The Philadelphia Flyers are rebuilding… or at least they claim they are. For most teams, a rebuild would revolve around trading main roster players for future assets in the form of picks and prospects, and while Danny Briere and the Flyers did a little bit of that in the 2023 offseason, they left a few surprising names on the roster for the 2023-24 season, most shockingly of all was forward Travis Konecny.
Konecny, who is 26 years old with an upcoming birthday in early March, led the Flyers with 31 goals and 61 points in 60 games, both career bests, in 2022-23. And he’s on a similar pace during the 2023-24 season with 22 goals and 42 points in 48 games.
As his stock continues to rise and the Flyers’ rebuild no longer feeling like a rebuild, the question becomes whether or not they trade their star forward during their next available chance, either at the 2024 deadline or offseason?
Keep
The main argument for keeping Konecny on the roster, other than unabashed cult-like support from an overly-clingy fanbase, is the fact that he is in the prime of his career and can still be built around. Now that Konecny has seemingly taken his game to a new level, even if his production is still a bit streaky, it can be a valid argument for retaining his services, even as the team slogs through a rebuild.
If that’s why the organization ultimately refuses to trade him, then the responsibility falls on the shoulders of Danny Briere to actually build around Konecny. 27 is a weird age in the modern-day NHL. It’s young enough where the player can still be a pillar, but old enough where the sands of time are already starting to pass and the countdown from the climax to the falling action of his career is underway. If they see him as a legitimate piece of the future, they have to start making moves to capitalize and maximize on the best days of Konecny’s career.
Trade
If a proper rebuilding team like Arizona, San Jose or Chicago had a player like Konecny on their roster, they’d be overjoyed they’d get to trade him for copious future assets. But no matter how many time the Flyers’ organization uses the word rebuild, their actions don’t match their messaging.
He’s also a pending free agent in 2025 when he’ll be 28 years old. His $5.5 million cap hit, which has turned into a team friendly deal with his uptick in play, will go up substantially if this level continues for another year. The Flyers dealt with a similar problem a few years back with Sean Couturier. The 30-year-old on a team-friendly needs a new deal that is going to not only be expensive, but carry’s him far beyond his usefulness as a player is a major choice, especially for a still non-competitive team.
Conclusion
A large portion of the fanbase loves Travis Konency and would love to keep him, but from an organizational standpoint, Keeping Konecny has little to do with Konecny himself, it boils down to a single question directed at the front office- do they actually build around him while he is at the peak of his career?
The Flyers have a history of calling for a rebuild, then keeping valuable trade assets on the roster far past their expiration date and getting pennies on the dollar when they eventually trade their now-washed up stars. Happened with Wayne Simmonds, Jake Voracek and Claude Giroux, the big three from the Hextall regime.
The largest problem with Konecny is he’s not quite the level of player you want to build a franchise around. He’s just not quite among the elite of the elite in today’s NHL. He can be a very good complimentary piece, which isn’t a bad or negative thing, but if the Flyers never add those actual high-end pieces to the team they won’t get the most out of Konecny, which is where the never-ending circle of the Giroux argument comes into play. If they keep Konecny and continue to make zero forward progress over the next three to five years, they’ve just wasted his entire career.
Chances are, Konecny isn’t going anywhere. From the outside, it appears that the Flyers are going to consider all options during the offseason, but major change one way or another seems highly unlikely, especially when it comes to trading their current best player. His value has remained steady since Tortorella took over, which is good to see and will more than likely be the catalyst for retaining him, but historically, his value hasn’t always been steady and a guy who tops out at 50 points will be harder to move and less valuable than a point-per-game player.
Is it better to keep Konecny and knowingly never actually build around him just to say they have him? or is it better to bite the bullet and sell while his value is high and garner some decent future assets now, even if it’s the unpopular move?
You gotta know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em, as Kenny Rogers once said.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
photo credit: nhl.com
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