John Tortorella’s Unique Challenge: Coaching Philly Flyers Rookie Matvey Michkov Through Language Barriers and Growing Pains

The Passion of St. Matthew, chapter two.

Two games in hand for the best rookie of the season? No question. “It’s a learning process for a young player” is also not a problem. But that’s not the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers. John Tortorellato put the brakes on the mistakes of a young hockey player.

We are talking, of course, about the relationship between the Torts tight end and the main young star of the Flyers. Matveya Michkova. Matvey started the season successfully, to the delight of many Pilots fans, but then what everyone feared happened. Russia ended up in the “kennel” of Tortorella, who is not prone to sentimentality and forgiveness of mistakes even among young people. The defiant coach put Russia on the bench, saying that sometimes it is useful to watch the game from the stands and because of this, your own mistakes will be seen.

After two games of “serving”, Michkov came out and was no longer so active. There were fewer points (in the last three games – 2 assists), and Matvey himself began to act more carefully and try to qualify more often. Matvey’s adventures will certainly not be limited to this, as Michkov has come under the fire of another criticism from the coach.

John Tortorella recently appeared on TNT’s pregame show and talked about some of the challenges he faced as head coach of Matvey Michkov.

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Tortorella said he has largely stopped coaching Michkov at this point because his efforts to do so have not panned out. According to him, Michkov just does not understand the coach. Tortorella now holds weekly meetings with Michkov through the translator Slava Kuznetsov.

“It was a bit difficult for me because I like to coach and give advice. I don’t go back to the office and read the trainer’s manual trying to figure out how to handle this situation. I think this is very important – spontaneous training, interpretation “on the fly.” But it turns out I can’t do that with Mitch because he just doesn’t understand.

I tried it on the bench. There was a situation that I tried to explain, and he said to me: “Yes, yes.” But he didn’t quite understand what I was saying. We started using Egor Zamula for translation, but Zamula’s performance started to decline, so we left him alone. We just wanted him to play. What we do now is to meet once a week in the office with an interpreter. He listens to me, and I listen to him. I’m not a fan of one-on-one meetings.”“,” Tortorella said candidly.

The tone of the coach’s statements is as if the language barrier with a hockey player from another country is a surprise to him. Everyone is interested in establishing normal communication – both the headquarters and the players. And if the American Tortorella comes to work someday, for example, in Russia, he will learn a lot more about the translation problems. But now Torts believes that it is Michkov who should change and try to understand the mentor directly.

“He’s 19 years old, there’s so much going on around him, and he just doesn’t understand anything. That is, he tries to understand and speak. But I don’t think he understands some things completely. So we try to be careful in this regard. We will try not to rush it and continue with our weekly meetings.”added Tortorella.

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The consultant immediately admitted that he had never worked with a hockey player like Matvey.

«I look at him and I can’t think of a player like him. But he can “do things”, play in a limited space. He’s not the best at skating, he doesn’t have much speed. But he has a natural ability to play in tight spaces. I remember I coached Artemi Panarin in Columbus. He could also “make things” on a handkerchief.

We ask him not to worry about mistakes. You have to go through this learning process and it takes a lot of matches. But we need his effectiveness in attack. We are a team that does not do well offensively. So, it’s very important to us,” Tortorella said.

The coach has no choice – he has to tinker with a new player who, as expected, makes mistakes. Screaming and swearing – the signature weapon of the fiery mentor​​​​​​ – do not work because Michkov does not understand English to the extent that the coach would like. But it is clear that speaking slowly, thoughtfully and not rushing into requests is not something that Tortorella can do.

“He’s honest with me, I’m honest with him. In this way, we reach a stage where problems are solved faster. That’s what I like about it. He has a mind and I’d rather have a player with that mind than trying to squeeze everything out of him. I look forward to his progress.”“, Torts concluded his interview.

In short, everyone needs patience in this story. And to Tortorella himself, and, of course, to Michkov, and to the fans.