If you watched the Philadelphia flyers this season, you would not be believing that John Tortorella had a miserable time to train Matvei Michkov.
It would be misinterpretation.
The hard driver Tortorella put Michkov during the games for defensive failures and entered a heated cries match With the 20 -year -old on the bench. He even made Michkov, the most creative player of the flyers, A healthy scratch for two games Earlier this season.
All this is part of the processSaid Tortorella.
“There is still a lot of teaching to do”, ” He said to the media on Monday. “I think it was a fantastic process. To do it here a year earlier than we thought And to go through the process and start the process. »»
The old school coach said it was beneficial due to “how much we have covered – and how he grew up and his communication”.
Enter Thursday’s match Washington Against his Russian compatriot Alex Ovechkin and the capital, Michkov has 20 goals, second among the NHL recruits and a goal behind the center of San Jose Sharks Macklin Celebrini. The right winger of the flyers is third among the recruits with 47 points and made a candidate for the Calder trophy.
“One of the greatest things is to simply integrate it into the team team and process, and be a good teammate here,” said Tortorella. “All that was really good.”
Besides his flashy maneuvers, Michkov has shown passion and a desire to defend himself for the teammates on the ice.
“I love coaching it,” said Tortorella. “The best compliment I can give him is that he is ahockey player. I think he wants to learn. He has the right type of stubbornness for him. It was really good.
Montreal Canadians Defender Lane Hutson (53 points) and Celebrini (50) are the culprits, but Michkov could win the award with a solid finish in the last four weeks of the season. Calgary flames Guardian Dustin Wolf (average of 2.62 goals, a percentage of safeguard of .912), a seventh round of the 2019 draft, is also in the mixture.
No flyers player has ever been appointed recruit of the year since the start of the franchise in 1967. Michkov was selected the NHL recruit of the month in October and February. During a section last month, he collected eight points on a three -game section, the first recruit of the flyers to accomplish the feat since Eric Lindros in 1992.
The overall choice n ° 7 in the recovery of 2023, Michkov said that he was impatient to face Ovechkin, 39, Thursday.
“It’s always a pleasure to go against a player like Alex,” said Michkov. “It was a great honor – and to be particularly in the league when it is so close to this incredible level (goal record). Everyone is waiting for it.”
As for the Calder trophy, Michkov admitted that he was aware of the recruit race, but minimized the price.
“My principal is to continue working,” he said, an answer that would undoubtedly make Tortorella smile.
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