The 2015 NHL Entry Draft was likened to the loaded and iconic 2003 NHL Entry Draft that produced hall-of-famers and elite stars. At the top you had Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel – the media loved the Canadian vs American storyline – then you had a plethora of top options within the first 20 picks.
Mitch Marner went to Toronto at number 4, Zach Werenski went to Columbus at number 8, Timo Meier went to San Jose at number 9, Mikko Rantanen went to Colorado at number 10, and the Boston Bruins – who had picks 13, 14, and 15 – could’ve had Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot but instead went a different way, and ironically all 3 players were taken consecutively after Boston’s picks.
The Philadelphia Flyers had the 7th overall selection and felt lucky that the New Jersey Devils took Pavel Zacha with the 6th overall pick. Ron Hextall wanted a defenseman and would’ve been happy with either one of Ivan Provorov or Zach Werenski. In fact, he even called up Columbus’ general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen, before he went up to the podium to see if he would be interested in moving up 1 spot. The Flyers took the 7th-ranked North American skater in Provorov and believed to have found their future number one defenseman.
Some notables drafted after the Boston debacle included Joel Eriksson Ek at 20, Ilya Samsonov at 22, Brock Boeser at 24, and jumping a bit ahead to the 5th pick of the 2nd round, Sebastian Aho at 35.
The Flyers didn’t want to miss the boat on what they deemed a can’t-miss prospect in Travis Konecny. So Ron Hextall picked up the phone and swung a deal that sent the 29th overall pick and Chicago’s 2nd round pick (61st overall) to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 24th overall pick. The Flyers previously acquired the 29th overall pick from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a deal that netted them the pick, a third round pick, and Radko Gudas for Braydon Coburn.
The Flyers came out of the first round with what many believed were the core players at their respective positions for years to come. Both players spent the 2015-16 season in their respective junior circuits, with Provorov going from 15 goals and 61 points in 60 games during his draft year to 21 goals and 73 points in 62 games the following season. Konecny went from scoring 29 goals and 68 points in 60 games during his draft season to a combined 30 goals and 101 points in 60 games the following season with the Ottawa 67s and the Sarnia Sting.
They both made their debuts on opening night of the 2016-17 season and Provorov played all 82 games while Konecny played in 70 as the Flyers crashed and burned to a 39-33-10 record, which was good for 6th in the division and missed out on the playoffs by 7 points. Konecny scored 11 goals and 28 points, while Provorov added 30 points while averaging 21:59 of ice time per game. The following season, as the entire team essentially exploded offensively, Provorov chipped in with what is still a career-high with 17 goals and 41 points with an average ice time of 24:09. Konecny followed suit and scored 24 goals and 47 points in 81 games.
They were both only 20 or 21 years old at the time but had shown so much promise already. Hextall’s pipeline only got better with the acquisitions of Nolan Patrick and Morgan Frost, and then he added Joel Farabee to the mix by 2018. Unfortunately, the Flyers entered a very dark period of time and while Provorov and Konecny weren’t at fault, they suffered as the team suffered.
For Provorov, it was almost a tale of two careers. When you go from 2016-17 to 2019-20, he looked every bit the team’s number one defenseman. He played in all 315 games, scored 43 goals and added 90 assists, he averaged 23:59 of ice time, was a plus 5, and had blocked 595 shots, while delivering 466 hits. He played with Andrew MacDonald for most of his young career before being given a more steady partner in Matt Niskanen. Even though it only lasted 1 season, everyone remembers that pairing fondly and for good reason.
After that, things took a turn for the worse and the once-perceived number one defenseman lost his edge. His durability, iron-man streak, and ice time remained top notch, however his game as a whole was a shell of what we saw up until the end of 2019-20. He looked like he was carrying the burden of a broken and talentless defense, he was subpar at best, or middling other times, with a tiny sprinkling of excellence. He played in all but 3 games from 2020-21 to 2022-23, and while 2020-21 and 2021-22 weren’t successful, he looked to have turned a corner in the second half of 2022-23.
