HERSHEY, PA — Matthew Phillips has had a rookie season to remember.
After two 30-plus goal campaigns with the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate, Phillips signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals over the offseason, and made the team out of training camp.
Phillips — one of the smallest players to ever make the NHL — scored his first NHL goal against the Calgary Flames and spent the first four months of the season in the NHL, suiting up in 26 games for the Caps. Once Washington got healthy, Phillips went on waivers in February but was claimed by the Pittsburgh Penguins. There, Phillips shared the ice with both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin; he even spent time in the locker room with Jaromir Jagr when the Penguins retired his number. After suiting up for three games with the Pens, Pittsburgh put Phillips back on waivers, allowing the Caps to reclaim him. He’s since bounced back and forth between DC and Hershey, appearing in two more games for the Capitals and playing in five for the Bears.
Phillips’ size and against-all-odds graduation to the NHL earned him a ridiculous pregame lift ritual. It also earned him the nickname Toothy, short for Toothpick, courtesy of Alex Ovechkin.
Recently, I sat down with Phillips in Hershey where he discussed his nickname, his whirlwind season, his time in Pittsburgh, and what he learned playing with both Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
The Washington Capitals recently published a video of you in the tunnel before a game. And Alex Ovechkin called you Toothpick. That’s amazing.
Matthew Phillips: Yeah, yeah. That’s been a thing all season. [smiling]
How did that come about?
Matthew Phillips: It started like right away. Everyone loves my sticks and how small they are. And then they kind of thought I was built like a toothpick too. So Ovi started it, and once he gets going there’s no stopping it sometimes. [laughing]
You recently were on the ice for TJ Oshie’s 1,000th game ceremony in DC, but were sent down to the Hershey Bears mid-game. I don’t think I recall that ever happening before.
Matthew Phillips: So what happened there was it was more of a paper thing that they had to do given my recall status. I think I was on emergency recall. So it didn’t really change anything for me. I was just there. I watched the game as just a scratch and didn’t come [to Hershey] until Monday. So it didn’t really change much for me.
Did you know before the game this was happening?
Matthew Phillips: Yeah, they gave me a heads up in the morning what the plan was. I think this time of year it gets a little bit tricky with some roster gymnastics.
What did you take away from the Oshie pregame ceremony?
Matthew Phillips: It was super cool. Osh is a guy who myself and everybody has a ton of respect for. You could kind of tell with the words that everyone had for him. It’s just a pleasure to learn from him and I idolized him growing up: such a cool player and he’s a great guy. He loves getting better every day. He loves his teammates. So, very well deserved and I know he had to work pretty hard and stay committed to stay healthy enough to reach that milestone, so it’s great.
The Capitals reclaimed you back from Pittsburgh at the same time Evgeny Kuznetsov was sent down to Hershey. Did you ever share the ice with him there?
Matthew Phillips: No, I missed him by a day.
Was that disappointing?
Matthew Phillips: [laughing] I mean, from everything I heard around here, he was great to be around and he had a great attitude for a couple days.
During your time in Pittsburgh, you skated on the same line as Evgeni Malkin, a future Hall of Famer, and shared a locker room with Jaromir Jagr. (Jagr practiced with the Penguins and participated in warmups the weekend his number 68 was retired by the team.)
Matthew Phillips: That whole Jagr weekend was really crazy. His retirement night was my first and second day in Pittsburgh, so there was definitely a lot going on. Pretty overwhelming first couple days, but at the same time it was really cool. They did a pretty incredible job with his ceremony and him coming on the ice for warm-ups and everything was something that I’ll always get to look back on. Pretty cool to be part of that.
You are one of a rare class of players that have played with both Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. I know this is a tired question, but what similarities or differences did you notice between them?
Matthew Phillips: I mean, that’s obviously been pretty well documented since they both got drafted. I think Sid is probably a little bit more of a serious guy when it when it comes to pregame stuff and all that. Ovi is more of a really high energy guy: just joking around, having a great time — but at the same time I see the similarities that they both are very passionate about their craft. They have a lot of confidence in how they can be one of the greatest players ever. So it’s pretty awesome, honestly. It was a short time for me in Pittsburgh, but not many people can say they did what I did this year — played with those two guys.
One of the captain’s responsibilities is welcoming a new player and making them feel comfortable.
Matthew Phillips: They obviously have different ways of doing it, but I would say both of them are extremely welcoming. Ovi’s more of a guy who brings you in with with jokes and just brings everyone together in that sense, and then Sid’s more of a ‘get to know you’ type thing.
How do you mean with Crosby?
Matthew Phillips: He’s a little more low-key, but a very very genuine, very personable guy. So I think it’s pretty cool they both have different ways of doing it, but they’re both captains for a reason and personally they both have made me felt very welcome.
How would you describe your 2023-24 season? You’ve experienced a bit of everything from making the NHL for the first time and playing with legends. You scored your first NHL goal and then put on waivers. A lot has happened.
Matthew Phillips: Well, it’s been something I probably couldn’t have predicted coming into this year, and there’s been some ups and there’s been some downs. There’s been a lot of uncertainty, I would say, and it’s obviously been — I’m very happy that I kind of made that jump and made it in the NHL out of camp and got my feet wet there.
It’s not easy being in and out of the lineup; any player would say that. And then the whole Pittsburgh stint for a little bit and then reclaimed. The last about month and a half has been a lot of craziness for me, but it’s just one of those things where sometimes you just have to kind of laugh and keep moving and just bring your best wherever you are.
Being here in Hershey I think is going to be really good for me. We have a really good group here and I’m happy to be here.
This is a broader question, but what do you think you need to work on to stay up full time in the NHL? Your process stats at five-on-five showed, at least in my opinion, that there’s something there.
Matthew Phillips: I think the big jump between the AHL and the NHL is just the time and space. The constant level of execution needs to be very high, and defenders are a lot smarter there. For me, skating is something that I’ve had to work on to make the jump from level to level, and I need to continue to do that. Honestly, it’s just the thing that you need to keep with it and keep playing with confidence, because I’ve seen lots of players at the NHL level — and here — where they come in at the right time and play with some confidence and and it propels them. So I think it’s just being patient with it. But at the same time, now that I’ve seen it firsthand and and I have confidence that I can be successful at that level, it’s just staying patient with it.
