Friday Four: How can Flyers get more from Michkov?

The Friday Four is a collection of thoughts and information on some intriguing player storylines from around the NHL. On deck this week is:

• Flyers need Matvei Michkov to be at his best against Canes

• Brandon Hagel carrying Lightning versus Canadiens

• Should Vegas turn to Adin Hill?

• JJ Peterka must step up for Mammoth

Matvei Michkov, Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers had just lost Game 4 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, but they were still in a good spot. Philly was up 3-1 in its opening round series, a place where most didn’t even think the Flyers would be just a few weeks earlier. They were playing with house money. The Flyers went on a torrid run down the stretch thanks to some inspired play by goaltender Dan Vladar and an injection of youthful enthusiasm from the arrival of Porter Martone. The headlines should’ve been about the Flyers closing in on completing another step of an improbable run. 

Instead, all the focus surrounded Matvei Michkov. 

The sophomore was having a tough series. Michkov generated just four shots in the first four games against the Pens and was only averaging about 10 minutes of ice time per game. Rick Tocchet was going to scratch one of his most talented offensive players for Game 5 and it was probably justified. Michkov simply hadn’t been performing up to par and if you’re only going to have him play 10 minutes in your bottom six, it’s probably better to have someone else in there that brings a physical element and can impact the game in other ways. 

It's certainly a disappointing development for the Flyers and Michkov, who really was one of their most impactful players down the stretch. He closed the campaign with goals in three straight games and six points over that stretch, compiling 18 points in his final 16 outings overall. You could argue Michkov was Philly’s best forward after the Olympics. 

That success to close out the season hasn’t translated to the playoffs and perhaps Tocchet felt he could get through to Michkov with a night off. Michkov responded well to being scratched as rookie in the immediate aftermath of the decision.

It worked again. Michkov set up Cam York’s series winner in overtime as the Flyers will now move on to face the Carolina Hurricanes. He played 17:26 and had three shots in the game, nearly equalling his total from the rest of the series. The question is, how can Tocchet get this version of Michkov every night against the Canes? Carolina gave up just five goals in an opening-round sweep against the Ottawa Senators, so Philly is going to need all their offensive weapons at their best as heavy underdogs. 

One thing that Michkov exudes when he’s at the top of his game is confidence. You can tell he has it when he starts shooting the puck more and starts playing more direct. In Michkov’s final eight games of the regular season where he tallied 11 points, the Flyers forward averaged nearly three shots per contest. For the rest of the season Michkov averaged under two shots per game. A similar pattern emerged against the Pens. Michkov had just four shots in the first four games of the series before his scratch, but then responded with three in Game 6, which was easily his best outing of round one. 

Tocchet is a very detailed-oriented coach, so Michkov has to find a way to continue to play freely on the offensive side of the puck without sacrificing too much defensively. It’s possible a player can get so tentative and worried about making a mistake that they lose that attacking mentality, but there are examples of players filling the scoresheet under Tocchet. 

Elias Pettersson had the best two statistical seasons of his career playing for Tocchet. He had 102 and 89 points during Tocchet’s first two campaigns in Vancouver and hasn’t looked anywhere close to that since. If you earn Tocchet’s trust, he’ll put you in positions to succeed and make an impact, and there’s no reason someone with Michkov’s abilities can’t excel under the Flyers head coach. 

When Michkov was scratched for Game 5 there was already chatter ramping up that Philadelphia should consider moving him this summer. That feels very premature considering what we’ve seen from Michkov when he’s at his best. He’s still only 21 and already has a 60-plus point season to his credit. Not everyone bursts onto the scene and dominates the toughest league in the world right away. Imagine if the Montreal Canadiens gave up on Juraj Slafkovsky after he totaled 60 points over his first two seasons and was a combined minus-32? Now Slafkovsky looks like he’s going to be one of the league’s next great power forwards only a couple of years later. 

