Photo Credits: FNG’s Rob Windfelder
Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet took questions from the press as part of the end of the season rituals. Flyers GM Danny Briere is scheduled to do the same on Thursday.
One of the topics was of course Matvei Michkov. The situation still seems a bit amplified by Tocchet’s decision to healthy scratch Michkov for game four in the Carolina series but things don’t seem as severe as some predicted they might be.
Among other things, Tocchet said “it’s not just him, every young guy, I could carbon copy the exact same thing. You know you have to be able to improve on all different areas”. The coach also said, “We just got to let this kid breath because I think he’s made a lot of strides”.
Michkov has been skating at the Flyers Training Center the past two days. He jumped on the ice right after his post season interview on Tuesday. Tocchet said “It’s pretty cool, I mean, I’d rather him not skate, I want him to take a break”. “It’s almost like a vengeance tour and I love that”.
Michkov said “that’s the coach’s decision. I’m a player that should go on the ice and do my job. If the coach decide I have to miss the game I have to take it”. During the Summer break the young Russian star said he plans to “go back on the ice and training and work for the best”. Apparently he meant immediately.
The Flyers head coach touched on big picture things like the focus on culture, character, and the standard. When asked about scoring more goals he responded, “We don’t have Connor McDavid. We don’t have Nathan MacKinnon so you have to think of other ways, or Makar, you have to think of other ways to score as a team”.
Up against the wall
“We got to be a better wall team, I think that’s something. Corner work and wall work is a very underrated thing when it comes to hockey”. “Do we want to carry the puck in more? yes. Be more calculated? of course”. He said the changes in his second year coaching in Philly will not be dramatic, “more tweaks”. He reiterated “we don’t have the type of team to run and gun. To give confidence you have to stay in games”. In other words he’d rather see his team to have a chance to win a low scoring defensive game instead of just losing scoring competitions.
Tocchet had good things to say about Porter Martone and praised Michigan State for doing a great job with him. He spoke of the confidence and composure that Travis Sanheim seemed to gain representing Canada in the Olympics. And he hailed Flyers netminder Dan Vladar as someone who leads the way.
Flyers Power Play
The coach said the Flyers power-play is “a five, six year problem. It’s a talking point every year here”. He spoke of guys being too tense. Not being happy with retrievals. He was encouraged by young guys coming in. But to be honest that didn’t change much in the playoffs. The Flyers had literally the worst power-play in the league this season. A power-play goal here and there could have been the difference on so many nights for this team.
Tocchet said of the man advantage, “I’ve already talked about it with the coaches, we might just have a dedicated half hour power-play practice on one rink before the practice even starts”. I’m just going to leave that right there.
Denver Barkey
Barkey was one of the few players that the head coach talked about specifically. The topic was weather Denver should train as a left-wing or a center during the off-season. “Do I really want to screw around with a kid, Bounce him around left-wing center every other night? No, I don’t think that’s healthy for him”.
“He’s the guy because his hockey IQ is outstanding, His work ethic is outstanding and he’s a guy that can really develop into a really frontline player, I really believe it”. Talk about wall work Barkey has been a spark plug in this line-up. Up against the boards, in the corners, Barkey is relentless in his hunt for the puck.
Based on these end of season interviews all of the players and the head coach seem to be on the same page. Everyone want to make improvements over the off season and they’re all really looking forward to next season already. This is a positive upbeat group.
Up Next: Flyers General Manager Danny Briere.
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