Nov 30, 2024; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Philadelphia Flyers right wing Owen Tippett (74) is congratulated by right wing Matvei Michkov (39) after scoring against the St. Louis Blues during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Nicknames in sports are often repeated over time. Multiple guys get called by the same moniker, and it's OK. And sometimes, they transcend the individual sport and leak into another.
Hell, in Philadelphia it was OK that after a legend like Julius Erving, was called "Doctor J" or "Doc" for short, that another "Doc" would come along and thrill the masses in town. And no, I'm not referring to Glenn Rivers, but rather Roy Halladay.
And Steve Carlton wasn't the only "Lefty" in baseball history, nor was Greg Luzinski the only "Bull," or Craig Berube the only "Chief."
You get my point.
Which is why it's time to fully embrace another repeat nickname, because there's a guy doing things that have never been done in his sport, and he's one of Philadelphia's own.
Enter Matvei Michkov, who, for the third time already in his rookie season, scored a game-winning, overtime goal for the Flyers on Saturday, beating the St. Louis Blues 3-2. It was the fourth win in the last five games for Philadelphia. They have points in all five and closed November on an 8-2-2 run that has them in the final Eastern Conference playoff spot as the calendar flips to December, just 30 percent of the way through the season.
We've been here before. This version of the Flyers is playing a lot like last year's version of the Flyers, with one difference - a generational teenager that has a starving hockey fanbase on tilt.
Matvei Michkov with his 3rd career OT winning goal. He becomes just the 4th teenager in NHL history to have 3 OT winning goals, joining Ilya Kovalchuk, Rick Nash and Sidney Crosby pic.twitter.com/L6oVUvU7DE
— Andrew Henry (@internandrew) December 1, 2024
That stat in the tweet above was a great pull by Snow The Goalie's Intern Andrew Henry earlier this week. And he basically spoke it into existence, as it happened Saturday in just Michkov's 23rd career game.
Let's put that into perspective for a minute.
He's only the fourth teenager in NHL history to have three overtime-game winners. And he did it in 23 games. How long did it take the other guys?
That's saying something. Michkov has a flare for the dramatic. No moment is too big for him. The kids today like to say that's a "slow heartbeat." My generation used to say that a player who excelled in those moments had "ice water in their veins."
And it's how the nickname Michkov should be embraced with was first given out to another athlete who never played in Philadelphia professionally, but he was from the area.
Matt Ryan was a quarterback at William Penn Charter High School before going to Boston College, and eventually being drafted by the Atlanta Falcons where he was named MVP of the NFL in 2016. Ryan had a propensity for being clutch in big moments late in games and leading come-from-behind or game-winning drives in the final minutes, earning him the nickname "Matty Ice."
It was apropos. But, if ever there was a sport that needed someone to have "ice" be part of their nickname, it was hockey. And if we're going to award it to someone, it should be someone with a knack for scoring in those big moments - like Ryan.
Enter a Russian teenager with a name similar to Matt but just different enough.
I can't take credit for this. This was actually the idea of my former colleague Kyle Pagan over at Crossing Broad. He had the idea when they drafted him. Not that everyone thought it was a good idea at the time.
Matt Ryan is Matty Ice.
Let's not call Matvei Michkov that please. Like do what you want, but also, let's maybe do better? Idk
I didn't think much of it because, well, there was no track record for Michkov being clutch late in games. It was just Pagan being goofy and trying to find a way to Americanize and not have to remember how to pronounce Matvei and just adding the ice part because, well, hockey.
But now it fits.
And it fits even better on a team that has very little else to hang its hat on offensively. Oh, sure, Travis Konecny is making all the people who thought his contract extension was too long or too much money eat some crow right now. He has 21 points in his last 13 games and leads the NHL in scoring since Nov. 5. He picked up an assist on Michkov's game-winner.
But aside from that, the goals have been sparse.
Yet the Flyers are winning because they are relying on positionally sound defense, strong checking through the neutral zone, and in what has been the most pleasant surprise, excellent goaltending from a couple of guys who were never thought of as more than backup possibilities this season - Ivan Fedotov and Aleksei Kolosov.
Despite really rough starts to their seasons in their first handful of appearances combined that makes their overall numbers look subpar, both goalies were very good in November and have alternated starts and helped the Flyers soar up the standings while Sam Ersson recovers a little more cautiously from a groin injury.
And it's in those two areas - defense and goaltending - that the Flyers have excelled, but it's also those two areas that the Flyers brass are going to have to make some tough decisions and soon.
Let's look at each individually:
There is only one goal crease for a team in a hockey game. As such, only one guy can play in goal at any one time. It's why for the majority of the history of the sport of hockey, teams only carried two goalies on their roster. There is little reason for more. Having a third goalie means one isn't in uniform for each game, and practice gets disjointed because there are only two nets on a rink, so there has to be a rotation and no one guy feels like they're getting enough reps. Never mind the fact that there are only so many roster spots, and teams would rather carry an extra skater than a third goalie.
But the Flyers are in a unique spot.
They have two backups playing very well and a starter who has been out for a month but is close to returning. Kolosov was especially strong in Saturday's win.
