Former Vancouver Canucks HC Rick Tocchet under fire for giving Flyers rookie the Elias Pettersson treatment
Photo credit: Eric Hartline - Imagn Images.
Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is drawing criticism for his usage of a Philadelphia Flyers star forward so far during the 2025-26 season.
The last six weeks haven't been very kind to the Philadelphia Flyers as they sit nine points back of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference after being third in the Metropolitan Division at Christmas.
The club hasn't been getting enough out of their top players this season and former Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is taking plenty of the blame for where the club sits in the standings at moment.
"If the numbers are this prominent against Tocchet this short into his tenure, one more bad season after this one could force the Flyers to fire yet another head coach in under three years. Rick Tocchet and his coaching style is still very old school, and it is similar to how all these past Flyers teams were expected to play over the previous 15 years." Drew Wheeler of Flyers Nation said recently.
Rick Tocchet receiving criticism for usage of Philadelphia Flyers star forward
Over the weekend, Tocchet made an appearance on the PHLY Hockey Podcast to discuss his first season behind the bench with the Flyers and was asked about star forward Matvei Michkov and how he's been utilized throughout the year.
"So you think he should get it because he's earned it. Like we've talked about it, I'll be very frank, I'm a very frank guy. Matvei did not come into came in shape and it's hard to play yourself into shape. I have not told him or any of our players take a guy 1-on-1, come out of the corner with the puck, or on a rush, make a play on the rush. He's having a tough time in those situations. So yeah, you could say other players, other players try, but I get it, maybe they don't have the skill set, but we're trying to get him to that level, right? How to develop him. Practice. Making sure you're on time for treatments. Things like that. There's so much into that, the way you eat, like that's it. You don't become a star because you think...look at Trevor Zegras, he had a couple bad years and comes here, bought into a couple things and you know, he's doing a hell of a job for us." Tocchet said.
Flyers fans took to social media in droves to express their displeasure with Rick Tocchet's comments about Matvei Michkov, who is viewed as the team's star for the next ten-plus years.
"So if MM is still out of shape after 5 months then someone in strength & conditioning needs to be fired. MM does not come across as a lazy malcontent. So something is wrong if he can not play himself into shape." @kbender4133 said.
"Never throw a young player under the bus." @DerekBradPhoto.
"He doesn’t understand that we do not care about winning we care about giving the future star ice time who was called a phenom and had 27 goals at 19 years old he needs to play to develop because his development is more important than trying to win irrelevant games in a rebuild year in January. Focus on the future. Winning will come later." @PhillyPrez said.
The Perm, Russia native has just 13 goals and 28 points so far this season while averaging 14:32 of ice time per game, something that Michkov and his camp are hoping will increase following the NHL's Olympic break.
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Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily