Don't Look Now But Matvei Michkov Has Been The Best Player Since Mario Lemieux After Torts Got Fired. Makes You Think
The 2024-25 Philadelphia Flyers could certainly be looked at as a success. This team was never supposed to contend for a playoff spot. They overachieved in 2023-24, and this year was all about doing some demo on the current team so they could renovate the roster to build around Matvei Michkov. They traded away guys like Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, and Scott Laughton. They've completely dropped out of the playoff picture. But the one thing they didn't account for...
The Flyers are about to go on a goddamn tear to finish out the regular season now that Matvei Michkov has become unchained.
To be fair, this heater he's been on started well before Torts got fired. He has 24 points in his last 21 games, and leads the league in 5v5 points since February 6. But in just his last 3 games alone since Brad Shaw took over behind the bench, he has 4 goals and 3 assists. That would put him on pace for 191 points through an entire season without Torts benching him every time he leaves the defensive zone just a little too early.
There's only one player in NHL history who has had a 200+ point season, and he did it 4 times. I'll let you take a wild guess who that was. But Mario Lemieux came close in 1988-89 after scoring 199 points in 76 games. I don't want to get too ahead of myself here and say that 3 games instantly makes Michkov the next Gretzky. But I don't think I'm too out of line here to say he's without a singular doubt the next Mario Lemieux. He'll win a couple of Cups in Philly, be one of the all-time greats, and finish out his career as a player/owner of the Flyers.
It just sucks that he's currently playing the Flyers out of a chance of getting a top 3 pick in the draft this summer. 3 straight wins for a team who could really use all the losses they could get right now to keep pace with the true sacks of shit like San Jose, Chicago and Nashville.
P.S. -- Calder.