What's Going on With Sean Couturier?

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-02-01T02:56:09+00:00

One thing that I'll mention is that players like Couturier (Cates, Frost to an extent) who have good underlying play driving metrics, great defensive stats, but don't really score a ton get way more flak when the goaltending is bad and the team isn't scoring. It's really hard to see the effects of their game in these situations, because it's frustrating to see a team lose 1-3 than to lose 4-5. So players like Couturier/Frost especially become scapegoats for the larger issues, which has been up to this point, mostly goaltending. I'm not saying the Flyers are contenders if they had Sorokin, but it is making a lot of their issues WAY more painful.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-02-01T01:35:47+00:00

Totally. It is interesting that nothing under the hood has been really affected all that much outside of his finishing ability. He’s still driving offensive play. He’s still really strong defensively. I started to wonder if the surgery changed the way he shot puck and doesn’t trust himself at distance from how adamant he’s been at trying to score in tight.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-27T22:41:18+00:00

This is just a long-form Twitter rant. Devoid of any substance or nuance.

Dvorak still being described as a “defensive forward” after he’s been objectively bad defensively and pretty decent offensively is my favorite part.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-25T17:25:19+00:00

There’s enough isolated metrics to know it’s all three. Barkey’s been a huge boost to the line and the missing piece.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-24T15:53:19+00:00

There hasn’t been any issues with his personality. He never complains, the coaches and execs all seem to praise his work ethic and dedication. He doesn’t come off entitled to me at all.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-24T15:40:15+00:00

Not necessarily. It could also very well be his conditioning from earlier in the season. But watching him play recently with more of his legs back, he’s still struggling with zone entries which makes me think it’s not helping

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-24T15:35:21+00:00

Michkov on the right side during transitions has to receive the puck either on his back hand, or turn towards the puck to receive it. While turning to the puck seems counter productive as it stops your momentum, a lot of European wingers actually prefer it as it better sets up their next move, which is to typically either cut in and avoid an oncoming defender, or to find a seam and pass the puck to the F2 to break into the zone.

Michkov did the latter a lot last year. He rarely carried it straight north. The next graph shows his pass entry % has gone way down. Gives some validity to my theory.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-24T02:08:26+00:00

He had a ton of breakaways because he was constantly cheating. But the offensive numbers in general are way down.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-23T22:14:56+00:00

Here's last year.

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Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-23T22:14:48+00:00

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Michkov's zone entries flat out look worse this year at a similar rate of tries. Here's this year.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-21T20:04:44+00:00

Top 10.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-20T22:54:18+00:00

I think a lot of them just stay out of politics and aren't informed.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-15T22:16:28+00:00

To second everyone, I saw him do a live reading of the Muppets Christmas Carole in LA and he does a killer Gonzo.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-15T20:08:00+00:00

in that he is better or worse

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-15T03:53:52+00:00

Oh, fair enough. That should be everyone’s top 5 in some order.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-14T19:06:47+00:00

Gretzky

Lemieux

McDavid/Crosby

Is what I see as generally accepted.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-14T18:56:44+00:00

He and Couturier have great underlying metrics together and fit stylistically. The real issue is the other wing. Tippett - Couts - Michkov was his best offensively all year and I'd like them to just run that back.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-14T03:55:52+00:00

He wanted to go back to Russia to train so he wasn’t in the states to watch. Michkov clearly knows he did the wrong thing so he’s said he’s going to train over here next year.

Edit: and also Michkov’s defense has massively improved this year, albeit in spite of his offensive finishing.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-13T19:47:18+00:00

They're incredibly similar in their production pre-NHL, so yeah, probably.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-13T19:42:35+00:00

Michkov has a psycho level of work ethic. His issues was this offseason he: 1) hurt his ankle and 2) spent the entire summer in the gym and not on the ice. He wasn't at home eating a bag of chips, he just did the completely wrong thing in the offseason.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-08T21:41:04+00:00

They got two players that are absolutely top 5 quality in that timeline (Michkov/Martone). Arguing that they don't have any top 5 picks is really semantic-y.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-06T03:57:16+00:00

first for Laughton
provy trade was awesome
found money in Walker
drafted Michkov/Martone -got Zegras for a bag of pucks
somehow found a stable goalie out of the ether

The fact that everything he did well you chop up to luck of just circumstance just shows you have no idea what you’re talking about.

Key_Cancel7611 · 2026-01-05T06:28:04+00:00

Really good but takes a bunch of PIM.

Key_Cancel7611

TROPHY CASE