John Tortorella did what his predecessors lacked and that was using his players in situations they would excel in. He didn’t care about contracts, he didn’t care about prior seasons, and he didn’t care when they were drafted or how they were looked upon within the organization.
If you were a top pair defenseman, he would play you as such. If you were a bottom pair defenseman, he would play you as such. He transformed Rasmus Ristolainen into a player that was actually far more useful than ever before, he demoted Tony DeAngelo from the top pair to the bottom pair and he actually played a lot better with Nick Seeler and with less taxing minutes. He gave Provorov a good partner in crime in Cam York and the duo performed admirably.
For Konecny, his trajectory has been a little different. He’s had far fewer roller coaster rides than Provorov and he hasn’t really ruffled any feathers like the Russian defenseman either. There was the report last season that came out and denounced Provorov as a teammate essentially, saying he threw them under the bus at times, was not easy to coach, and did not take criticism well – at all. He has also been on the trade block for 3-4 years, but in saying that, so has Konecny.
With the retooling Flyers always looking to be aggressive and wanting to make changes, the two names that always came up belonged to #9 and #11. They were in their early to mid-20s, they were signed long-term with friendly cap hits, and with Chuck Fletcher at the helm, they could’ve been had for a fraction of the cost. Fortunately, every single trade offer sent his way was so underwhelming that he had the good sense in rejecting them. Seemingly giving his nod of approval before every season, even though he made it quite obvious that they could be had for the right price.
Konecny scored 24 goals in 3 consecutive seasons from 2017-18 to 2019-20, while having a bump in points from 47 to 49 to 61 (in 66 games) respectively. He had great shooting percentages, was averaging close to 16 minutes a game in those 3 years, was a feisty spark plug, and gave the team much needed primary or secondary scoring. He hit a snag in 2020-21 – as did the whole team – and for the first quarter of the 2021-22 season. Dating back to the COVID playoff bubble, he had scored 16 goals in a span of 101 games.
The 2021-22 season as a whole was rough, but he finished the final 57 games with 11 goals and 42 points, compared to the 5 goals and 10 points he recorded in the first 22 games. His shooting percentage that season was the real anomaly of his career since finished the year at 7.3%. The previous 4 years he combined for 13.8%, and even this past season it jumped back up to 16.2%.
Whatever mechanics needed to be tweaked over the summer were dealt with in a proper manner because he came out with gusto in 2022-23. He tied his career-high in points with 61 but in only 60 games, he finally got over his 24-goal hump with a career-high 31, and he averaged over 20 minutes of ice time (20:07) for the first time in his career – which was also a 2:30 bump from the previous season.
Konecny was the motor of the 2022-23 team, he really only hit one snag offensively this season when he went without a point in 8 consecutive games from the 22nd of January to the 12th of February, but other than that he showed true consistency for a team that was bereft of talent. His best stretch came from the 2nd of November to the 11th of January where he scored 20 goals and 37 points in just 27 games, he was only held without a point in only 3 of those games, and hit over 20+ minutes a game 14 times.
At a relatively low cost of $5.5 million per year, Konecny is by far one on of the friendlier contracts in the NHL, and what makes things even better for him is that he got the stamp of approval from his head coach.
With all that said and done, for a team that is rebuilding, players like Konecny and Provorov are the first to go since they would not make it in line for their timeline of contention and most teams would salivate for the player and their term. Provorov has 2 years remaining at a cap hit of $6.75 million and Konecny has 2 years remaining at a cap hit of $5.5 million.
Jakob Chychrun had 2 years remaining on his contract after the 2022-23 season at a cap hit of $4.5 million and was traded at the trade deadline to the Ottawa Senators for a conditional first round pick in 2023, a conditional second round pick in 2024, and a second round pick in 2026. The price of acquisition was a little less than what many had intended but part of that was because the player did not want to return to the team, he was held out of the lineup and was a healthy scratch for trade-related reasons for weeks before finally being dealt, and a trade of that ilk being conducted during the season would have less suitors than if it was performed in the offseason.
