Flyers' Tortorella Lays Out Plan for Rookie Matvei Michkov

The Philadelphia Flyers may have a superstar on their hands with rookie Matvei Michkov, and head coach John Tortorella is going to give the youngster a chance to show off his skill set.

Tortorella met with ESPN's Greg Wyshynski and made it very clear they won't hold Michkov back offensively and aren't interested in having him become a checking-line winger to start his career.

We are starving for the types of instinctive plays that he can make. I'm not interested in turning him into a checker. We want to lay the foundation. It's going to take time. But are we going to beat him over the head with it? No.

I think that's the key thing when you're dealing with offensive players. There are certain times in the game when you've just got to be simple. You may have to fight another day to make that play. That's something I know we're going to have to teach him. But I want to let him go. We're not going to try to stifle him in any way as far as his creativity.

Michkov scored seven points in four preseason games so far for the Flyers and has quickly made a strong case to be a Calder finalist for rookie of the year. Not only does he have all the tools to be an offensive threat, Tortorella loves how passionate he is about winning.

He scored an empty-netter in an exhibition game, and it was like it was Game 7," Tortorella said. "I love that about him. I think it rubs off on the team."

Michkov was drafted seventh overall in 2023 and has entered the NHL a couple of seasons ahead of schedule. If you're fantasy drafting before next week's opener, you may want to scoop up the Flyers' rookie forward.