Philadelphia Flyers | A Risky Bet Straight From Russia

(Voorhees, New Jersey) Daniel Brière makes no secret of it: Matvei Michkov is the biggest gamble of his young career as general manager.

Fans of the 2023 seventh-round pick see him as a Russian version of Connor Bedard, the first overall pick that year. Hopefully, he’ll have a similar impact with the Philadelphia Flyers to Kirill Kaprizov’s with the Minnesota Wild. Kaprizov, a similarly built player, albeit a bigger one over the years, had 96 points, including 46 goals, in 75 games in Minnesota last winter and had a 108-point season in 2020-21.

His detractors accuse Michkov of lack of commitment in defense, insubordination, conflicts with teammates in the locker room. One wonders how the marriage will succeed with a demanding coach like John Tortorella. The young Russian, they say, would have been hunting – and not loaned – by SKA St. Petersburg during the last two seasons to a lower-ranked KHL team.

The Flyers GM welcomes us that day at the team’s training complex, in a suburb of New Jersey. We have to avoid electricians, scaffolding and puddles of paint. The place, although recently built, in 2014, is already in the middle of renovation. The parallel is easy to make with the team.

Daniel Brière comes down from the second floor to greet us at the entrance. Despite his 46 years, he has kept his youthful air. And his simplicity. If only he could come and lend a hand to the workers on the construction site.

The administrative services on the second floor are impressive and are a striking reminder of the team’s history. The many bright orange jerseys catch the eye. There are offices as far as the eye can see.

“This is my deputy Barry Hanrahan’s office,” he said. “This is my deputy Brent Flahr’s office. This is my other deputy, Alyn McCauley’s office. This is our advanced statistics department. There are six of them, but two are full-time in the office…”

Without realizing it, Daniel Brière has more than 75 employees under his authority.

The players are arriving quietly in the region. Sean Couturier was expected the next day. Michkov, for his part, has already been there for several weeks, with his mother and brother.

“There are already several, but they should all be here next week,” says Brière.

First impression successful

Our guy likes what he sees from Michkov so far. “He’s got a great personality. He’s fitting in, the players like him. His English is improving incredibly. I was talking to him this morning, we were able to communicate. At first, two or three weeks ago, we couldn’t even talk to each other. We were texting and using the translation on our phones. He always has a big smile, he’s happy to be here, we have a hard time getting him off the ice. He doesn’t stop for two seconds. At the same time, I expect a tough season for him, at his age, with expectations as high as they are. He’s not a savior.”

Brière isn’t in denial either. He’s heard the negative stories about the young man. He’s seen the boy’s games in the KHL and his lack of involvement in the defensive zone. “Time will tell. He’s only 19. I’ve been there. I’ve done some stupid things that I’m not proud of at that age. He’s not the only one. He’s so competitive that he expects the players around him to be as competitive.”

After Bedard came forwards Leo Carlsson (Anaheim), Adam Fantilli (Columbus) and Will Smith (San Jose) in that order. David Reinbacher was the first defenseman chosen, by Montreal, in fifth place. The defunct Coyotes surprised by drafting a fellow Russian of Michkov, defenseman Dmitri Simashev.

Despite his 20 points in just 27 games in Sochi, in the KHL, at age 18, Michkov was still available at seventh place. His bad reputation, and the length of his contract in Russia, until 2026, undoubtedly cooled the first clubs to talk. But Michkov was able to terminate his agreement with Saint Petersburg and is already ready to play in North America.

“There are two sides to every coin,” said the GM. “We also interviewed players who were around him, who grew up with him. Michkov is too competitive for it not to work. We are happy to have him earlier in his career with Torts.” [l’entraîneur-chef John Tortorella] to show him the way to become a good professional. He may find it hard, saying that it doesn’t work, but in ten years, with hindsight, he will realize that it was a good thing for him. I could be wrong. I hope not.”

The management is making sure that this young man gets all the support he needs. “He went through a lot at a very young age, with the loss of his father, at only 17 years old. His mother and his little brother are settled here with him. Egor Zamula, Ivan Fedotov and he are developing a good relationship. Zamula is a little younger, they spend a lot of time together, Fedotov is a little older, he is a little more of a father figure to him. We also have Russian employees of the organization who are helping him with his transition.”

