VOORHEES, N.J. – Even though his team had been trailing for much of the afternoon game, the coach allowed himself a private smile.
There in front of him on the bench, captain Sean Couturier was instructing second-year player Matvei Michkov on proper positioning.
Also getting involved was veteran winger Travis Konecny, who’s learned the hard way over the years how to play a controlled game at both ends of the ice.
So when coach Rick Tocchet spoke after Sunday’s practice about the Saturday matinee game against Ottawa, his tone was rather positive even though the Flyers had lost to the Senators in overtime.
Having players such as Couturier and Konecny getting involved in explaining systems to Michkov, a young Russian still learning English, makes Tocchet’s job a lot easier.
“There’s a language barrier,” Tocchet explained at the Flyers Training Center. “Poor guy. When someone is talking to him, it’s usually to correct a mistake. That makes it hard sometimes.”
Tocchet was explaining something at a meeting on Sunday and when Couturier sensed Michkov was having some difficulty picking it up, he scooted right over.
“And right away, ‘Mich’ was looking at Coots,” Tocchet said. “You could tell Mich really respects Coots. There’s something there. So I think that’s valuable. And Coots has a good way of delivering a message. Both guys talked it out. It was like I (Michkov) get it now.”
It was important for teammates to watch these exchanges because sometimes constructive criticisms can feel better coming from a teammate rather than a coach.
“It’s good to have players that are almost like an extension of the coaching staff,” Tocchet suggested. “Especially when they’ve got a language barrier.”
Couturier even went to an Ipad to get his message across.
“It’s an ongoing process,” Couturier said. “He’s a young player, getting adjusted to North America, learning English. But I think it’s important to stay on top of each other. Get the communication going. I think both of us have another level to our game so if we can build that together, I think it’s going to be beneficial to the team.”
After scoring 26 goals to lead the Flyers as a rookie last season, Michkov has struggled a bit this year. An injury slowed his offseason training program and recently he went through a nine-game goal drought.
But he’s come back to score in each of the last two games, including one on Saturday to help the Flyers start their climb out of an early 2-0 deficit.
“I think he’s not been ‘cheating’ as much for breakaways, which could be easy for him to do,” Couturier said. “He’s staying on the right side of the puck, being a little more responsible defensively. I think that shows his growth in a different way.
“A credit to him, he’s bought into it. Since he’s been here he’s been an all-offensive guy. Lot of skill, potential game-changer. So when you’re not contributing as much as you would like – everyone goes through ups and downs in a season — you have to balance it out and find ways to be responsible and not hurt the team.”
Veteran defenseman Travis Sanheim agreed it’s a good thing when players get involved in the teaching process.
“Some of the older players might know a bit more and understand that things can’t always come from the coaches,” Sanheim said. “Guys have to step up in certain situations, try to help him (Michkov) out the best we can.”
Michkov has held his plus-minus at even through 15 games so he hasn’t been a real defensive liability so far.
“It’s the same with the young guys on the back end (defensemen),” Sanheim said. “There’s teaching things that don’t need to come from the coach. We’re just trying to help out the best we can.”
>Grundstrom’s debut
Left wing Carl Grundstrom, acquired as part of a trade which sent defenseman Ryan Ellis to San Jose back on Oct. 5, made his Flyers debut on Saturday and played an efficient 10-plus minutes.
Grundstrom, who played parts of six seasons with the Los Angeles Kings before a season with the Sharks, is happy to get another shot at the NHL. He’s only 27 and has 43 goals/76 points to his credit.
“I’m really excited of course,” the Swedish native said. “It was a lot of fun. It (the trade) kind of came out of the blue.”
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