In what I hope is the final installment, unless the Philadelphia Flyers show their cards once again, we step into the mind and the shoes of general manager Chuck Fletcher one last time and help jump-start his impatient quick-fix offseason of 2022. If the path continues to churn the way I have made it seem, then the Flyers have already traded forwards James van Riemsdyk and Oskar Lindblom in a way to open up cap space. The Flyers enter the off-season with a shade over $8 million but after trading both forwards for draft picks or as a cap dump, the Flyers now have a little over $18 million to play with.
We know that Fletcher wants to make big changes and we also know that that requires either a lot of money or assets, both of which the Flyers don’t possess. We also know that when Chuck Fletcher has a thought or an idea, he sticks by it until the bitter end and nothing will change his mind. He outwardly mentioned that he coveted both Rasmus Ristolainen and Ryan Ellis for a few years before making the trades official regardless of price or injury, he mentioned how badly he wanted to get an extension done for Ristolainen no matter what, and now we come to his third idea that surrounds Travis Konecny.
In the summer of 2019 with both Ivan Provorov and Konecny needing extensions, Konecny’s took a little longer and almost coincided with training camp, Fletcher also alluded to the fact that he’s been in trade talks for bigger stars, and he even told Konecny before this season started that he almost traded him this summer but believed in his potential. Now with the season coming to a close, an aggressive re-tool in the making, and Fletcher’s comments echoing through a megaphone, things don’t look so good for the 25 year-old winger.
The Ryan Ellis situation has essentially created a ripple effect for Fletcher’s off-season plans. Earlier in the year it was believed that Provorov and the Flyers were sort of at a breaking point, where a trade could very well materialize in the summer due to certain factors. It was reported that Provorov’s attitude towards the team and his play did not go over well with coaches, players, and management. Rumours starting circulating because the Flyers had stated that they would be willing to do whatever it takes to get back into playoff contention as soon as next year and when you added two and two together, Provorov, Konecny, and even Travis Sanheim’s names were thrown into the rumour mill.
Elliotte Friedman alluded to the fact that the Rasmus Ristolainen extension was the first domino to fall in the “remodeling of Philadelphia’s defense”. His extension was not met entirely with open arms and understandably so, however with news that Ellis might not be ready for training camp or even the beginning of next season, extending the right-handed shooting defenseman seemed more like a safety net than anything else. If Ellis is to miss even more time or part of the new season, then trading Provorov or Sanheim would be extremely foolhardy.
Sanheim has been above and beyond the best defenseman on the team this season and it isn’t even close. His game completely changed after Alain Vigneault was ousted as head coach and with the season coming to a close, Sanheim has never looked back since. He went from having 0 goals and 3 assists in 22 games to 7 goals and 28 points in the next 53. His defensive play has gotten better, he is blocking shots at a career-high pace, he is offensively gifted and is as aggressive as we have ever seen him, and he has finally made his way on the power play. His name hitting the rumour mill is mostly due to opposing teams trying to sniff out how desperate the Flyers are. The Flyers love the pairing of Ristolainen and Sanheim and partially extended the former because of the latter, which makes a trade very unlikely.
So if the Flyers are then forced to keep both defensemen, the odd man out becomes Konecny. This scenario becomes a reality because to make the quick-fix changes the Flyers love to make, you have to trade somebody of good-to-high value. Everyone else on the roster either has a foot out the door or is stuck for one reason or another. The Flyers are unlikely to trade Kevin Hayes, extensions for Sean Couturier and Joel Farabee are about to kick in, and they are believed to be the focal points of the offense, Provorov and Sanheim most likely remain, and then the only other player of value is Carter Hart and he seems entrenched as the number one goaltender, a position the Flyers can’t afford to give up on.
