Matvei Michkov's scoring has dropped significantly in his second NHL season, but the sophomore slump is nothing new.
What a difference a year can make.
A year ago, Macklin Celebrini and Matvei Michkov tied for second among rookies with 63 points each. But while Celebrini has built off that first-year success and is now enjoying what could be described as a sophomore surge, where he is ranked third overall in NHL scoring, Michkov is suffering through a typical sophomore slump.
And while second-year slides are nothing new — Nathan MacKinnon, Matty Beniers and Connor Bedard are just a few of the NHLers whose production dropped in Year 2 — impatient Philadelphia Flyers fans are starting to point fingers.
And they're not directing them at Michkov.
"(Rick) Tocchet just doesn't play him enough," former NHLer @ryanwhitney wrote on X, adding that Michkov is "just getting screwed by the coach."
Others agreed.
"Convinced they are going to keep ruining Michkov's development until he wants to leave or becomes a Free agent," wrote @Scuba_Steve161.
"Stop letting Tocchet slide just because he's part of the old boys club," wrote @Sapsterr_, who added that Tocchet also failed to properly develop Utah's Clayton Keller and Vancouver's Elias Pettersson in his previous coaching stints.
The criticism seems harsh, but fair.
After all, Michkov is no where close to producing at the level he was a year ago under then-coach John Tortorella. This season, Michkov has nine goals and 23 points in 43 games. Since Dec. 1, the 21-year-old has scored just once — and it came on an empty net.
According to Tocchet, who criticized Michkov at the beginning of the season for showing up "a little out of shape," Michkov's struggles are rooted in his skating and inability to adjust to the north-south style of game that the Flyers have implemented this season.
"He's trying," Tocchet told reporters. "I'd like to see him separate himself in the corners. He's easily checked. I know there's some reasons because of it. We've got to keep working with him… he's got to get a little more separation, skating away from people. It looks like he's just kind of stuck in mud sometimes. We've got to get him out of it. There's some reasons for it, and we've got to keep working with him."
Part of working with him apparently includes moving the right winger to the left side and dropping him to the second power-play unit, as well as decreasing his average ice time from 16:41 a year ago to 14:39 this year.
Not surprisingly, a player who led all rookies with 26 goals last season is on pace for just 17 goals.
Now, before the Flyers fire the coach or even think about trading a seventh overall pick who has all the tools to become a superstar talent, the thing to remember in all of this is that Michkov's struggles as a second-year player are far from unique.
The list of players who had a sophomore slump after breaking out as a rookie is both long and impressive. The most recent example is Bedard, who won the Calder Trophy in 2023-24 with 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games, but then followed it up with a less-than-stellar season where he scored 23 goals and 67 points in 82 games. In his third season, Bedard is now among the top 25 scorers (despite having missed 13 games with an injury) with 19 goals and 46 points in 33 games.
Nathan MacKinnon also went from winning the Calder Trophy to posting just 38 points in 64 games in Year 2. And a few years ago, Matty Beniers won the Calder Trophy and then went into a offensive tailspin.
In other words, Michkov is in pretty good company. It just doesn't look like it right now, with the Flyers heading into Wednesday's game against the Buffalo Sabres on a three-game losing streak and fans now speculating on friction between Michkov and his coach.
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