It remains to be seen what will become of Michkov over the next few seasons, but right now Tocchet and the Flyers just need to push the right buttons to get the best version of him over the next couple of weeks. A confident Michkov who is playing downhill could create real problems against the Hurricanes and potentially help push the Flyers deep into the spring. 

Brandon Hagel, Tampa Bay Lightning

You could make an argument that nobody has made a bigger imprint on these playoffs than Brandon Hagel. 

He has goals in every game but one against the Montreal Canadiens, including two in Game 4 when the Tampa Bay Lightning needed to win to avoid going down 3-1 in the series. Hagel scored a pair in the third when Tampa was behind 2-1 to avoid falling into a potentially insurmountable hole. The Lightning forward’s six goals are actually more than the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings scored in total during their first-round series. 

Hagel’s contributions go beyond the scoresheet, though. He’s averaged nearly 25 minutes a game in this series and played a whopping 25:34 in Game 4 to lead all Lightning skaters. Not to mention his fiery nature really sets the tone for the way Tampa wants to play. Hagel’s fight against Slafkovsky in game number two helped turn the momentum in Tampa’s favour where it was starting to look like the series was tilting towards the Canadiens. 

It's still only the first round and the Lightning have their backs against the wall, but Hagel could be a darkhorse Conn Smythe candidate if Tampa makes a deep run and can rally past Montreal. Even though players like Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy have helped the Lightning to multiple Cups and are still at the top of their game, it’s Hagel that’s becoming the heart and soul of the team. 

Adin Hill, Vegas Golden Knights

It was a minor miracle that Carter Hart wasn’t pulled at some point during Games 3 and 4 against the Utah Mammoth. 

The Vegas Golden Knights goaltender gave up four goals on just eight shots in a Game 3 loss and then surrendered four straight goals in the following contest, when Utah overcome a 3-0 deficit. Vegas rallied to escape both Games 4 and 5 in overtime, but there are certainly questions in the Golden Knights crease going forward. 

Hart was the obvious choice for John Tortorella to go with to start these playoffs after a good showing down the stretch. The 27-year-old went 7-0-0 in April with a .930 save percentage and was probably the biggest reason Vegas went on to win the Pacific Division. That said, that’s not exactly a huge sample size and the rest of Hart’s season wasn’t anything special, so he shouldn’t really have a long leash if things continue to go poorly against Utah. 

That’s especially true when you have a Stanley Cup-winning goaltender on the bench. Adin Hill had a dismal campaign, but he went 11-2-2 with a .932 save percentage when Vegas won the Cup a few years back. He’s done it before. 

Look no further than someone like Frederik Andersen who had a tough regular season but has turned things around in the playoffs. Hill is a competitor and might be able to give Vegas the jolt it needs to finish off Utah. 

JJ Peterka, Utah Mammoth

When the Mammoth traded for JJ Peterka last summer and signed him to a five-year contract, they probably didn’t envision him being such a non-factor in their first post-season.

Peterka hasn’t registered a point yet versus Vegas and his ice time has been plummeting. He barely played over 10 minutes in Game 4, a contest that went nearly four periods. Peterka is also a minus-three overall. That’s a huge departure for a player that was very productive for the Mammoth this season and has proven to be a prolific scorer. Peterka tallied 25 goals in 2025-26 and has now averaged nearly 27 goals over the past three campaigns. 

The 24-year-old has been relegated to fourth-line duties at times in this series and Kailer Yamamoto has replaced him in the top six. Yamamoto is a fine player but nowhere near as talented and explosive offensively as Peterka. He only had 23 points this season and Utah probably didn’t plan on having to use him on their second line. If Peterka was operating on all cylinders and playing 16 or 17 minutes a night, Utah would be much more difficult for Vegas to defend. 

With all that said, it’s up to Peterka to earn his ice time. He hasn’t shown enough in recent games that would deem him worthy of a promotion back up the lineup. Utah gave up two good assets in Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring to get him and then handed Peterka $7.7 million per season on a lucrative deal. He’s their highest-paid forward and usually when that type of player isn’t producing for you in the playoffs, it could very well end up in an early exit.