The rumor mill continues to churn for the Philadelphia Flyers, and the most recent gossip to emerge is regarding the fate of 26-year-old forward Travis Konecny. Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal (later parroted by various insiders) has suggested that the Oilers could be circling Konecny, with a return based around defenseman Philip Broberg. It’s a rumor that raised an eyebrow for various reasons.
The Flyers, who are in a full on rebuild, seem intent on hoarding as much draft capital and prospect depth as possible when it comes to selling off their main roster pieces. That’s where the Edmonton may not quite fit what the Flyers are looking for.
The Oilers only have one pick in the first five(!) rounds of the 2023 draft, that coming in the second round at 56th overall.
The rumored crown jewel of the return would be 22-year-old left-handed defenseman Philip Brogerg, who was the eighth overall pick in 2019 and has one year left on his entry-level contract. He’s has received some mixed reviews during his first two seasons in North America where he’s got 11 points in 69 NHL games and 27 points in 38 AHL contests, but is still considered to have a high ceiling.
The Flyers adding another young defenseman with upside may sound like a good thing at face value, but it throws another body in the mix of what’s becoming quite a crowded blue line.
Even with Ivan Provorov now out of the picture, that leaves Cam York, Travis Sanheim, Egor Zamula and Nick Seeler as the team’s left-handed main roster players for next season, with top prospect Emil Andrae waiting in the AHL.
Having York, Andrae and Broberg on the left side, all about the same age (their birthdays are within a 13-month stretch of each other) for years to come sounds like a decent starting point; But how they get there is the biggest problem in the short term.
Seeler could always get sent to the AHL (or traded away if some team wants defense depth of their own) and Zamula, who still has upside as an NHL-caliber defenseman, isn’t look upon as fondly as he once was. Cam York, the natural lefty, has played on the right side for a vast majority of his NHL tenure thus far, catering to fellow lefties Provorov, Seeler and even Keith Yandle. They could move him back to his off-side and roll Sanheim, Broberg and Zamula on the left… but then the right side gets messy with Ristolainen, Sean Walker, (as of now) Tony DeAngelo and Ronnie Attard.
The biggest problem is Sanheim, whose brand new, ill-advised, eight-year, $50 million contract kicks in next season. He’s an underwhelming vet in a sea of up-and-coming players and throws a massive wrench in the defense construction.
Could Edmonton take Sanheim in the deal? Highly unlikely. They barely have the cap to acquire Konecny even if it’s just straight up for Broberg. Can the Flyers find a taker for Sanheim before his contract (and full no-trade clause) kicks in when the new league year starts in July? It also seems unlikely.
The rumors seem to link Konecny with Edmonton, but considering the Flyers need to his a home run when dealing away their 26-year-old forward, the Oilers may not present the best destination for that purpose. Broberg would be a nice return, and if they could pry away someone like Dylan Holloway as well it’d be icing on the cake, but the roster may be too saturated at defense to throw another project into the mix at the moment.
Maybe Briere has a trick up his sleeve to weed out the defense cluster, and he’d be a hero if he could somehow ditch Sanheim, but maybe finding a team with a bit more 2023 draft capital or a home run forward prospect may be the better return for a player like Konecny.
The Flyers have just over two weeks until the draft arrives, so expect more rumors to pop up as the countdown to their self-imposed deadline arrives.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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