Clearly, Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella expects more from Matvei Michkov, as he cut the rookie ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The 19-year-old Russian will give up his place in favor of Quebecer Anthony Richard, recalled the day before from the Lehigh Valley school club. On offense, he has done well this season as shown by his four goals and six assists for 10 points in 13 games. However, the team’s driver expressed his dissatisfaction with Michkov’s performance when he benched him during part of the October 31 clash against the St. Louis Blues.
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“He’s a 19-year-old player who plays in the best league in the world,” Tortorella said after this game. There will be big difficulties at five against five. We expect it. Where I will have to teach, and I’m not going to tell you everything, but if we continue to see the same mistakes, he will miss playing time. I was very honest with him about that.
On Thursday morning, Tortorella refused to elaborate on the reasons which led to Michkov’s withdrawal from his training. Relaunched by the Philadelphia media, he simply said that it was part of the “process” and that it would help the young man.
The pilot, however, was much more voluble when it came to talking about Richard.
“He had a great training camp. He skates well and has done very well with our school club. He will help produce offense. I want him to take chances on offense. I don’t want him to be afraid of making mistakes.”
In seven games in the American League this season, Richard has scored four times and provided five assists for nine points.
The Flyers currently occupy last place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 4-8-1.
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