Flyers Coach Rick Tocchet Has Exciting, Simple Plan for Matvei Michkov

How can the Flyers get the most out of Matvei Michkov? It's simple. (Photo: Eric Hartline, Imagn Images)

New Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has revealed his simple, preliminary plan to get the most out of star rookie Matvei Michkov going forward. It's not rocket science.

Michkov, 20, was a near-unanimous pick for the NHL All-Rookie Team Thursday, featuring alongside the likes of Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, and Cutter Gauthier after a rookie-leading 26-goal, 63-point debut season.

Tocchet, while cautious with setting expectations, knows there's room for plenty more for the Flyers' franchise player. After all, he's now the caretaker tasked with developing Michkov and the many other rising young players on this team.

Tocchet's early plan for making that happen? It's simple: get Michkov the puck and score.

 “You want to get a guy like [Matvei Michkov] the puck a lot. I’ve been watching their power play, and I know they’ve struggled the past couple of years, but I saw some really good glimpses," Tocchet was quoted as saying on 97.5 The Fanatic's "Kincade & Salciunas" show Thursday.

"Like, when he gets the puck down below, he’s got that ability to find people – he’s thinking two steps ahead. So, we have to get everybody in sync on that. Obviously, we don’t want to put too much pressure on him because it’s only going to be his second year, but there’s a lot of good there.”

The power play Tocchet refers to has finished 32nd in the NHL in three of the last four seasons, with their best season - 30th - coming with Michkov last season.

Notably, the Flyers scored just 32 power play goals last season, and Michkov scored or assisted on 17 of them, which is just over half. In fact, the 20-year-old phenom scored eight power play goals - tied with Travis Konecny for the team lead - accounting for 25% of the team's total by himself as a rookie.

Tocchet's words have been refreshing for the scores of Flyers fans that grew disenchanted with predecessor John Tortorella's disciplinarian approach, under which Michkov averaged just 16:41 of ice time last season.

In the early days, it would seem that Tocchet is fully committed to developing Michkov and allowing him the freedom to play offense creatively without restriction, though a defensive obligation will still come along with that.