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The Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler Argument is the Perfect Snapshot of Contrasting Flyers Philosophies
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The Flyers won in Vancouver on Monday night, but the big story on Action News was Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler arguing on the bench:
Fans seemed to have sussed this out. They think the spat comes from a sequence in which Michkov circled the ice in the offensive zone and didn’t pass the puck to Seeler, but fired a shot instead:
What’s interesting is that we’ve seen Michkov score that goal before. He scored it this year. Can’t remember off the top of my head what game it was, but he just circled to the high slot and threw the puck on net and it went through traffic and beat the goaltender.
This time, there are two bodies screening, but nobody in front of the net, so it’s much less likely to come off. Leevi Meriläinen makes a pretty easy save and then Porter Martone falls down trying to retrieve the puck, which leads to a 3v2 going the other way. Seeler is back with David Jiricek, but Michkov does a good job hustling back himself and prevents the chance. The Flyers go right back up the ice and create a great chance of their own, but can’t convert.
The safer option is to slide the puck to Seeler, who probably isn’t going to snipe the goaltender from that angle. The guy has 15 goals in almost 500 NHL games. He’s likely going to just keep possession in the offensive zone and swing it around and look for a less-risky play, a play that doesn’t result in a 3v2 coming the other way to create a bit of a hectic and open-ended sequence.
Curiously, the entire multi-year Michkov saga is summed up pretty nicely in this video clip. His entire game is higher risk, but higher reward. In this case, he tries something that maybe he shouldn’t try, which creates a bit of a fire defensively, but the Flyers put out that fire and then come up the ice and get another really good look of their own. It’s a little more dangerous, but makes for more exciting hockey at the same time.
So the question is whether or not you’re willing to live with this. Michkov is one of the few guys who can create anything on this team. You saw his lovely assist on the Travis Konecny power play goal. Are you willing to let a young player try riskier and more creative shit if it means you might have to put out the resulting fires? Michkov supporters would say yes, they’d like to see more of that and less conservative, low-event Rick Tocchet hockey. The old-school types think he’s irresponsible and selfish and not playing the game the right way. Whatever you believe, we can all agree that Michkov lives on the far end of this philosophical spectrum and Seeler is diametrically opposed.
Otherwise, we’d just chalk this up to two competitive guys having a healthy argument on the bench, but we know it’s bigger than that. It’s a referendum on style, identity, and putting a square peg type of offensive player into the Flyers’ round hole.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com