Konecny was clearly stunted by former head coach Alain Vigneault. There was a noticeable drop-off in energy, emotion, and production after Vigneault lambasted the young forward about his aggressive nature. We already know how the Nicolas Aube-Kubel saga went down with the head coach punishing the forward for his aggressive nature to a point where the Flyers waived him over Patrick Brown. Yes, his aggressiveness cost the Flyers at times because of ill-advised penalties, but the pros far outweighed the cons and the Flyers have lacked that energy and aggressiveness in their lineup ever since. Vigneault did the same with Konecny, but because Konecny provided more value to the lineup he was never going to get scratched. Therefore they tried to fine tune his game and in doing so his production dropped off without his aggressive nature being at the forefront.
Under the right coaching staff and in the right system, Konecny is going to be the player the Flyers envisioned him to be on draft day. He has shown flashes in the past evidenced by his three straight seasons of 24 goals, career-high and team-high 61 points in 66 games in 2019-20, and how he has become more noticeable since the coaching change. Konecny had 10 points in the first 22 games with four of them coming in the first three games. After Mike Yeo was named interim head coach, Konecny has enjoyed more success as he has accumulated 30 assists and 39 points in 52 games. Those may not be earth-shattering numbers but that’s 0.75 points per game, which is good enough for 61 in an 82 game season. All things considered with how this season has gone for the Flyers, the constant lineup changes and different linemates that Konecny has played with, those are pretty good numbers for a team that has issues scoring.
His chirpy, annoying-to-play against, and fun side has come out in recent weeks just as recently as their game against Buffalo last Saturday when he got under the skin of Rasmus Dahlin after a big hit and then drew a power play for the Flyers after Dahlin unnecessarily retaliated. It is also important to note that his low-goal total has a lot to do with his career-low in shooting percentage at 7.1%. For his career he has averaged 11.6% and his previous 4 seasons have been at a clip of 13.6%, 13.2%, 17.1%, and 11% respectively. He has struggled to score since the COVID bubble with only 25 goals in his last 140 games, including the playoffs but one has to think that puck-luck just hasn’t been on his side. Konecny does create chances on game-by-game basis and it is rather frustrating how he can’t seem to finish his breakaways or odd-man rush attempts but a player of his ilk and style are hard to come by especially for the Flyers.
Three teams that were knocking on the door at the trade deadline for his services were the Toronto Maple Leafs, Los Angeles Kings, and St. Louis Blues. The first two, especially the Kings, were very keen on getting a deal done but it’s one of those trades that are easier to complete during the summer. Fletcher alluded at his post-trade deadline press conference that he is already working on frameworks for deals to complete in the summer and if that doesn’t scream Konecny, I don’t know what else would. He almost traded him in the summer, not much has changed since that time, so why would Fletcher veer from his original thought process?
I think it would be a mistake to trade Konecny because under the right system, team, and coach, he will be everything the Flyers had envisioned and then some. There’s obvious chemistry between Konecny and Couturier and with the pivot being sidelined with a season-ending injury since December, unfortunately we haven’t been able to witness any of that since. If a trade were to occur the Flyers could go about it in two ways: 1) a cap-dump of sorts where they acquire several draft assets for the forward, or 2) an eye-for-an-eye kind of trade where the Flyers trade Konecny for another player in a very similar situation, and if the Flyers believe that they can acquire their “guy” through free agency then trading him for future assets would be the better route because that would then open up almost $24 million in cap space. If the Flyers want an NHL-ready player to fit into the lineup tomorrow, then completing a true hockey trade would be their best route.
He has spent his entire six-year career with Philadelphia and has been a member of the core from the beginning. Since his rookie season, not many faces have remained outside of Sean Couturier and Ivan Provorov. Sports have evolved to a point where players are constantly on the move now and spending more than 4-6 years on the same team could spell your doom if you’re still struggling or playing a mediocre brand of hockey. James van Riemsdyk is the most likely player gone during the offseason with a hefty $7 million AAV hemorrhaging any big moves, Oskar Lindblom’s role has dropped to a very expensive $3 million fourth-line player, and now Travis Konecny has found himself as the odd man out in the third re-tool in four years. The Flyers know they can’t run it back with the same team next season but with so many players either being locked in or carrying no trade value, that doesn’t leave much wiggle-room for the front office to work with. A rebuild is the most necessary thing for the Flyers but seemingly don’t see it that way; just something to think about.