The San Jose Sharks traded Timo Meier – drafted 9th overall in 2015 – for a large package of players and prospects, however he was an expiring contract but an RFA at the very least. So with team control, the Devils acquired Meier, Timur Ibragimov, Scott Harrington, Santeri Hatakka, Zachary Emond, and a 2024 fifth round pick for Fabian Zetterlund, Andreas Johnsson, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Nikita Okhotiuk, a 2023 condition first round pick, a 2024 conditional second round pick, and a 2024 seventh round pick.
In 2021, a disgruntled Jack Eichel – 2nd overall in 2015 – was traded out of Buffalo alongside a 2023 third round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights for Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a first round pick in 2022, and a second round pick in 2023. Eichel was traded with 4 more seasons left at a cap hit of $10 million, he had suffered a very dangerous neck injury, and wanted to undergo a surgery that had not be done by an NHL player before – but had been done by a couple other athletes. It was a trade that paid off for both teams as Eichel has been a major reason as to why the Knights are back in the Stanley Cup Final, and Tuch is coming off a season where he scored 36 goals and 79 points in just 74 games for a Sabres team that was inching towards a playoff spot.
The Flyers were reportedly very close in making a Provorov for Patrik Laine swap before the latter was shipped out of Winnipeg. The two teams were in constant trade talks for years surrounding their respective stars. At times it even involved Travis Sanheim and Jacob Trouba, but in the end Fletcher decided not to pull the trigger because he was hesitant on letting go of his number one defenseman. Laine was eventually traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets alongside Jack Roslovic for Pierre-Luc Dubois and a 2022 third round pick.
There are several different types of blueprints the Flyers can follow when constructing a trade of this magnitude, however it seems that the time has finally come for them to move on from either one of their budding former first round picks.
There is definitely a world where they keep both and move other pieces out of the lineup like Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo, however those types of moves don’t push the needle. They won’t get you the required assets that a rebuilding team desires, at best it’s alleviating cap space – which in it of itself is also important right now.
The Flyers’ defense is going to be horrendous without Provorov, but the offense will be sputtering even worse than before without Konecny. Best-case scenario is the Flyers have a season that resembled the Chicago Blackhawks or Anaheim Ducks from 2022-23 where they just tanked from the get-go, played a lot of young players, and understood the plot was to get a very high draft pick in a very loaded draft.
The Flyers have mentioned countless times that they will never tank, they won’t completely tear things down, and that they want to be competitive regardless of their standing, so shipping out both in the same summer seems highly unlikely.
Factoring in the fact that Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson should be returning, Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim likely can’t be moved, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett are set to have even bigger seasons and roles in 2023-24, and players like Scott Laughton and Nicolas Deslauriers are set to reprise their roles, it’s not plausible for this team to ever be as bad as the true basement dwellers of the NHL. There are just slightly above that tier, which hampers their ability to truly rebuild with high draft choices.
The true timeline for contention is what matters most because when their contracts are due for renewal, the Flyers will probably still be knee-deep in a rebuild and without trading either one of them, they’ll be at least one full season behind schedule.
At this rate, which one makes more sense? Which one would bring a better haul? Do either one of them stand a chance at being a core part of this rebuild?
I think Konecny is the type of player the Flyers need and want for the long-haul and even though they have a lot of wingers in the pipeline like Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and Cutter Gauthier – who is being converted to play center as well – he brings a different type of intangible that no one else really possesses.
John Tortorella is going to have more power than a normal head coach currently has in the modern NHL and because of that, I see that as a reason why Konecny will remain. He also has a sore spot for Provorov but between the two, one has a more fractured relationship with the organization than the other and while the regime has changed over the last few months, that still might not be enough to sway his decision on how he feels about the team.
Either player is going to give you the required pieces for a rebuild, but the Flyers want to remain somewhat competitive at the same time, while keeping players who best represent the organization. As a defenseman with term and a cap-friendly deal, while also only being 26 years old, Provorov can net you the NHL-ready young players, prospects, and/or draft picks, while also alleviating cap space.
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