Travis Konecny survived the Chuck Fletcher era, but by the skin of his teeth, as he was frequently on the trade block and subsequently trade conversations.
The former general manager mentioned on countless occasions that while certain players were on the block, he never received any offers that blew him away – however that was a regular occurrence on a year-by-year basis.
As the Philadelphia Flyers struggled from the COVID bubble all the way to Fletcher’s demise in 2023, Konecny continued to pace the club in points but at times it was barely anything to sniff at. He led the club with 61 points in 66 games in 2019-20, was 6th with 34 points in 50 games in 2020-21, back at the top in 2021-22 with 52 points in 79 games, and once again was above and beyond the best player last year with 61 points in 60 games.
The Flyers were constantly looking to make radical changes to keep the team afloat between 2020-2022 and the two players who received the most attention from rival GMs were Ivan Provorov and Konecny. Fletcher’s inability to make good trades – or trades in general – was on full display during his tenure that culminated in him sitting on his hands ahead of the trade deadline when he couldn’t find a suitor for James van Riemsdyk. That is not the man you want in charge of making a monumental Provorov and/or Konecny trade.
The Flyers seemingly dodged a bullet there and because of the new regime in place, the new coaching staff, and the belief within the locker room, Konecny has not only stapled his name as a regular but he has finally become the cornerstone pillar that many had envisioned back when he was drafted late in the first round in 2015.
After Konecny’s 24 goals and 61 points in 66 games during the 2019-20 season that interrupted by COVID-19, he uncharacteristically struggled going 16 games in the post-season without a goal and then only potting 11 through 50 games of the shortened 2020-21 season. That’s when the rumours really started to pick up as Konecny’s struggles sounded the alarm bells in Fletcher’s head and that if a move were to be conducted to change the flight path of the Flyers, Konecny would be the one of the first to move.
He struggled to start the 2021-22 season under Alain Vigneault’s lost ship to the tune of 5 goals and 10 points in the first 22 games – 1 goal and 2 points in the final 13 games of that stretch. As was the case for most players under the coaching change, Konecny then righted the ship with 11 goals and 42 points in 57 games. After only scoring 27 goals in a combined 135 games, look no further to his shooting percentages because they did not follow his career trajectory.
From 2017-18 to 2019-20, Konecny scored 24 goals in successive seasons at a 14.4% shooting clip, with a then-career-best 17% in 2019-20. In the following 2 seasons, he scored 27 goals at 8.4% which included a career-low 7.3% in 2021-22 on a career-best 220 shots. If you were a believer in these numbers, you knew he would snap out of it at some point and get back to the 13-14% range that he achieved through the first 4 seasons of his young career.
2022-23 under John Tortorella might have been his most important season to date as he entered the year under the microscope once again with Chuck Fletcher reiterating his aggressive rebuild whenever he had the chance.
Konecny started that season hot with 4 goals and 6 points in his first 5 games before being benched in the third period of an October 23rd home loss to the San Jose Sharks – alongside Kevin Hayes. He responded to Tortorella’s tough coaching with 20 goals and 40 points in the next 30 games that included two 10+ game point streaks – one of which was 14 goals and 23 points in 14 games.
Konecny scored a hat trick against the Washington Capitals to tie his career-high in goals of 24 – that he hit 3 times before. Unfortunately, he succumbed to a 13-game goalless drought where he notched just 3 assists along the way. He snapped out of it with a 2-goal performance against Seattle and registered 5 points in the following 3 games before being forced out of their afternoon tilt against Calgary with an injury.
Konecny missed 5 weeks and returned at the beginning of April, where he finished his strong season 4 goals and 7 points in the final 8 games. Overall he put up 31 goals and 61 points in 60 games, averaged a whopping 20:07 TOI, his shooting clip jumped back up to 16.2%, and he registered 34 takeaways to 26 giveaways.
It wasn’t just his offensive game that took massive strides in 2022-23, but it was his overall game that included penalty killing responsibilities and the formation of a two-way game. Prior to the season, Konecny had skated in just 38.3 shorthanded minutes with the 13.3 the year before setting a career-high. Under Tortorella, Konecny became a staple and alongside his new partner in crime in Scott Laughton as formed a deadly duo that has stood the test of time.
He skated in 110.9 minutes while shorthanded where he also scored 3 goals and added 3 assists. That same success has remained in 2023-24 as he has skated in 46.8 minutes and leads the NHL with 3 shorthanded tallies. With Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson back in the fold, Konecny doesn’t have to bear all the penalty killing duties that he had to deal with last season and that’s a big reason as to why the Flyers penalty kill is tied for 4th-best in the NHL with an incredible 86.67% success rate.
Konecny has been white-hot to start the new season as he sits tied for 4th in the NHL with 16 goals in 28 games. He is tied with David Pastrňák, Artemi Panarin, and Zach Hyman, 1 goal behind Kyle Connor and Sam Reinhart, 3 behind Nikita Kucherov, and 5 behind leaders Auston Matthews and Brock Boeser. He has added 8 assists for a total of 24 points, is a plus-11, is connecting on 18.4% of shots, has 21 takeaways to 8 giveaways, and is averaging 18:47 TOI as he is firmly implanted on the top line with Couturier.
Konecny found himself back in the rumour mill this past summer when Daniel Brière announced to the hockey world that almost everyone and everything was on the table – for the right price. Teams came knocking on the door but Brière and company rebuffed anything thrown their way in relation to Konecny and not only has that worked out in their favour but it seems to be a vote of confidence from the front office that Konecny is to be a part of the rebuild instead of a contributor of future assets.
He still has one more season of control beyond 2023-24 at a cap hit of $5.5 million. CapFriendly has the Flyers projected with $19.361 million in cap space this summer with Owen Tippett, Bobby Brink, and Carter Hart being of the utmost importance. The following season they are set to have $51.878 million – with a projected cap of $92 million – with the aforementioned players not included in the equation as well as Atkinson, Morgan Frost, Garnet Hathaway, and Cam York.
In other words, the Flyers’ future will revolve around #11 and if he continues to play the way that he is, we are in store for another career-season, perhaps a playoff push much earlier than anticipated, and seeing a star form before our eyes.
2024 Stadium Series Trip
Flyers Nation and Philly Sports Trips have teamed up to bring you on an amazing bus trip to the 2024 NHL Stadium Series between the Flyers and Devils. Place an early deposit to reserve your spot at the ultimate tailgate experience at MetLife Stadium before the game. The package includes a game ticket, round-trip charter bus, an all-inclusive tailgate party with unlimited cold beverages, “Philly Style” catered food, live entertainment, and more.
