The Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night, but the story coming out of the game was the heated exchange between Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler. Despite breaking their three-game losing streak, the Flyers still showed plenty of cracks in the argument between the two players, which didn't paint either of them in a positive light.
Here's a wide angle of the Matvei Michkov and Nick Seeler heated exchange. #Flyers pic.twitter.com/wlUPHiIa94
— Flyers Nation (@FlyersNation) November 10, 2026
At the time, it was hard to tell what the argument was about. However, after reviewing the tape, Steve Peters uncovered the potential breaking point, where Michkov looked off a streaking Seeler in the offensive zone to take his own shot at the net.
Does Nick Seeler think he is Cale Makar?
Seeler getting mad at the offensive star in this scenario is laughable. In nine seasons and 473 games, Seeler has 15 goals and 63 assists. He has no goals in 20 games this season. Michkov has 10 goals this year and 56 goals in 181 career games.
Seeler's route down the wall to give Michkov a passing lane would've put any scorer in a less-than-ideal position to score, much less one who has just 15 goals in 473 games. Alternatively, Michkov was walking between the dot lanes, and while the shot didn't really test the goalie, it was still in a better position than Seeler ever would've been in.
It's possible the Russian's teammates are getting tired of other aspects of Michkov's game or the controversy surrounding him, and this was the breaking point. However, without context, Seeler doesn't look like the best teammate from this play alone.
Matvei Michkov probably could've handled it better
Michkov still has some growing up to do, both on and off the ice. He might've been as shocked as I was that Seeler thought he should be the one to get the puck here, but he's got to do a better job of expressing his frustrations than throwing around water bottles and looking like he was ready to fight his teammate.
Arguments like this happen all the time between teammates, but they aren't blown out of proportion because they are handled better than this. The forward has to be better, especially with the microscope that he is under.
One of the first things the Flyers have to do is figure out all of this drama around Michkov. Is this another sign of Rick Tocchet losing the locker room, or is this all on the players? History suggests that when a team makes something like this the main storyline after a win, it doesn't bode well for the season's outlook.
Add us as a preferred source on Google