Matvei Michkov Continues To Be The Most Disrespected Superstar In Hockey By His Own Team
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.The Flyers are the biggest joke in hockey this year. The team is atrocious on the ice, and somehow they are an even bigger disaster off the ice. The locker room is so divided, and the toxicity has broken containment. It has now managed to spill its way out onto the ice last night after Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler got into a "heated exchange" on the bench.
So before we even talk about this argument, let's just make it clear that Matvei Michkov has been the singular bright spot for the Flyers this year. He had a tough go last season, but managed to use everything that happened last year as motivation to really elevate his game this year. He got himself into tremendous shape, he's quicker and lighter on his feet which is allowing him to play with much more confidence, he's winning puck battles, and even his defensive game has taken a step in the right direction. Matvei Michkov has done everything the coaches and his team asked of him from last season.
How has he been rewarded? The coach still hates him and refuses to play him more than 15 minutes every night. And because of the coach's outward disdain for Michkov, it has enabled fucking donkeys like Nick Seeler to openly shit on Michkov to the media.
Let's get this straight right now. Nick Seeler is a bottom pair defenseman on the worst team in hockey. Nick Seeler would be watching every single game from the press box in a suit if he was playing for 25 other teams around the league. There is literally only one thing Nick Seeler is good at, and that is blocking shots. So the fact that he feels like he can say ANYTHING about guys who put points up on the board is ridiculous. Newsflash, buddy: You need to score goals to win hockey games.
Everybody on the team has a role and a job to do. Not everybody's role or job is the same. Nick Seeler needs to shut the fuck up and block shots. That's his job. He needs to do that to the best of his ability. But if the Flyers want to win hockey games, then that means Matvei Michkov needs to put some numbers up on the boards. All Michkov cares about is winning hockey games. And he knows the Flyers' have their best chance at winning hockey games when he is making plays out there. Which means he's not going to give the puck to Nick Seeler, who can't do anything when the puck is on his stick besides spazz out.
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This is the play that seemed to have sparked the "debate" on the bench between Michkov and Seeler. Michkov is so dangerous when he's wheeling the puck around the top of the zone like that. We've seen him completely dance Makar just like this earlier in the season. He gets the hips activated, his eyes are up, and he's constantly looking for a high danger chance. Nothing was available on this particular play, but there was still going to be 10x more options available here with the puck on Michkov's stick than if he gave it up to Nick Seeler's donkey ass.
Guys argue. It's a competitive sport being played at the highest level. You want to see that level of passion out of the guys. More often than not, these moments are just "heat of the moment" competitive juices flowing. But when there's all the context behind it, and the fact that Nick Seeler clearly has some level of resentment towards Michkov? Well that's when it becomes a little more. That's when there's actually something toxic going on here. And the worst part of all?
There were only 2 guys stepping in there to try to diffuse the situation. 20-year-old Porter Martone, and Noel Acciari.
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Martone is just a kid, and Acciari was just signed as a free agent this past summer. Nobody with a letter on their sweater decided to do anything here. Sean Couturier was sitting just as far away from Michkov as Martone was here, and he didn't do anything. Because he's just as much a part of the problem as Seeler is.
It's the head coach and these vets who are only out to protect themselves. There is either jealousy, resentment, or fear that Matvei Michkov is making them all expendable right now. It's the full Rick Tocchet experience. All I know is that if it weren't for Matvei Michkov, this team might have 1 win right now. I mean the only reason why Travis Konecny got himself on the board last night was because Michkov double shifted and stayed out on the ice with the 2nd PP unit.
If Michkov goes off for a line change there like everyone wants him to, then nobody out on the ice is making that play. The Flyers end up losing that game 2-1. But he's the only guy capable of doing something like that on this team, and there are people in the locker room who hate him for it. It's so, so weird.
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