Matvei Michkov likely won’t win the Calder Trophy, but his rookie season has been a gigantic success for the Flyers

Thursday night’s road game against the Buffalo Sabres not only wraps up the Flyers’ 2024-25 season, it also puts a bow on Matvei Michkov’s rookie campaign.

And what a year it was.

Entering Wednesday’s games, Michkov sat third in points among rookies and second in goals. He trailed Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson (65) and San Jose Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini (63) with 60 points and was one goal shy of Celebrini’s 25 — former Flyers draft pick Cutter Gauthier was third in rookie goals with 20. All three have one game left, with Hutson and Celebrini playing Wednesday night.

And, along with standout Calgary Flames goalie Dustin Wolf (.910 save percentage), all four are serious contenders — though the public perception is that Hutson has pulled away a bit — for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year.

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“Not sure what to tell you about that,” Michkov said through a translator in March when asked if that’s something he’s aiming for. “The most important [thing is] to enjoy hockey and try to make the playoffs. Whatever happens, whether I achieve it or not, nothing will change. My main thing is to keep working.”

Here’s the thing: While Michkov certainly is happy to build his points total, he is hyper-focused on winning. It’s probably why former coach John Tortorella was so hard on him; he, too, craved winning and must have seen a kindred spirit in the 20-year-old phenom.

But while scoring is important, Tortorella believed in his soul that the best offense is defense. Maybe he was the person who first uttered the old saying that defense wins championships. But while Tortorella benched Michkov for two games in November for his lack of details defensively and benched him several times during games until his firing on March 27, Michkov is driven and hungry for offense.

“I think it was a tremendous experience for Matvei to learn from a hard, passionate coach. He coached him hard, and I think he’s done a fantastic job,” Flyers general manager Danny Brière said after firing Tortorella. “Now, Matvei is one of the most competitive hockey players I’ve been around, so that fit well too. Not everybody is able to take the hard coaching that John Tortorella put on Matvei. I’ve been amazed by how he’s responded to it.

“You’ve seen him get benched, you’ve seen him get scratched, and what does he do? He comes back, and all he wants to do is stick it back to you or stick it back to Torts. It was really impressive. Every time he was challenged, his competitiveness just rose to the top, and he took over games.”

He did that several times and has shown he can be a driver with several linemates, including his current ones, Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. That trio has connected since being reunited and has combined for six goals while allowing three in eight games under interim head coach Brad Shaw.

“I would describe [Michkov] that way, where he’s a kind of a step-ahead offensive player,” Shaw said. “He’s a tough guy to check because he usually knows where he’s going with it before the defender does, and that’s a big advantage. He really trusts what he sees, his confidence level is sky high. It doesn’t really matter [if] the breakaway goes in or it doesn’t go in, what he sees, he feels like he can make that play.

“Does it get him in trouble at times? A little bit, and that’s all part of the learning process for him.”

It will be a process. That’s a fact, regardless of who the head coach is come September. But there’s no denying the offensive talent that the Russian is. With 24 goals entering Thursday, Michkov is tied with Matt Read (2011-12) and Andre Lacroix (1968-69) for the seventh-most by a Flyers rookie. His 36 assists are tied for eighth with Behn Wilson (1978-79), and his 60 points tie him with Peter Zezel (1984-85) for the eighth-most.

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In the three categories, only Read reached his total in this century, while Michkov is the first Flyers rookie to hit 60 points since Mikael Renberg finished with 82 in 1993-94.

This was a season of learning for the player who was named Rookie of the Month by the NHL twice, in October and February.

He learned how to be better conditioned for the long, grueling NHL schedule that often includes multiple games in short windows and constant air travel. It is something that goalie, fellow rookie, and countryman Ivan Fedotov has noted, too. Michkov also has learned to play the North American brand of hard-checking hockey, where time and space are at a premium on smaller rinks than the ones back in his native Russia. Finally, he’s had to adjust to a new country and culture and has worked on his English to better communicate with his teammates.

Michkov still has a lot of work to do, and everyone needs to remember he is just 20. Whether he becomes the first Flyer to win the Calder or not, as Shaw said, “The good news is, at the end of the path, that’s a pretty good-looking hockey player and a real valuable one.”