The relationship between star Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov and fired head coach John Tortorella was much better than many have made it out to be.
In fact, Michkov, as part of a 40-minute interview with former NHLer Nikita Filatov and ex-Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin, said he was sorry to see Tortorella go before the end of the 2024-25 season.
"When I was on my way here, Russian guys told me that he dislikes Russians and that he is a tough coach in general," Michkov told Arshavin, recounting his early impressions of Tortorella. "When I arrived, he always treated me with respect, and we found a mutual understanding. He tells you exactly what he thinks of you. If you're sh-t, he'll tell you you're sh-t. Some people don't like the hard truth, but he's a person who says what he thinks."
Flyers fans may recall the handful of times Michkov and Tortorella went viral online for going back and forth with each other on the bench during games, or the two times Michkov served as a healthy scratch for the Flyers.
The 20-year-old Calder Trophy candidate had no problem with this, and actually embraced it instead.
"You know, sitting here now and thinking about [being benched], it seems to me that I benefited it from it," Michkov said to Filatov. "When I come back to the bench, I'm a very hot-headed person, and he's the same. Of course, when we were both riled up, it was difficult to find a common language, and we had a few misunderstandings.
"I wouldn't say that we had conflicts. When we came back to the locker room, if he was wrong, he would say he was sorry and shouldn't have said some things. I would tell him that I was sorry too, I was wrong and riled up. I wanted to win, score, get assists on every shift.
"He said that he understood me, that he liked people with big hearts who are passionate about the game. I liked him very much."
In 71 appearances under Tortorella, Michkov scored 20 times for the Flyers, adding 31 assists and a minus-17 plus-minus rating.
After Tortorella was dismissed by the Flyers on March 27, Michkov exploded for six goals, six assists, and 12 points in just nine games under interim coach Brad Shaw, including two two-point efforts and two three-point efforts.
So, despite all the external noise, Michkov has affirmed the Flyers' observations of his learning from Tortorella and being better for it going forward.
"Thinking about the past, I would say Tortorella was one of my best coaches," added Michkov. "Of course, there were some unpleasant moments when he benched me and I didn't play, or played nine minutes. I sat there thinking why he's here, why he's benching me when I can score, I can pass. Then I got on the ice again, cooled off, and everything was fine.
"That's why I was very upset when he was fired."
Michkov's answer surprised Filatov, but he doubled down on his opinions of the exiled Flyers coach.
"Yes, I really didn't want him to get fired. I wanted to work with him a bit more, at least until the end of the season. As you know, when a coach is fired, the team starts to play differently."
A clip of this particular exchange is available with English subtitles on Reddit, though Michkov talked about his first NHL coach at great length in general.
Michkov wanted to score 'Michigan', warmed Tortorella's heart
Anyone who watched the Flyers in the 2024-25 season probably saw Michkov attempt the 'Michigan' lacrosse move at least once.
It drove Tortorella crazy in practice, and though Michkov wanted to do it to score, there was some comedic value to the move, too.
"I really wanted to score the lacrosse for Tortorella. When he left, I wrote to him, 'John, thank you very much. You are my first coach, I will never forget you. You were always honest with me. Thank you for this.'" Michkov said. "He responds, 'Oh, I didn't expect to receive a text from you, that was very nice. I received millions of messages, but yours was the nicest.' I said, 'Damn, it's a shame you got fired. I couldn't score the lacrosse for you.' He laughed and said the best is yet to come."
And with that, the Tortorella chapter in the book of Michkov and the Flyers has closed, but the rest of the story has been staged neatly.
The full interview with Michkov, Filatov, and Arshavin can be seen on the Это хоккей, брат! (This is hockey, brother!) YouTube channel.
