
Respect. 🤝#CHIvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/YluFlLiQts
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 23, 2024
(Photo: Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
