Flyers beat writers split on Michkov and Seeler clash

Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler's bench confrontation in Vancouver is still the talk of the Flyers world this morning.

Our earlier piece on the Michkov bench moment covered the heated exchange itself. What matters now is how it's being read.

Flyers beat writers are split. Some see two competitors holding each other accountable. Others see a symptom of a poor culture on a team that sits 27th in the NHL at 5-10-5.

BroadStHockey described the exchange as a nasty confrontation on the Flyers bench.

Sommermann read it as a sign the fight is still in the room. He pointed out that Noel Acciari tried to defuse it early by grabbing Michkov's arm, Noah Cates tapped his leg, and Porter Martone put an arm around him and stepped between the two.

SGNolan wants nobody to make a big deal of it. He called it part of the game, said Seeler of all people can appreciate the fire Michkov shows because it shows he cares, and said it's not a clip to overdramatize.

The backdrop is a 3-1 win the Flyers had to hang on for. Joel Paterson noted the Canucks outshot them 16-15 in a shaky third period, and Michkov was named first star with an assist.

Seeler, for his part, is a +3 with 6 assists this season. This is not a player known for losing his cool on the bench.

Is this passion or a culture problem?

Kurz thinks it's the second one. He has covered bad teams before, and he wrote that a ref once told him he had never seen a team bicker on the bench as much as the 2019-20 Sharks. Then came his point: the Flyers have now done it twice in three games.

One heated exchange is normal. Hockey players who care yell at each other. But repeated flare-ups on a team with a -21 goal differential carry a different weight than they would on a team that's winning, and the Flyers aren't.

Michkov has 10 goals in 20 games and is the player fans keep asking Rick Tocchet to use more, as we looked at in Matvei Michkov's ice time debate. A young scorer and a 33-year-old defenseman arguing on the bench is not shocking. Leaving it unexplained is what feeds the story.

Andrew Knoll noted that nobody asked Tocchet about the Michkov-Seeler exchange in his postgame press conference. Neither player has publicly explained what it was about.

Next up is Wednesday at Edmonton against an Oilers team sitting 2nd in the NHL. We will keep tabs on whether either player or the coach addresses it before then.

Quick hits

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