Kolosov’s putting on a show pic.twitter.com/I8FHleJ3QV
The conventional wisdom would be that once Ersson is ready to come back, you send Kolosov back to the AHL since he is waiver-exempt and continue on.
The Flyers won't do that though.
They have their reasons. Some make sense - like they want to be really careful with Ersson's groin and not overwork him, so for a while maybe carry three guys and keep them all getting starts to manage Ersson's usage a bit.
Other reasons, however, are a bit more head-scratching. It's been well-documented that Kolosov does not want to play in the AHL and would prefer to go home and play in the KHL on loan if he's not in the NHL. And there is a valid argument to be made that the Flyers shouldn't let a young player dictate his terms as to where he will and will not play. Are they a little gun shy after what happened last year with Cutter Gauthier? Maybe. But is this special treatment for Kolosov viewed as unfair by the other prospects who are toiling in the minors waiting for their shot at the NHL? Yes.
There was an argument before his stretch of good play that the Flyers could have solved this by first sending Fedotov out on a conditioning assignment for a couple weeks, punting a goalie decision down the road, and then if they needed to, trying to sneak him through waivers with the hope that after a brutal start and with a hefty contract, that no one would claim him and he could go play for the Phantoms.
That's no longer viable. Fedotov's good play combined with some teams' desperate need for goaltending has the Flyers feeling like he'd never clear waivers and they don't want to lose him for nothing.
So, it's a conundrum for GM Danny Briere. And one where he might have to bite the bullet and do something unconventional with his roster - and carry three goalies for a while.
The Flyers had three defensemen injured recently. Cam York, Emil Andrae and Jaime Drysdale were all out of the lineup. In a pinch, the Flyers used an emergency recall to get a look at Helge Grans. He stepped in and immediately looked like an NHL-caliber defenseman. Sometimes, defensemen play better in the NHL than they did in the minors because there is better structure at the NHL level. Teammates are going to be where they are supposed to be more often than not.
In the AHL it's often a crapshoot as guys are trying to get noticed to get the call to go to the big club and sometimes will gamble a bit in hopes of making a big play. That happens far less in the NHL, so defensemen sometimes look a lot better.
Grans has done nothing but impress. He even passed Egor Zamula on the depth chart and was playing while Zamula was a healthy scratch as the No. 7 defenseman, although Grans was given a game off on Saturday as Zamula drew back in against the Blues. Before Saturday, Grans played with both York and Andrae returning from their injuries. Erik Johnson has been the other extra guy. But Drysdale remains on I.R.
And that's the most curious situation.
When Drysdale was originally put on IR a few weeks ago, I was told that his injury is minor and that it's one he likely would have played through had the team been in a battle for a postseason spot or it were the playoffs. And yet, here we are, in December now, and he's still not back.
Drysdale wasn't playing well before his injury and now there's not a spot for him in the lineup with the guys the Flyers have playing operating on all cylinders. It's hard to imagine John Tortorella going back to him unless there's another injury, someone's play starts to drop off precipitously, or there is a trade.
But he can't stay on I.R. forever. People are going to start asking questions. Briere has kicked this can about as far down the road as he can. Soon, he's going to have to make a decision. Drysdale can also go out on a conditioning assignment, and that might buy Briere a little time, but he's going to have to come back at some point. It just seems like Briere is waiting for another shoe to drop - maybe another injury or something - before he does.
Briere wasn't with the team in St, Louis on Saturday. Instead, he made the trip to watch Lehigh Valley play Laval in the AHL. I'm told he wanted to check in on Anthony Richard, who was recently sent down, and also see Samu Tuomaala, who has been playing well for the Phantoms. They rallied to beat the Canadiens farm team. Richard had a goal. Tuomaala had a primary assist on another goal.
Richard wanted everybody to know he’s BACK. 😤#LVvsLAV | #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/Yag15Z7TRl
It's no secret that Torts liked Richard's play when he was with the Flyers and feels he can help their sometimes-stagnant offense. Tuomaala might also be able to provide some scoring depth as other forwards have been struggling to find the back of the net.
If the Flyers are considering giving these guys a shot, something has to give. A player needs to be waived or moved. Briere is talking to every GM in the league. He was weighing options on several players. Rasmus Ristolainen is a top target by other teams. Joel Farabee and Bobby Brink have been asked about. Scott Laughton's name constantly comes up as the trade deadline gets closer and closer. Briere is going to be active. He likes where this team is developing in several areas, but it is sorely lacking centers at the moment and that needs to change.
So, what to do?
There have been meetings recently among the Flyers brass to decide how they want to go about this. How much change to a close-knit locker room do they really want to make? Extracting a guy or two makes sense, but which ones? If they do more than that, will it completely upset the apple cart?
There are players knocking on the door. There are other close to being pushed out. But who will be the first shoe to drop? And when? If I'm a betting man I think it's Morgan Frost and at this point I'm thinking it might happen before the new year, but I'm speculating there.
Briere recognizes that he needs to give this team some runway now because they have positioned themselves in a good spot for the time being, but that doesn't mean he's taking his eye off the targeted timeline. It's not go-time yet for the Flyers. But Briere knows that he needs to let the team's play dictate when the difficult decisions have to be made. And some could be coming sooner than others.
