Michkov and Seeler Yell on Flyers Bench; Insights and Opinion

If you were watching the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast of the Flyers vs. Canucks game, or happened to be scrolling social media during or after, you probably saw forward Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler get into it on the bench.

Just watching the video, it can be easy to draw conclusions that this is a very bad thing for the Flyers, who earned their 5th win of the season in their 20th game. It can be a sign of a damaged culture, especially when these things happen in front of cameras rather than behind closed doors.

This can be true. However, digging a little deeper than the surface level, it can be a good thing for the Flyers.

One word that gets thrown around in hockey a ton is accountability. Whether that’s on the ice, off the ice, on the bench, or in the room, players and coaches constantly use the cliché, “hold each other accountable.”

Certainly, there are methods of doing so with better optics than an in-front-of-camera confrontation. However, no matter how it’s done, it’s the same point: hold each other accountable.

Seeler and Michkov, especially, looked to be very spirited during the exchange. That shows the levels of passion and emotion that the two have. When a team is struggling this early in the season the way the Flyers are, you don’t want players who don’t care about mistakes leading the charge. You want players who will get emotional and want the better outcome.

Above anything else, it shows that the two players care.

We don’t know exactly what it was about. It was not mentioned postgame. I don’t want to assume what it was about, either.

However, what’s clear is that they would not be that heated if both players did not want to win. At the end of the day, that’s what these sorts of confrontations are about: winning. Both Michkov and Seeler want to win.

Seeler used to get into the same type of arguments with former head coach John Tortorella on the bench. Tortorella did not see it as a sign of disrespect. Rather, it’s hockey and wanting to win.

“We have those once a game. We’re discussing hockey plays, and we’re certainly not going to tell you what we’re talking about. But that’s all part of it… All it is is two men who care about what’s going on on the ice. I love that guy, and that stuff is good for us,” said Tortorella.

Another element of the exchange, which may go unnoticed, is what Porter Martone does. The Flyers’ rookie showed veteran leadership, making it a point to come over to Michkov on the bench. Martone got in the middle of the two to try to calm things down.

That showed leadership.

Was there a better way to go about it? Absolutely. But the exchange between Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler showed that they want to win games. The Flyers need that kind of fire.

Read More: Flyers Postgame Blog: Finally Found A Win, Still Reverted to the Same Costly Mistakes

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