Brad Shaw says he’s been very impressed with Matvei Michkov’s season, but feels there’s room for improvement.
Flyers interim head coach Brad Shaw says he’s been impressed with rookie winger Matvei Michkov’s development this season. But he still feels he has room to improve regarding some aspects of his game.
“I think he’s come a long way in the play away from the puck,” Shaw said following Friday’s practice. “So without the puck at the puck and without the puck away from the puck, I think both of those are different scenarios and they are two parts of the development model for most teams. I think he’s made big strides in both of those. I think his ability to stay patient away from the puck has helped him. It’s actually led him to better checking, which gets the puck back quicker, which gets you on offense quicker. I think the more and more he does that and gets that results, the more he’ll apply that and make it a big part of how he plays.”
Obviously not everything Michkov did on the ice endeared him to former coach John Tortorella. Some defensive miscues, missed assignments or drifting out of position led to some benchings and being a healthy scratch two games earlier in the season. Shaw says the coaching staff reinforce Michkov’s good plays but also show him some of the mistakes.
“There’s still other ones where he anticipates and wants to get on the go so much,” Shaw said. “You might ask the coach who’s here in 10 years and he might still have a little drift to his game if he’s still here. But I think it’s one of the reasons he’s a great player. I think it’s a reason why he’s dangerous is his ability to anticipate. And we’re just trying to get him smarter in his anticipation. ‘This one was good, this one was not so good.’
“He’s a very willing student of the game which I love. He wants to get better as soon as possible. He wants extra. He’s not afraid of being shown mistakes, it doesn’t really affect him like some other young players, so that’s a real asset to have for a guy his age, for a guy who has his kind of style of play. He’s going to butt heads with coaches, he’s going to be stubborn in some aspects of how he would like to play. We just need it team-based. And for six more games here, he can really elevated our chances of success if he can stay hot offensively.”
Although this is Michkov’s first year in the NHL, it’s not his first year playing professional hockey. And while there are obvious differences between the KHL and the NHL (language barrier being a big one), Shaw has said Michkov’s 2023-24 season in the KHL helped him adjust to becoming a professional NHLer. Shaw recalled how when he played professional hockey in the International Hockey League (now the AHL) for the Detroit Vipers during the 1996-97 season. At the time the Vipers’ general manager Rick Dudley brought over Russian forward Sergei Samsonov as a 17-year-old, thus “playing with men.” Shaw said that helped Samsonov’s draft position, “making him a more valuable player than playing junior or playing college.” It’s a sentiment he feels also applies to Michkov’s learning curve.
“It’s a rare exception to be able to do that, but there’s no doubt he accelerated his learning curve by playing with men that quickly,” Shaw said. “Obviously not the highest level of hockey but a very good level. You’re playing with guys who have mature games, you’re not surprising them, you’re not fooling them. So you have to learn to have success in the professional game. And it is different than the other levels. When guys are doing it and making a living, it has a different flavor.”
Michkov currently leads all rookie forwards with 58 points and 43 even strength points. However in terms of points he’s second behind Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson who has 62 points. The Flyers, still mathematically alive but soon to be officially eliminated, have nothing to play for outside of being spoilers now. But it would probably be incentive to Michkov on Saturday night to see if he can close the gap on Hutson. Another multi-point game would make the decision for the Calder Trophy far more difficult in the closing weeks.
