Matvei Michkov will be a healthy scratch in Tampa. ‘It’s part of the process,’ says John Tortorella

TAMPA, Fla. — In his two-plus years as Flyers head coach, John Tortorella has preached that nobody is above the law and backed up those words with his actions.

Thursday morning was the latest example.

Before the team’s morning skate, Tortorella announced that rookie sensation Matvei Michkov would be a healthy scratch that night against the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 p.m., ESPN+/Hulu). Second on the team in points with 10 (four goals, six assists), last Friday Michkov was named the NHL’s rookie of the month for October. Thursday will be the first time he will watch from the press box after appearing in the Flyers’ first 13 games.

“It’s part of the process,” Tortorella said. “With young guys, they can watch games too, as far as development, so it’s trying to help them.”

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Michkov‘s play has dropped off lately, both from a production standpoint and the eye test. The Russian winger has just one assist, a power-play helper in Tuesday’s 6-4 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, over his past five games.

But this move isn’t about his point production.

Tortorella hasn’t been happy with his play away from the puck at both ends of the ice at five-on-five. It is why the 19-year-old winger was benched for stretches of the past two games, including most of the third period against the Hurricanes. A player with an elite vision to find his teammates and create scoring chances, the young Russian struggles with puck support and proper positioning in each zone.

“I think he‘s beginning to see what the National Hockey League is, as far as the speed, as far as time and space, all the things that come with it. There are going to be some major struggles with him five-on-five, we expect that, where I’m going to have to teach,” Tortorella said after a win against the St. Louis Blues last week. Michkov sat for three straight five-on-five shifts.

“In that teaching moment — I’m not going to tell you what it’s all about — but if we keep on seeing the same mistake and he is just totally not concentrating on a certain part of the game that’s when — and I’ve been very honest with him about that — he’s going to miss some ice. He’s going to watch the game. It’s not me, you know, screaming at him. It’s telling him, this is how it works.”

Tortorella said at the time he was “very comfortable” with Michkov on the power play before adding that “he’s going to be held accountable.” The head coach sees watching a game upstairs as a chance to reset and gain a different perspective.

And Michkov is not the first Flyer to be scratched — nor will he be the last. Tortorella has sat guys like Morgan Frost, Travis Sanheim, Cam York, Tyson Foerster, and captain Sean Couturier in the past.

“I’ve talked to him and had a good conversation with him,” Couturier said. “He’s young, he’s learning. [He] has a lot of pressure with all the adaptation of coming from Russia at 19 years old and not really speaking English. There’s a lot of new things, not only in his adaptation on the ice but off the ice.

“I think he knows what he wants to work on, and what he needs to work on,” added Couturier, who has been Michkov’s center to start the past eight games. “I think it’s more about just trying to control the pressure, control the ups and the downs of a long season. It’s still early in the year but you can’t get frustrated.

“You’ve just got to kind of never be too high, never be too low and kind of have that approach, that’s kind of what I’ve tried to teach maybe him.”

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Winger Anthony Richard will come in for Michkov after being called up on Wednesday from Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League. Richard got the call while he was on the golf course.

“We had the day off and I was on the green and I had my Apple Watch on and I kept feeling it buzzing, so it was either one of my family members or someone calling me,” he said. “I picked up my phone after finishing the hole and it was the call to come here. I was excited but I was lucky, I was flying yesterday morning so I could finish the round.”

Richard, who turns 28 next month, had a strong training camp, showcasing high-end speed and tallying two goals and two assists in the preseason. Speed was something Tortorella brought up before the season about being a key aspect of success for the Flyers. Now Richard will get a chance to do that in the top six.

“I’m a guy who likes to play offense and I like to play in the O zone, and when you get with good players it’s always nice,” Richard said. “Usually, you get called up and you’re more like a fourth-line role, it’s kind of putting you out of the aspect that brings you to the NHL. So in the first couple of years in the NHL I was trying to play a more physical game.

“Now, being on the second line, it’s more [about] making some plays. Obviously it’s still playing hard in all areas but the focus is more on the offensive side so I’m really happy about it.”

Reiterating what he told Richard in training camp, Tortorella said on Thursday he wants him to “take a chance offensively” and not “worry about making mistakes.” Richard says he has been playing better than at the start of the year and is more confident with the puck. A veteran who has played 24 NHL games over a nine-year pro career, he has four goals and nine points in seven games this season with the Phantoms. Two of his goals came on the power play and he will be on the first power-play unit, in Michkov’s spot which is typically in the right face-off circle.

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“That’s a good spot for me, I’ve been playing there for a lot of years,” said Richard, who scored one of his preseason goals from the right circle, albeit against New York Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov.

“I guess they were trying to find someone to replace Michy so hopefully, we can produce there. I know the power play has been better the last few games so hopefully we can score tonight.”

After facing off against Sean Walker on Tuesday, the Flyers will see another former teammate on Thursday in Cam Atkinson. The forward had his contract bought out in June before he inked a deal with the Lightning.

“I cherish every second. Still keep in touch with every one of those guys, and had them all over last night for dinner, which is great to see everyone show up, for the most part,” Atkinson said, joking that he may find out which guys liked him and which didn’t during the game.

“It’s a special group over there, and from the top down, just how ownership runs things and management, and, obviously my history with Torts and [associate coach Brad Shaw]. Always wish them nothing but the best, except for when we play them. But, yeah, miss it, miss that area, miss living there, miss all of it.”

Acquired in a one-for-one trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voráček in July 2021, Atkinson registered 78 points (36 goals, 42 assists) in 143 regular-season games with the Flyers.

He missed the entire 2022-23 season after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck. He struggled to refind his game last season and registered 13 goals and 28 points in 70 games. A healthy scratch for 12 games, he skated just under 16 minutes a game — his lowest average since his third season in the league.

“Torts and I have always had a great relationship. Even going through that process, he was very open and honest, as he always is. Not that I agreed with everything he did but it is what it is,” said Atkinson, who has one assist in 10 games with the Lightning.

“At the end of the day, he’s got to coach, and I ultimately had to play better. We still talk. Guys think that he slept over my house last night,” he said with a laugh. “But we texted yesterday, I’m gonna see him at some point today. And there’s never, ever any bad blood. And even if there was, I would never say one negative thing about him, because he’s definitely helped me out so much more than not. I respect him more than anyone.”

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Aleksei Kolosov is expected to start on Thursday. He did leave morning skate early after speaking with the training staff and stretching in the tunnel to the locker room. … Defenseman Cam York skated with the team at morning skate for the first time since going on injured reserve with an upper-body injury. He was in a blue no-contact jersey. … Goalie Sam Ersson was also on the ice for morning skate after being injured on Saturday. Ersson also skated in Carolina but did not go on until the tail end of morning skate.