Flyers fan takes Rick Tocchet backlash to another level amid Matvei Michkov controversy
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
A Philadelphia billboard urges the Flyers to fire Rick Tocchet and save Matvei Michkov, as trade talk and a slow start keep the winger in the spotlight.
A red digital billboard in Philadelphia is turning up the heat on the Flyers, and it is aimed squarely at the bench.
The message calls for Rick Tocchet to be fired and for Matvei Michkov to be saved, and it is credited to a fan who goes by Tony Escargot.
Escargot is the same fan behind a fundraiser for a Fire Tocchet plane banner planned over the arena before the Nov. 27 home game against the Vancouver Canucks, which reportedly raised about $2,000 in under an hour.
A Slow Start and a Michkov Storm
The frustration has a clear backdrop.
The Flyers entered Wednesday at 5-10-5 and then lost 3-2 in Edmonton, a rough follow-up to last season, when they made the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Michkov has 10 goals and four assists in 20 games in the final year of his entry-level contract, yet this week brought a report that he is open to a fresh start, plus a bench argument with Nick Seeler.
Tocchet called the report untrue, Michkov said he is happy in Philadelphia, and both he and Seeler say the argument is behind them.
What the Sign Does and Does Not Mean
Insider Chris Johnston says no formal trade request has been made and the Flyers are not looking to move a 21-year-old scoring at half a goal per game.
Any deal, he said, would need to bring back a prize centre.
That matters because the friction is not new.
Tocchet publicly questioned Michkov's conditioning last season, and general manager Daniel Briere answered by saying the winger was not going anywhere.
With the contract expiring, his next deal becomes a major offseason question.
The billboard is fan sentiment, not team news, and the photo of it has been spreading among Flyers followers.
Nothing on the sign changes the standings, so the Flyers' response will come on the ice, starting Saturday in Columbus.
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