Matvei Michkov is our guy. A player with his level of skill has not been a member of the Philadelphia Flyers in a very long time, if ever. And through the first 11 games, we have seen a whole lot of Michkov. Goals, assists, setting up scoring chances, him getting into pushing matches with players after the whistle — a whole lot.
And one of those things is a couple attempts at scoring a Michigan goal. Well, that just absolutely pissed off some broadcasters and namely, former Flyer, Scott Hartnell.
With the Flyers up 1-0 while visiting the Boston Bruins, the 19-year-old tried a full-speed attempt at scoring the lacrosse goal. It ended up getting blocked by goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, but it was a scoring chance nevertheless. Well, Hartnell (and company), had a massive issue with him trying something creative.
“I don’t even want to comment on it, but I will,” Hartnell said after the game (which the Flyers won 2-0). “Just, stupid is the right word, maybe? … There’s a time and place to do that.”
The former grinder went on and continued to make Michkov’s Michigan attempt to seem like it was a selfish act on the ice. As Hartnell puts it, an “oh-look-at-me play.” And while it does take individual skill to pull something like this off, it shouldn’t be labeled as an overall self-centered hockey play. Because if you truly look at what the defensive coverage was like during that attempt in Boston, the Bruins were playing the pass in front. Both defenders on either side of the net, in-close and tight to the posts to protect the net and prevent anything sent out in front. So, from what we can see, it was Michkov seeing that he had space and a goaltender that wasn’t having a very good time to make that direct scoring chance.
Could he have rifled the puck up back to the point? Sure. But the likelihood of a scoring chance that was created from doing that, going into the back of the net is probably the same or lower than a Michigan attempt. It forced a save, after all.
And if that was it, we could just scoff it off as a former NHLer not really liking all the high-end and modern skill plays. After all, Hartnell could certainly not come close to doing that during his playing days.
But the former player continued. On Thursday, before the game against the St. Louis Blues, Hartnell decided to make up some sort of narrative regarding Michkov. He mentioned during the pre-game broadcast, that the 19-year-old needs to go to the dirty areas of the ice more and get around the net. That feels like just something so bogus we have to point it out. It feels a little bit like bullying at this point, but c’mon dude; you watch the games and you saw exactly how Michkov scored his first NHL goal — the greasiest goal ever because he was hounding the net and attacking it harder than anyone on the ice.
That’s just making stuff up! It’s buying into, and maybe getting the more casual fans onboard, this theory about non-North American players being soft and playing at the perimeter. Maybe if his name was Matthew McItchoff instead, we would see people praise him for being a hard-nosed winger that has all the talent in the world. Instead, we’re getting all this nonsense about the type of player that he is.
And sometimes, Michkov does warrant a talking to and a little bit of criticism. We won’t just disregard everything else; the 19-year-old had a bad giveaway on Thursday that led to a scoring chance against and he was promptly benched for a few cycles of shifts during the first period. And, as ready as ever, Hartnell took this opportunity and ran with it, really pointing out the giveaway and resulting benching. Which is fair, especially when not a whole lot else is going on in the game, but it does feel a little bit magnified when it comes to the rookie.
And maybe the weirdest part of it all is that other than some contributions from Hartnell’s NBC Sports colleagues, he appears to be the only one this critical about Michkov’s play so far. Yes, some other people are open to having a discussion that in the last few games, the rookie has not looked as impactful as the start of the season. But they softly add the context that it’s hard to get used to the NHL schedule and fatigue could be an issue — this isn’t some sort of overall sweeping statement that he’s making selfish plays out there on the ice. It just feels strange.
We do understand that there is hype around this player like none other, so every little play gets scrunitized and dissected into a million different pieces. But sometimes (most of the time), you just have to sit back and enjoy the fact that there is a player willing to try to score a Michigan goal that plays for the Philadelphia Flyers. And, he isn’t a perimeter player at all and will go to the classic, dirty areas on the ice. It seems like a dream but it’s a reality and some people just want to chop him down.
