Matvei Michkov is Scoring Like a Star While Rick Tocchet Still Limits His Minutes

Matvei Michkov has 10 goals in 18 games, tied for sixth in the NHL, and he spent important stretches of Thursday night’s 3-2 loss in New York against the Rangers on the bench.

The ice time debate around Michkov is not a new story. It means more now, because the 21-year-old winger is playing the best hockey of his young career. He is scoring faster than he did in his 26-goal rookie season, with five goals at even strength and five on the power play. His average of just under 16 minutes a game is below the 16:41 he logged in 2024-25.

Last season, Michkov’s ice time dropped to 14:50, and he finished with 20 goals and 51 points, down from 63 in his rookie year. Michkov’s own teammates show how uneven the minutes look. Tyson Foerster has three goals and averages more than 17 minutes. Owen Tippett had one goal and played 16:26 a game before he landed on injured reserve. Foerster kills penalties, and Michkov does not, which makes up for a part of the gap, but that leaves a 10-goal scorer behind a three-goal scorer in ice time.

Across the league, no player with 10 or more goals averages fewer minutes. Leon Draisaitl, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander all play more than 20 a night. Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet has deflected the question of Michkov’s ice time since last October, when his ice time was at 14:11 a game. Tocchet pointed to penalties as the cause.

“All of a sudden he’s getting 15 minutes; if we don’t have penalties he’s getting 17, so everyone’s making an issue,” Tocchet said back in Oct. 2025.

In February, Tocchet said publicly that Michkov did not arrive at camp in shape. This fall, Michkov came in ready to play, and Tocchet gave him credit for the work he put in over the summer.

“You can tell he’s worked on his game,” Tocchet said on Sept. 19. “And you can see the not-dropoff after 25 seconds out there. Like, he’s still skating. So that’s a credit to him working hard this summer.”

Michkov found a line that works for him as well. Tocchet put him with winger Porter Martone and center Noah Cates on Oct. 13, and Michkov scored his 10th goal in the Flyers’ 16th game. Martone, a 19-year-old rookie, has built the bond away from the ice as well, despite the language barrier.

“I think for him, English isn’t his first language, so I think for me, to kind of go out of my way and start those conversations,” Martone said after the Oct. 17 win over Ottawa. “Asking about his family, asking about his brother.”

Tocchet broke up the trio before the game against the Rangers, moving Michkov to a line with Cates and Foerster, and moving Martone to a line with rookie center Cole Knuble and Tippett.

Michkov had an extended shift in the second period against the Rangers, iced the puck, and was seen sparingly after that. He returned for a power play with 1:58 left in the period and started the third, but he played three shifts in the final 10 minutes as the Rangers came back to a 2-1 lead.

Granted, Michkov stayed on too long against the Rangers, and shift management is part of the job, but the Flyers cannot afford to leave offense sitting on the bench. They are 4-10-4, last in the Metropolitan Division, and average only 2.17 goals a game. Michkov has 10 of their 39 goals, and the 10 regulation losses are more than all but two teams have. They play in Calgary on Sunday, in Vancouver on Monday, and in Edmonton on Wednesday. Michkov’s minutes in those games will show whether Tocchet’s view has changed.

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