Is this on Matvei Michkov, or is this on the Flyers? The Flyers are the problem, and it starts with Rick Tocchet.
Kevin Weekes posted Tuesday evening that, with Philadelphia's rough start and the turmoil around the team, Michkov would likely want a new start somewhere else, and that with his deal expiring, he's a prime trade candidate going forward. The report spread across the hockey world within hours, word for word. David Pagnotta and Emily Kaplan reported the Flyers hadn't heard from Michkov's camp about a trade request, and a source told NBC Sports Philadelphia the whole thing was news to the organization. Nobody has formally asked out. Wanting out eventually and demanding a trade today are different things.
But look at what Philadelphia has handed this kid and tell me the frustration isn't earned. Through games played by Tuesday, November 10, Michkov led the Flyers in goals with 10 and was tied for the team lead in points with Trevor Zegras. The next-closest goal scorer on the roster was sitting on a handful. For that, Michkov averages under 16 minutes a game. At even strength he ranks seventh among Flyers forwards, behind Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster and Sean Couturier. He's outscoring all of them, and he's behind all of them in 5-on-5 trust.
You don't do that to a 21-year-old you drafted seventh overall to be the centerpiece and then act stunned when other teams start sniffing around. Call it development if you want. Sean Couturier called the team soft himself, and the one guy actually putting the puck in the net is the one riding the pine. When Michkov said after a November 7 practice that he wants to play more, that he wants all the ice time he can get, he was reading the room correctly.
Then there's the Gauthier problem, because this exact movie already played once. Cutter Gauthier got dealt out of Philadelphia and now he's tearing it up in Anaheim, with 15 goals in his first 17 games this season while the Flyers are still hunting for top-six scoring. Twice now, under this front office, an elite young scorer has ended up looking happier and more productive the second he left town. At some point that stops being bad luck.
Danny Briere stood up back in February and said, flatly, that Michkov wasn't going anywhere. Now his best player is the subject of a national trade report and nobody in the building saw it coming. The bench blowup with Nick Seeler, the muddled explanations from Tocchet about guys extending shifts, and the social-media noise all point toward the same thing: the Flyers are losing the player they built this rebuild around, in slow motion, and they're the ones holding the shovel.
If Michkov walks the moment his contract lets him, the blame belongs on the coach who wouldn't give him a fair shot and the GM who promised this wouldn't happen.
