No wonder Flyers fans are irrational about Matvei Michkov. Have you looked at this team’s draft history?
In the last 25 years, the Flyers haven't hit on many draft picks. They'd better hope they did with Michkov.
Because of the Winter Olympics, the Flyers won’t play again for another two-and-a-half weeks, not that anyone is all that broken up about their impending absence. They’ve been a lousy hang for a while, losing 12 of their last 15 games, falling out of the playoff picture, and drawing attention primarily for the six degrees of debate around Matvei Michkov’s playing time.
The Michkov issue has been fascinating and revealing. Everyone acknowledges that, after his often-impressive rookie season, he came into training camp out of shape. That reality has precipitated a months-long discussion about how he has played, when he has played, how much he has played, and whether coach Rick Tocchet might be mishandling him and sabotaging Michkov’s career before the kid has a chance to become the star the Flyers and their fans hope he will be.
Tocchet, general manager Danny Brière, and team president Keith Jones have made it clear that they are taking, or trying to take, the long view about Michkov’s development. They have also made it clear that they consider it valuable to put him through a kind of rite of passage, to compel him to learn and practice good habits on and off the ice.
One can make a case that such an approach is too old school, won’t be effective, and risks angering and alienating Michkov. That’s possible, I suppose, but it’s just as reasonable to think the Flyers’ methods are correct and will work.
» READ MORE: Flyers hit the Olympic break at a crossroads. Will they sell for the future or try to push for the playoffs?
There are plenty of 76ers fans and former members of the franchise, for example, who wish their team had treated Joel Embiid and other since-departed players with a firmer hand earlier in their careers.
It’s safe to say, though, that within at least a portion of the Flyers’ fan base, a measure of paranoia has arisen when it comes to Michkov and the organization’s handling of him.
Earlier this season, anodyne comments about him, by team captain Sean Couturier, were taken out of context and treated as a major controversy. Tocchet then offered a frank assessment of Michkov’s conditioning and performance during a recent interview with PHLY Sports. And while it wasn’t the smartest media-relations strategy for the head coach to criticize such an important player so brusquely, the reaction to Tocchet’s comments suggested that people were afraid Michkov would be so offended that he would catch the first flight to Little Diomede and hike the Bering Strait back to Putinland.
That fear is irrational, of course, and it’s easy to chalk it up to the longtime overzealousness of the Benevolent Order of the Orange and Black. But in this case, it’s understandable that those fans who have stuck with the Flyers over the last 15½ years — that’s how long it has been since that 2010 run to the Stanley Cup Final — would be a little on edge about Michkov. Even more than a little.
All anyone has to do is look at the Flyers’ draft history over the last quarter century to understand why their fans want Michkov treated like a prince and shielded from any emotional boo-boos. Because that history is … ugh.
Let’s start with 2001. The Flyers’ first-round pick that year, defenseman Jeff Woywitka, played 278 NHL games in his career, none with the Flyers. Their third-round pick, Patrick Sharp, turned out to be a terrific player … after they traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks.
With the fourth-overall pick in 2002, the Flyers took defenseman Joni Pitkänen. Eh. Their subsequent six picks in that draft played a combined total of one game in the NHL.
The 2003 draft was a red-letter one: Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in the first round. After those two, the Flyers took nine other players. Alexandre Picard, a third-round defenseman, turned out to be the best of the bunch.
If, in 2004, the Flyers were actually trying to tank the draft, no one could tell. They picked 11 players who appeared in a total of 23 NHL games.
» READ MORE: Flyers GM Danny Brière addresses Rick Tocchet’s recent comments on Matvei Michkov: ‘They have a good relationship.’
Over the ‘05 and ‘06 drafts, they selected 16 players, two of whom had lengthy NHL careers: Claude Giroux and … Steve Downie.
For three straight drafts, 2008 through 2010, the Flyers picked 17 players. Just nine made it to the NHL and two others played only one game. The player who played the most games for them was Zac Rinaldo.
The Flyers took Couturier with the No. 8 overall pick in 2011. Excellent. They found Nick Cousins in the third round. OK. None of their other four picks that year played for them.
From 2012 to 2014, the Flyers drafted Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, Shayne Gostisbehere, Anthony Stolarz, Oskar Lindblom, and Robert Hägg. They did not draft anyone who could reasonably be called a star.
When the Flyers took Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny in the first round, 2015 looked like a draft they could take pride in. But Provorov’s gone, and goalies Felix Sandström and Ivan Fedotov couldn’t cut it.
Two words about the 2016 draft: German Rubtsov. Two more words: Carter Hart.
With the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft, the Flyers selected Nolan Patrick. There are no words for how that decision turned out. But hey, Noah Cates!
The Flyers’ crown jewels from the 2018 draft were Joel Farabee and Sam Ersson.
In 2019 and 2020, the Flyers got Cam York (cool), Tyson Foerster (promising but injured), Bobby Brink (we’ll see), and Emil Andrae (don’t you need more from a second-rounder by now?).
So far, the Flyers’ best pick in the 2021 draft has been Aleksei Kolosov. Which tells you all you need to know about the Flyers’ 2021 draft.
We’re up to 2022. The Cutter Gauthier draft. Best to move on quickly and quietly …
The Jones-Brière regime has overseen the 2023-25 drafts, and yes, it’s early yet to judge the results, and yes, the Flyers were bold in ’23 in taking Michkov. But it’s worth noting that, of the 26 players the Flyers picked over those three years, just three have suited up for them so far: Michkov, Denver Barkey, and Jett Luchanko.
It’s not just that the Flyers have had opportunities to mine the draft for elite talent and failed. It’s that they haven’t even stumbled into a late-round pick or two who ended up becoming cornerstones.
A team that does not draft well cannot win. The Flyers have been proving that maxim true for a long time. No wonder their fans are so protective of the one player who represents even a glimmer of possible greatness.