Let’s Talk About Matvei Michkov’s Summer.

After scoring what I’d consider to be the most electric goal of his young NHL career, Matvei Michkov made a revelation that apparently shocked people.

A little Michkov Magic. 🪄#OTTvsPHI | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/eKHQojvV16

— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) November 8, 2025

Before we get into the big quote, let me start by imploring you to watch that goal and his “celebration” after. Look at his face. He genuinely looks mad. Matvei is the apotheosis of intensity. This kid thought Kobe Bryant was the bar for being a total psychopath about his chosen craft.

Why is that relevant? Amid his press conference, which you can watch in its entirety in a video I’ll link below, he dropped this nugget about his summer training.

“Truly, I was rested for four months, no hockey. Training was not the same. In the beginning of the season, I lost concentration, but with every game, I’m feeling better and better.”

Now, I didn’t know if I’d have to write this piece. I thought a two-post thread I sent earlier would be enough to elucidate all of this.

To clarify what Michkov meant in his post-game scrum, if this was a point of confusion:

Famously, through his childhood, he did all of his training for hockey on the ice. Just playing hockey. He didn't even see the inside of a gym until he was 16. Going on 17.

— Derek Dunn (@SuitableAlias) November 8, 2025

After some of the coverage it’s received, I stand corrected. Apparently, people actually need this explained to them in greater detail. And some of us, the writer of this piece in particular, might need it explained to them very slowly. In words that are too simple for me to naturally put to paper.

“Due to the language barrier, Michkov couldn’t expand further into what he meant by taking four months off of hockey, but we can at least theorize and give him the benefit of the doubt.”

I’m sorry, what? Do people even read the quotes they share in their articles before they start banging away on their keyboards? Allow me to take you back to the translation where Michkov said, “Training was not the same.”

Now, what does that mean? Does it mean training didn’t exist, or it did exist, but it… was not the same as usual?

In order for training to be “not the same”… it would have to be unlike his previous forms of training in nature, form, or quality. And therefore, training did occur.

And this gentleman writes it as if it’s some kind of “theory” to give Michkov “the benefit of the doubt.”

He’s not even the worst about it. At least he acknowledged reality, even as he portrayed it as some “theory.”

The worst offender of the night is the worst offender of most Flyers beat misfeasance and malfeasance, the ignominious Kevin Kurz.

I’m not going to link to his paywalled article. I’ll simply give you the offending passage, and you can thank me for not having to read Kurz’s embarrassing drivel any longer than absolutely necessary.

“Compellingly, Michkov, who led NHL rookies with 26 goals last season, acknowledged after the game that he could have handled his first NHL offseason differently. He essentially confirmed various reports that he just didn’t show up to training camp in good enough shape.”

Pro tip: when a reporter says a subject “essentially” or “basically” did something, it means that the subject did nothing of the kind and the reporter is a moron.

If he was out of shape, why on God’s green earth would he talk about “losing concentration” at the beginning of the season? Kevin, you got an answer for me, bud?

The question Matvei responded to, by the way, was “How are you feeling physically?”

So, this was an answer that he gave to elucidate on his physical condition. To which he said: Truly, he felt great physically. As rested as ever. More rested than he’d ever been, because training was different.

Essentially, “I felt great physically. Mentally, there were some problems.”

Not hitting the gym isn’t a mental problem that causes you to lose concentration, you baboon.

And the Athletic pays him a salary to cover a team for readers who pay them their own hard-earned money? Just so he can produce inane nonsense like this, and I can come on here and set the record straight for free. My payment comes primarily in the joy I derive from making fun of Kevin Kurz.

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Anyway, now that I’m done clubbing a few inglorious writers like they were baby seals, let’s talk about Michkov’s training and how it’s actually impacted his season. Because, yes, there’s an actual story here.

Let’s start this story at the end of last regular season. Michkov had just concluded his rookie season, and the number one thing that was obvious to everyone was that he needed to improve his explosiveness. From what we understand, this was the primary thing on a list that he provided to the front office himself, detailing the improvements he wanted to make.

Explosiveness isn’t developed on the ice. You can do some things to correct your stride, but the number one thing that develops explosiveness is work in the gym. There is no replacement for straight-up plyometrics.

So, Michkov did exactly what he said he was going to do and dedicated himself wholly to improving his explosiveness.

Now, that sounds great. But here’s the problem. Skill doesn’t just exist in a vacuum. Michkov was born with otherworldly talent, yes, but his skill exists because of tireless dedication to his craft. He doesn’t bobble pucks when others do. He explodes out of corners when others get pinned because he’s practiced every move off the wall a thousand times.

Nikita Kucherov famously almost doesn’t know what a gym is even now. If he’s not on vacation, he’s on the ice. Relentlessly. Perfecting every minute detail of the way he receives, settles, and handles pucks. Thousands and thousands of repetitions on the most granular concepts you could possibly imagine. So that, when he enters a game, it’s all second nature to him.

That was how Matvei Michkov treated his training until he was around 16. At 16, he recounted a story of embarrassing himself in a gym during his first KHL training camp for SKA. After that, he added off-ice workouts to his routine.

From 17 to last summer, he was working both on the ice and off the ice.

Michkov had his first season in the NHL, and he believed that he was in a good place as far as his skill level and his mental acumen, so he focused on the thing that everyone nags him about anyway.

Now, I’m sure he considered that he would need to return to the ice before training camp. My guess is that the injury people are talking about occurred sometime around the August date he set to return to the ice fully, maybe shortly after. And took him off the ice from August to training camp.

Meaning, he spent very little time on the ice before training camp at all. Which wasn’t a problem for him physically. He had been hitting the gym like a fiend. But it was a problem for him mentally.

I’ve already written extensively about Michkov’s real problems this season. They weren’t physical. Just like he was trying to say, before his translated words were misinterpreted by some beat reporters who managed to fail their IQ tests instead of receiving a number like everyone else on earth.

You can’t play yourself into NHL shape after 2 weeks. You can’t do what Michkov did if you’re out of shape.

But one of the most talented hockey players on earth can shake the rust off his puck skills in a couple of weeks, easily. And that’s what we’re seeing.

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