Even for players like Philadelphia Flyers star Matvei Michkov, making your first NHL appearance can be a little frazzling.
Michkov, 20, made his NHL debut on Oct. 11, playing against Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, and reining Jack Adams Award winner (and his new head coach) Rick Tocchet.
Things didn't go the Canucks' way last season, of course, but it's always a challenge going up against guys like that.
In a recent interview with ЛЁД (Translated: Ice) Special, Michkov reflected on his first regular season game with the Flyers, offering up some comedic but very real insights on his experience.
When I went out against Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, it was like I was playing on a PlayStation. The players were skating around me, my head was spinning, I didn't understand where I was at all, even the light was falling on the rink differently, everything was different," Michkov recounted. "I was under the impression when I was still doing the rookie lap. I thought, 'Damn, where did I end up?' It was such a pleasant excitement."
Michkov ultimately played 18:32, third amongst all Flyers forwards, recording four shots on goal, taking a hooking penalty in the first period, and drawing a tripping penalty from Filip Hronek in the second period.
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Michkov ultimately missed his first NHL shootout attempt, but that ended up being insignificant. Now-traded center Morgan Frost got the job done with the 10th total attempt in the shootout.
"The game started, the first period was a bit shaky, but the second and third periods were more or less played. They even trusted me to shoot the penalty shot, though I didn't score, but it gave me even more of a push and motivation for the next game to concentrate and really start scoring and passing, helping the team," added Michkov.
Ultimately, the Russian phenom finished his rookie season by leading all rookies in goals (26), while tying Macklin Celebrini for the second-most points amongst the newcomers (63).
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Of course, Michkov missed out on a unanimous selection to the NHL All-Rookie Team by one point, while fellow rookies Dustin Wolf, Lane Hutson, and Celebrini were all unanimous picks.
That's neither here nor there now, though. Michkov showed obvious signs of growth throughout the season, and now we have a point of reference for where he was at mentally at the beginning of the year.
All signs point to the 2025-26 season being even better for Michkov and the Flyers.