A surprising season

The Flyers are in the midst of a rebuild, as are the Canadiens. Before the start of the 2023-24 season, they traded their top defenseman, Ivan Provorov, to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a first-round pick and sent veteran Kevin Hayes to the St. Louis Blues for a modest sixth-round pick to make room for younger players. They also didn’t retain James Van Riemsdyk and Tony DeAngelo.

Despite this wave of rejuvenation, they finished just four points out of the last place giving access to the playoffs with a record of 38-33-11. This “success” unexpected had a perverse effect; we missed the playoffs anyway and the draft pick was excluded from the top 10.

Daniel Brière turns to his huge board on the wall to see his squad. “If we had had this kind of season with older players, okay, but it’s our young players who pulled this team together. [Owen] Tippett, [Tyson] Foerster, [Morgan] Frost have made a lot of progress. [Travis] Konecny, who has just been signed to a long-term contract, is still young. [Bobby] Brink surprised us. [Ryan] Poehling is only 25 years old. On defense, [Cam] York and [Travis] Sanheim have taken a big step forward. The loss [du gardien] Carter Hart hurt, but [Samuel] Ersson was very good. That’s what’s encouraging.”

Disappointing in 2022-2023, Travis Sanheim had nevertheless been traded to the St. Louis Blues before last season. But the defenseman sent to Philadelphia to allow the Blues to create the salary space necessary to accommodate Flyers defenseman Torey Krug, invoked his no-trade clause. Sanheim was whipped by this aborted transaction and became the pillar of the team last winter.

Many mistakenly believed that this was a one-for-one trade. The Flyers were getting a bunch of draft picks. Blues GM Doug Armstrong has never hesitated to get rid of picks to acquire players in their prime. In 2017, he offered two first-round picks for Brayden Schenn. Schenn helped the team win the Cup two years later and the Flyers drafted Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost with those picks.

“I sat down with Travis. I explained the situation to him. I told him I would never have traded him for [seulement] a first-round pick, but the return was impressive on our side. It whipped him up. The Provorov trade opened the door for him.”

Cutter Gauthier and Tortorella

Daniel Briere made a major trade in January. The 2022 fifth overall pick, forward Cutter Gauthier, indicated his intention to change organizations. Briere got a 22-year-old offensive defenseman, drafted sixth overall in 2020, Jamie Drysdale. His arrival was difficult, with only 5 points in 24 games and a -18 record.

“Because he had missed a lot of time with injuries since the beginning of his career, he insisted on playing even though he was injured. He was really beat up. It would have been easy for him to put a line under the season. On the contrary, he wanted to keep playing. I take my hat off to him. We wish him good health now. Four years ago, he was the best defender in his age group. [Jake] Sanderson and he were drafted close together. He needs to get his confidence back and stay healthy. Again, defensemen take time to develop. We saw that with Sanheim and Cam York. They usually take off around age 24.”

The Flyers’ general manager is aiming for a season similar to last year’s.

To lead these youngsters to safety, the rugged John Tortorella is back behind the bench. A strong bond binds the two men, an unlikely bond from the outside. “We’ve known each other for a long time. I had him as an assistant coach [de 1997 à 1999] when I first started playing in Phoenix. I followed him for a long time, I played against his teams for a long time. The person you see behind the bench or in press conferences is very different from the one behind the scenes with us. He will answer questions from journalists, but these are not people he works with.

“He’s attentive, he’s always the first person to ask you how your wife and kids are doing,” Brière continued. “He does the same thing with the players. Yes, he’s tough. Yes, he’s demanding. But the players realize that he’s concerned about their success. There’s been some friction. Sean Couturier comes to mind. It was more difficult in the second half of the season for him. But both of them worked very hard to [améliorer] their relationship. He’s tough, but he believes in Sean — he made him captain, he expects more from him. If it takes some getting there, he’s willing to do it. In the long run, he knows the players will understand. Over 90 percent of his former players will tell me today that it was tough playing for him, but it was the best thing for them and they were lucky to have him.”