{"id":458836,"date":"2026-02-09T21:01:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/458836\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T21:01:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T21:01:46","slug":"chris-pronger-talks-matvei-michkov-flyers-rebuild-on-spittin-chiclets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/458836\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Pronger talks Matvei Michkov, Flyers’ rebuild on Spittin’ Chiclets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flyers fans are \u201cstarving\u201d for a superstar player. That\u2019s what\u2019s driving a lot of the angst around Matvei Michkov<\/a>, former team captain Chris Pronger said.<\/p>\n

On Monday\u2019s episode of the Spittin\u2019 Chiclets podcast<\/a>, Pronger, a hockey Hall of Famer who spent the last three years of his 18-year career with the Flyers<\/a>, shared his thoughts on the team\u2019s rebuild and Michkov\u2019s development as a professional.<\/p>\n

The never-ending rebuild<\/p>\n

The current regime spearheading the Flyers\u2019 rebuild, led by Keith Jones<\/a> and Danny Bri\u00e8re<\/a>, has been in place since March 2023, just under three years. But Flyer fans are still reeling from the failures of previous regimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been in what\u2019s called a rebuild for what seems like 12 years,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cI think they\u2019re frustrated and they want the rebuild to be over, but they didn\u2019t go about the rebuild properly in the early days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flyers haven\u2019t made the playoffs since the COVID bubble in 2020, and have advanced past the first round just once since the 2012-13 season \u2014 during that bubble playoff run, which was played in an empty building in Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: No wonder Flyers fans are irrational about Matvei Michkov. Have you looked at this team\u2019s draft history? | Mike Sielski<\/a><\/p>\n

The most important keys to any successful rebuild are finding a star center and a No. 1 defenseman, two things that have eluded the Flyers so far. It takes lottery luck, which the Flyers haven\u2019t had much of lately. But those who believe Michkov, a winger, becoming a star will be the difference between a Stanley Cup-contending Flyers team and the draft lottery aren\u2019t being realistic, according to Pronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know any team \u2014 any team \u2014 that rebuilds with a winger,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cI don\u2019t know one good team who rebuilt with a winger. You don\u2019t rebuild with a winger, you rebuild up the middle \u2014 center, defense, goalie. I know you [draft] the best player available, and clearly he was the best player, but as it relates to that, sometimes you have to luck out, too, in a rebuild and get the right pick when the right player is available.\u201d<\/p>\n

In January, Pronger posted on X<\/a> that those centerpiece players are the hardest to find, and the Flyers need to be patient and deliberate about compiling assets to make those moves if they become available. But he also suggested that the best way to rebuild is to tear it all the way down, like San Jose and Chicago have done, for a chance at getting a player like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard. <\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?<\/a><\/p>\n

How to help Michkov<\/p>\n

Michkov came into camp out of shape, something Pronger admitted he\u2019d also done early in his career, in his second and third NHL seasons. Teams don\u2019t get a lot of practice time, Pronger said, so it\u2019s extremely difficult to play yourself into shape during the year. Pronger\u2019s coach at the time, Mike Keenan, was extremely tough on him, to the point where Pronger joked that even his teammates started to feel bad.<\/p>\n

He also pointed to the language barrier between the Russian Michkov and the coaching staff as a hurdle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that he doesn\u2019t speak the language very well, if at all, that\u2019s part of the problem, because it might not be translating properly what he\u2019s going through, what he\u2019s dealing with,\u201d Pronger said. \u201c\u2026 You\u2019ve got to be hard on young guys, but it\u2019s not 1995, either. That\u2019s not how this world works in today\u2019s hockey world, in today\u2019s NHL. You have to find a connection with the player. There\u2019s ways to be hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00bb READ MORE: Flyers GM Danny Bri\u00e8re addresses Rick Tocchet\u2019s recent comments on Matvei Michkov: \u2018They have a good relationship.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

The Flyers do not employ a full-time Russian translator for Michkov, instead relying on Slava Kuznetsov, a skating coach who also works with Olympian Isabeau Levito, to translate for him. <\/p>\n

Now, the Flyers need to teach Michkov how to be a pro, Pronger said, and that includes setting the example of him coming into camp in shape, and learning to be more responsible with the puck.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a few of their games last year with [John Tortorella<\/a>], and he played [Michkov] a bit differently,\u201d Pronger said. \u201cHe got him on the power play, to me it looked like he was putting him in more positions for success. It looked like he let him do a little more, but wasn\u2019t \u2014 I don\u2019t know if teaching him is the right word, but showcasing his abilities and not digging into the other parts of the game where he needed to improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Flyers are off for the Olympic break and will return to the ice on Feb. 25 against the Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Flyers fans are \u201cstarving\u201d for a superstar player. That\u2019s what\u2019s driving a lot of the angst around Matvei…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[214288,385,99],"class_list":["post-458836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-chris-pronger-spittin-chiclets-matvei-michkov-rick-tocchet","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}