Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
Flyers head coach John Tortorella took advantage of a short break in the schedule to keep his team moving on the ice at the team’s facility in Voorhees. Practice time is precious during the busy NHL season and the Flyers are looking to make the best use of the opportunity. Today Tortorella’s key word was “tempo”. The squad ran though a number of brisk drills and the focus was on keeping the pace moving at a quick clip while completing the tasks at hand.
The Flyers are currently carrying three goaltenders on their roster. Samuel Ersson recently missed a number of games due to injury. This gave the team a chance to get a better look at their backup goalies Ivan Fedotov and Alexsei Kolosov. Both goaltenders stepped it up during Ersson’s absence blurring the line as far as who may be considered the go to number two netminder. All three worked out with the team today.
Flyers coach John Tortorella spoke with the press after practice and had some interesting things to say. Of course the topic of Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov came up. Philadelphia is excited to have a young budding star like Michkov on the squad and rarely seem to get tired of talking about him. He’s been giving Flyers Fans plenty to talk about.
The team made the right decision taking a chance on the young Russian player who is already making quite and impression. Adding to the excitement he was able to leave the KHL and report to the Flyers a year ahead of schedule. Michkov leads all NHL rookies in both points and goals with 27-points (11-goals 16-assists).
The topic went back once again to Michkov having been scratched for two games a while back and how he responded to that. Tortorella is a candid guy and freely shares the information he wants out there. He is just as quick to tell you when he is not going to address something. As a professional ice hockey coach there are obviously some things that he needs to keep to himself or within the team. All that being said he does not parse words, he is not calculating in his choice of words. He’s a pretty upfront guy and this is the type of town that really appreciates that brand of honesty and respect.
Tortorella spoke highly of Michkov as he addressed how the rookie bounced back from being scratched. “I know how competitive he is”. “I knew I wouldn’t have a problem with him. He has some feistiness, I love that about him. I love where it’s going”.
Torts was asked if Michkov may eventually move to the center position when he’s further along in his development. With zero hesitation Torts responded “no”. Given the opportunity to extrapolate on it he said “not with me, maybe another coach, not with me”.
Tortorella briefly touched on Michkov’s ability and propensity to wander. Pointing out that as a right winger he spends a lot of time on the left side. It seems Tortorella may be looking for guys at the center position to bring a certain amount of stability. He said he is not sure if Morgan Frost is the right match for Michkov at center just yet. He also spoke of looking forward to seeing Jet Luchanko when he comes up. For now the line of Michkov along with Owen Tippett and Frost seems like it will stay intact leading into the next game.
Another theme the coach talked about was the forwards play in the defensive zone. When it came to this subject no one was off the hook not even his top line. I might even say especially his top line. When asked about Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny he said “they make me dizzy, they need to stop spinning”. “They’ve been brutal”. He wants them to arrive in the zone, communicate, and settle things down. Cover the defensive responsibilities in a way where they are also prepared for the breakout.
He said that this is something that they work on with video because it is not something you can totally simulate in practice. Every opponent is different to play against.
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The mood today was upbeat but businesslike both on the ice and in the locker room. There is work to be done. The team is engaged and making the most of the time that they have over the next couple days to tune things up. The Flyers are 14-13-4 going into their 32nd game of the season against the Red Wings in Detroit Wednesday night December 18th at 7:00 PM.
