Rick Tocchet talks power play, Matvei Michkov’s ‘vengeance tour,’ and more at his end-of-season media availability

Wednesday marked 364 days, one day shy, of the anniversary of Rick Tocchet’s hiring as the Flyers’ coach.

He sat down with the media not just to reflect on his first year behind the bench — “I thought there was a lot of good stuff and a lot of learning too, [even] for myself” — but also to peer into Year 2 — “try out-of-the-box thinking.”

Here are two major takeaways and some other nuggets from what the bench boss had to say:

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Let’s start with the guy Tocchet has noted as a lightning rod, Matvei Michkov.

After Michkov’s media availability on Tuesday, during which the winger did not divulge much, Tocchet reiterated that the reasoning behind Michkov’s Game 4 scratching was to get more speed in the lineup. It sounded like the Flyers wanted to make a change with several guys struggling, and it was not just a Tocchet decision but rather one involving the coaching staff as a whole and “other people” to bring some “fresh air.”

“Mich, it’s his first playoff run, he’s a second-year player, so I think if it happened to another young guy, nobody really is saying anything,” said Tocchet. “But it’s the pressure ... we’ve just got to let this kid breathe, because I think he’s made a lot of strides.

“I can’t talk for last year, but I can talk for this year. I think he’s made some strides.”

Press conferences tend to be a free-for-all, so it can be difficult to follow up and ask what those strides were. But the eye test would tell you there was an uptick in his skating and defensive game as the season progressed. Michkov acknowledged the day prior that playing with two-way center Noah Cates helped turn his plus-minus from a negative number to even, which is where he finished the season.

We learned from Cates that he and Michkov often watched video at the team’s hotel, and Tocchet said that Michkov was one of several young players who would grab a coach to go over things. Notably, Tocchet said the Russian winger was a “self-starter” and would reach out to Jaroslav “Yogi” Svejkovský to chat about the power play.

“Is there something he needs to improve on? Of course. I think there’s something he can work on this summer — separation speed, all that, shot — all that stuff, he can work on,“ Tocchet said. ”But it’s not just him. Every young guy, I could carbon copy the exact same thing. You have to be able to improve on all different areas, but he does want to improve.”

And he’s already on the ice.

“I think he skated yesterday. It’s pretty cool. I’d rather him not skate — I want him to take a break — but I’m not going to tell him I know what to do, because him going to shoot pucks yesterday is something that he knows, that is something that he’s got [to do]," said Tocchet, confirming rumblings that the 21-year-old was already back at work.

“It’s almost like a vengeance tour. And I love that. I think every player should have some kind of motivation in their head to prove anybody wrong. I think that’s really important.”

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In answering a question early on about the offense, Tocchet foreshadowed questions about the power play. And he got them. Because, like clockwork, its lack of potency is again a major topic as the team’s heads into the offseason.

So what stood out to Tocchet, who was one of several fresh faces tasked with tackling a problem that has persisted for five years and across three coaching staffs? Sounds like the ghosts of years past may be creeping in.

“I just felt some guys were nervous. [As] soon as we had a power play, and we hit the ice, I could feel tension from some guys,” Tocchhet said. “And we’ve got to release the tension, and that’s my job, to release that tension.

“So diving into it this summer [things like] different schemes, different way of practicing, maybe less information — sometimes, giving too much information makes guys tighter. So we’re going to dive deep into it. I’ll be honest, I felt some guys went out there, and you could just see, it was like they were clenching their stick.”

He then got into specifics when it was raised that Jamie Drysdale said after Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes — who Tocchet said were a litmus test because of how aggressive they are with the penalty kill — that the players didn’t follow the game plan. “I think when it comes to power play, you’ve got to see things [and] sometimes it’s going to take people longer to see things.“

Some of it is the retrievals, which Tocchet didn’t like from his club. But a large chunk of it is missing reads on the ice. Like how the coaching staff stressed the ways to beat the aggressive diamond the Hurricanes employ by having two players low, but players not seeing that as an option. Or how the team had a five-on-three in that Game 3, and the coaches stated how Carolina played two men high, leaving space open down low, but the power play moved the puck high instead.

» READ MORE: The Flyers’ abysmal power play cost them dearly in these playoffs. It has to improve next season.

“We’re missing [those] kind of reads. Experience, maybe? Can we coach it better? It probably falls on us a little bit. How do we coach that for them to understand the reads? Is it better to do on the ice than a video?” Tocchet asked, stating he’s already spoken to his staff about it and brought up the idea of spending a half-hour before practice to work on the power play.

“We’re going to have to do some really out-of-the-box thinking to fix this,” he added. “How to get better reads is what you’re asking? There is coaching, but there’s also a player thing, too. If you want to be on the power play, you’re going to have to get these reads. So how do you get these reads? Well, study, live it, practice it, rinse and repeat. That’s really what it comes down to when it comes to power play.”

Tocchet doesn’t foresee a dramatic shift in the team’s offensive strategies next season. But he does want the team to be better at puck possession, wall play, carrying the puck into the offensive zone, and working in the corners. He also feels some players, whom he wouldn’t mention, have to improve their shots, especially on making them harder and faster. ... On Porter Martone, what stood out to Tocchet wasn’t just his talent but his character. ... He thought the close games — including 28 games that went beyond regulation — and the 22 comeback wins the Flyers had in the regular season helped build confidence in his group. ... Tocchet agreed with Travis Sanheim’s sentiment from Tuesday that playing at the Olympics gave him confidence in his own game and it carried over to the Flyers. ... When asked if he’ll be training as a center or winger this summer, Denver Barkey grinned and said that he’ll be training as a forward. But what does the future hold for him positionally? Tocchet thinks it’s a luxury to have a guy who can play both but doesn’t really want a young player to bounce around a lot between the two roles. However, “if there is a guy that you can bounce around every once while, he’s the guy, because his hockey IQ is outstanding, his work ethic is outstanding, and he’s a guy that can really develop into a really frontline player.”

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