Flyers Matvei Michkov Goals Teenager NHL

Michkov’s Instagram likes take aim at Flyers Clown Culture

Just a couple of days ago, I wrote… ranted, really… about what I dubbed as the “Clown Culture” of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Flyers Clown Culture

Well, it wasn’t all mere venting of the spleen, as it turned out. In fact, it was all prophetic.

The Rangers game was the perfect manifestation of the Clown Culture, and Matvei Michkov has had enough of the circus.

Things first got interesting early on in the game when Michkov overstayed on a shift, and Travis Konecny was… not happy about it.

Now, in a vacuum, there’s nothing actually wrong with this. Someone voicing displeasure when their teammate makes a mistake is not necessarily the end of the world.

What I find abominable about this, specifically, is the gall of this teammate to bemoan this mistake. Listen, there are exactly two players on this roster who don’t have a leg to stand on vis a vis over-staying their shifts. Trevor Zegras and Travis Konecny.

At 5v5 specifically, Konecny and Michkov are actually tied with precisely 42 seconds as their average shift length.

For Travis Konecny… a shift-overstayer as much as Michkov is… to throw a hissy fit about Michkov’s shift length is just rich.

Worse still, to throw this hissy fit towards Michkov exclusively is downright disgusting. When is Trevor Zegras going to get this treatment?

Zegras is in a whole different stratosphere at 47 seconds. No full-time forward comes close to Zegras’ average shift length, and in fact, only Travis Sanheim matches him among all players… the Flyers’ number 1 defenseman.

Zegras has recorded 11 “extra-long” shits per NST. The brutal part of this is that NST doesn’t use a strict cut-off to define extra-long shifts. Their definition is two standard deviations from the average shift length.

Zegras’ average shift length is 47 seconds with a standard deviation of 21 seconds.

Therefore, Zegras’ extra-long shifts are measured at 89 seconds. Just under a minute and a half. And he’s done that 11 times in 18 games. He takes nearly a 90 second shift more than every other game… just at 5v5.

An extra-long shift for Michkov would be measured at 84 seconds. This is a bar he’s cleared 5 times all season.

And Konecny is really going to sit here and lecture me about Michkov’s shift lengths? Are we being serious?

Of course we aren’t. This is the Clown Culture, after all.

Worse still is Tocchet benched Michkov for a sizable chunk of the second period after this incident. That alone isn’t a problem. Players miss shifts as a disciplinary action all the time.

But to make this truly comedic?

Trevor Zegras, in that same period, took a shift longer than the shift that got Michkov stapled to the bench.

Somehow, this wasn’t even the only time Michkov was benched!

Michkov was one of three players–with Martone and Knuble–to be benched during the home stretch of the third period. This time, the young kids were told to sit down and watch how the vets hold a lead.

They don’t, of course. That’s their secret.

With those 3 kids sitting back and watching, the Exalted Vets allowed both the game-tying and game-winning goal in quick succession, and the Flyers were summarily smacked out of Madison Square Garden.

Michkov was devastated on his way out of the arena.

And his time spent as the good soldier in all of this seems to have met a natural end. Frankly, he overstayed the “selfless great teammate” routine longer than he overstayed any shift this season.

Michkov sent a message through the internet by liking two separate IG posts. The first took aim at Michkov’s usage in a specific game, as well as Martone’s, compared to someone like Christian Dvorak.

The second post was about how he’s the only person with double digit goals on the season who’s playing under 17 minutes a night (and he’s playing under 16, at that!)

Good. I hope this is just the start.

The part lost in all of this is that Michkov has been positively encouraged for over-staying shifts by both the coach and his teammates this season. That’s why he’s doing it!

Here, Tocchet calls it a “feel thing” when you choose to stay on your shifts.

Here, Tocchet commends Michkov for working on his conditioning and being able to handle longer shifts without dropping off.

This is only a little sample. It was a large team talking point because Michkov’s ice time from last year was blamed on… oh, what was it?

Right.

HIS SHIFT LENGTHS BEING TOO SHORT!

That was, I was told, a sign that he was outrageously fat or something.

So. Let me get this straight.

If Michkov takes short shifts, he can’t get more ice time because he’s a walrus playing ice hockey by happenstance and lacks the endurance.

But if Michkov takes long shifts, he’s a bad teammate and needs to have shifts taken away?

Yeah, that sounds about right for the Clown Culture.

Fire this guy. Fire Tocchet immediately. For God’s sake, (Flyers legend) Tony Escargot is getting $5K in a matter of hours to put together billboards and plane flyovers that call for the firing of Rick Tocchet.

Fire Tocchet before Michkov decides to go the way of Gauthier, Danny. Ah, who am I kidding? Comcast won’t allow that. That won’t happen.

Michkov will get what Michkov wants because they don’t want to deal with the PR or financial hits that come from losing someone like 39.

Instead, the person whose Flyers tenure is in danger here is Daniel Briere.

If you wait too long, Danny? You’ll be leaving with Tocchet.

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