While there were many storylines to watch coming into the 2024/25 NHL season, one of the most intriguing was the Calder Trophy race, with the likes of Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf and Logan Stankoven all battling it out to become the NHL's best rookie. However, the belief was that Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov could be the best of the group, and with an impressive 10 points through just 13 games, that was proving to potentially be correct.
Now, the team has made a shock call, with Head Coach John Tortorella scratching the 19-year old star after a stellar start to his NHL career, much to the disdain of fans on social media.
Through 13 games, the Flyers sit at 4-8-1, so maybe this is an opportunity for the team to get a spark by making a change, but with several players struggling, this could have been one of many players instead. Unfortunately, this is what many feared when John Tortorella was given a star rookie to deal with, and after the first stretch of his career, it's clear that Michkov is ready to be a star in the NHL and isn't a normal rookie.
Hopefully though this may just be a move for one game that allows Michkov to see the game from a different angle, but given all that we know about Tortorella, it's safe to say that we haven't heard the last of his poor handling of the former No. 7 overall pick.
POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 7 | 160 ANSWERS Matvei Michkov Hits a New Low With the Philadelphia Flyers: John Tortorella Has Had Enough Will Matvei Michkov win the Calder Trophy this season with the Philadelphia Flyers? | ||
Yes | 46 | 28.8 % |
No | 114 | 71.3 % |
LIST OF POLLS |
G | A | PTS | ||
Artemi Panarin | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Vincent Trocheck | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
Jesper Bratt | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Nic Dowd | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jack Hughes | - | 2 | 2 | |
Alexis Lafrenière | - | 2 | 2 | |
Andre Burakovsky | 1 | - | 1 | |
Luke Hughes | 1 | - | 1 | |
Blake Lizotte | 1 | - | 1 | |
Connor McMichael | 1 | - | 1 | |
Timo Meier | 1 | - | 1 | |
Mathieu Olivier | 1 | - | 1 | |
Aliaksei Protas | 1 | - | 1 | |
Reilly Smith | 1 | - | 1 | |
John Tavares | 1 | - | 1 | |
Philip Tomasino | 1 | - | 1 | |
Shane Wright | 1 | - | 1 | |
Zach Aston-Reese | - | 1 | 1 | |
Michael Bunting | - | 1 | 1 | |
Brenden Dillon | - | 1 | 1 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Wild | 25 | 17 | 4 | 4 | 38 | |
Jets | 27 | 19 | 8 | - | 38 | |
Golden Knights | 27 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 37 | |
Capitals | 25 | 17 | 6 | 2 | 36 | |
Devils | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 36 | |
Hurricanes | 26 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 35 | |
Maple Leafs | 25 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 34 | |
Panthers | 27 | 16 | 9 | 2 | 34 | |
Kings | 26 | 15 | 8 | 3 | 33 | |
Stars | 25 | 16 | 9 | - | 32 | |
Conference | Cumulative |