Quick Hits: August 23, 2023
1) KHL preseason: Flyers 2023 first-round pick Matvei Michkov dressed as the 13th forward for SKA St. Petersburg in a preseason game yesterday against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg. He didn't see the ice much, but he scored in his first (and only) shift of the first period to keep alive his streak of having gotten on the scoresheet in every preseason game SKA has played to date. SKA won the game, 5-2.
THERE HE IS
— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) August 22, 2023
🚨 #FueledByPhilly Matvei Michkov
4-0 SKA #Puchkov pic.twitter.com/Ol3aKNx9Qi
During the KHL preseason, regardless of the score at the end of regulation, teams play both a practice 3-on-3 overtime and a practice five-round shootout. Michkov, who was denied on his shootout attempt yesterday, is 1-for-5 thus far in the skills competition practice.
2) There's a small update on Ivan Fedotov's situation. He's "legally" Flyers property for 2023-24, still technically in limbo pending an appeal of a recent IIHF ruling suspending him from the KHL and international hockey until Jan. 1, 2024, but physically still in Russia at training camp with CSKA.
CSKA Moscow has filed an appeal of the sanctions the IIHF imposed both on the club (one year ban from all international transfers, including NHL-to-KHL transfer) and goaltender Ivan Fedotov (banned from Sept. 2023 to the end of the calendar year from playing club team hockey outside the NHL/AHL and banned from international hockey tournaments) for signing with CSKA while still under valid contract with the Flyers. The appeal will be heard by the IIHF disciplinary committee.
3) Congratulations go out to now-former Flyers amateur scout, who was announced on Tuesday as the Edmonton Oilers new director of amateur scouting. The job represents a higher organizational position for the 52-year-old than the one Pracey had with the Flyers.
The highly regarded Pracey joined the Flyers' amateur scouting staff in 2014-15 after being the Colorado Avalanche's director of amateur scouting for five-plus years amid a 12-plus year scouting career with the Avs. Pracey did a very good job for Philly over his eight-plus years in the organization and it felt inevitable that he'd eventually get another higher-ranking opportunity again in the NHL.
4) Today in Flyers History: August 23
* 1994: In the process of switching him from defenseman to left wing, the Flyers re-signed Dan Kordic on this day in 1994.
* 2004: The Flyers signed free agent forward Ryan Ready to a one-year contract.
* 2005: The Flyers brought two players back on one-year deals for second stints in the organization -- forwards Eric Chouinard and Pat Kavanagh -- and signed Riley Cote to an NHL contract after he won the 2004-05 Calder Cup as a member of the Philadelphia Phantoms.
5) Alumni birthday: The eighth overall pick of the 1972 NHL Amateur Draft (selected by Montreal one spot after the Flyers picked Bill Barber), the late Dave Gardner was born in Toronto on this day in 1952. The center had moderate success in the NHL in the mid-1970s on bad teams (the long-defunct Seals and Barons) before signing with the Flyers as a free agent.
Garder spent the 1979-80 season primarily with the AHL's Maine Mariners but had a two-game NHL callup to the Flyers during the latter part the season, notching a goal and an assist in a 4-1 home win over the Colorado Rockies on March 4, 1980.
Trivia question: Who was behind the bench for that game as acting Flyers head coach? The answer follows at the end of today's blog.
While with the Maine Mariners, Gardiner racked up 55 points in 37 games (20g, 35a). After the season, he went to Europe and played the final eight seasons of his active career in Switzerland. His son, Ryan, was born in Ohio while Dave played for the Barons, but also has Swiss citizenshi. Ryan played internationally for the Swiss national team for many years and had a prolific 857-game career in the top Swiss pro league (NHL).
In his post-playing career, Gardner lived in the Toronto suburb of Aurora, Ontario. On March 19, 2023, Dave Gardner passed away in a hospital in Newmarket, Ont., due to a blood infection. Dave was the son of longtime NHL forward Cal "Ginger" Gardner and the older brother of NHL player and assistant coach Paul Gardner.
6) Trivia answer: Due to a bench-clearing brawl between the Flyers and Vancouver Canucks, the NHL issued a three-game suspension to Flyers head coach Pat Quinn for his role in "escalating the conflict". During Quinn's three-game banishment, he tabbed Flyers scout Joe Watson to serve as acting head coach behind the bench.
The Flyers went 1-2-0 during Watson's three games as acting head coach. Officially, the games went on Quinn's record, just as the five games late in the 2022-23 season which John Tortorella had assists Brad Shaw, Rocky Thompson and Darryl Williams take turns running the bench.
The lone win came on March 4, 1980, when the Rockies paid a visit to the Spectrum. That game was also Joe Watson Night, as the Flyers honored the two-time Stanley Cup champion/ two-time NHL All-Star for his 11 years playing for the team. He finished his playing career with the Rockies as their team captain before he suffered a career-ending leg injury.
Dave Gardner centered the fourth line with Bob Kelly on left wing and Gary Morrison on right wing. The Flyers scored on the game's first shift, as Kelly made it 1-0 just 15 seconds into the game. On a partial line change, Bill Barber made it 2-0 at the 51-second mark. Gardner and Morrison assisted. Later, at the 13:43 mark of the first period, Gardner tallied his lone goal as a Flyer. The helpers went to Behn Wilson and Morrison.