John Tortorella Offers Dubious Reason for Benching Matvei Michkov vs. Lightning

Head coach John Tortorella and the Philadelphia Flyers made major airwaves after making public the decision to bench, as in fully healthy scratch, rookie sensation Matvei Michkov ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Except Tortorella didn’t see it that way. Not even a little bit.

The gruff veteran coach had a blunt explanation for why Michkov was out for the Flyers, as he usually does for any and all questions related to the lineup before a game.

“Just part of the process. Just part of the process,” Tortorella said. “With young guys, they can watch games, too, as far as development. It’s trying to help him.”

As far as Michkov was concerned, the writing has been on the wall for about a week before reaching the tipping point on Thursday, even after posting an assist against Carolina on Tuesday night.

The Flyers’ 19-year-old star has seen his ice time significantly reduced in the last four games he’s played in, playing 15:36 and 15:15 in the two games against Boston, 13:56 against St. Louis, and 13:57 against Carolina on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Michkov played 0:00 as he was forced to watch from the press box with AHL journeyman Anthony Richard filling in on the power play and in the top-six.

Just over halfway through the third period in the Flyers game against the Lightning, the ESPN broadcast panned to the press box, showing Michkov and the injured Aleksei Kolosov looking down at their phones with monotone expressions during a stoppage in play.

If anything has been apparent in the first month of the season, it is that Michkov is a competitive player. It was probably torture sitting up there watching his Flyers teammates, but Tortorella sometimes tries to strike that nerve intentionally. And maybe Michkov just needs a mental and physical reset after a long run of games, including rookie camp and the NHL preseason.

The reality is that any athlete would be disappointed watching the game from the stands. Even though the Flyers won on Thursday, the onus is now on Michkov to prove to his coach that he should be in the lineup every night.