Without a point in his last three games, Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov is getting less and less ice time.
In a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, head coach John Tortorella benched the young Russian sensation for much of the first period after he had been initially two turnovers in the defensive zone.
Michkov thus finished the game with a total usage of 13:56 minutes, his lowest since he made his NHL debut. Against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, the 2023 first-round pick played 15:36 minutes, while against the Montreal Canadiens two days earlier, he spent more than 20 minutes on the ice (21:33).
“He’s a 19-year-old young man playing in the best league in the world. I think he’s starting to see what the National Hockey League is, in terms of speed, time and space… all the things that come with it,” explained Tortorella.
“We expected him to struggle a lot at 5v5. If we keep seeing the same mistakes, and he’s not focusing at all on a certain part of the game, that’s when – there, and I was very honest with him about it, that he’s going to get less ice time. He’s going to watch the match. »
These slightly more difficult times that Michkov is going through did not prevent him from being named rookie of the year for the first month of activities in the NHL on Friday.
The right winger led all rookies in goals (4), points (9), power play goals (3), power play assists (3), power play points (6) in 11 matches.
Michkov beat center Logan Stankoven of the Dallas Stars (1 goal and 8 assists in 9 games), defenseman Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens (7 assists in 11 games), right winger Jackson Blake of the Carolina Hurricanes ( 3 goals and 2 assists in 9 games), right winger Maxim Tsyplakov of the New York Islanders (1 goal and 4 assists in 10 games) and goaltender Justus Annunen of the Colorado Avalanche (4-1-0, average of 2.48 and efficiency rate of .905) for this honor.
