Things were never quite right between Philadelphia Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet and phenom forward Matvei Michkov for much of the season, but Michkov's strong finish to the season has all but erased that now.
From the Olympic break on, Michkov, 21, led the Flyers in scoring, even while plodding along in his limited third-line role alongside Noah Cates.
His hard work has, however, spurred the Flyers on to a playoff berth--their first since 2020--and even Tocchet had to recognize that.
In a recent interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia on John Clark's "Takeoff with John Clark", Tocchet gave his take on what went down with Michkov and where he's at now.
"Mich, he had a tough first half. We know the reasons why, or whatever. I'm not going to bring up the out of shape stuff, I got killed for that. I want people to understand you can't just let a guy do what he wants and play free and go for breakaways. That just can't happen if you want to win," Tocchet said.
"But there is a happy medium. I have to let him have his wings, but he also has to conform to the team play. And I think we've bridged that gap closer and closer. I think that's why he's starting to play better."
On Jan. 31, Michkov played a season-low 10:21 in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings, and Tocchet then went on the PHLY Flyers show the following day offering the explanation that Michkov was out of shape.
That saga is what it is at this point in the year, but it prompted Flyers GM Danny Briere to give an impromptu press conference to lower the temperature. The Olympic break was on the horizon at that point, and the rest, as they say, is history.
"I blame myself, too. Around February, I was very frustrated and I shouldn't have lashed out. I learned as a coach you can't do that, but I'm not wavering in the way we play the game," Tocchet admitted to Clark. "You have to conform to the team game, and he's starting to understand that."
With his impressive late-season surge, Michkov finished the season with 20 goals for the second time in as many seasons, as well as 51 points, in 81 games.
The 2023 No. 7 overall pick closed his sophomore campaign with goals in three straight, when the lights were at their brightest, scoring six points in the final three games of the year.
And now that Michkov appears to be back to his old self, he maybe just be Tocchet's trump card against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.