The Flyers’ rough start has put Travis Konecny under a brighter spotlight, and not in a good way.
After Philadelphia dropped a game to the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 13, the club fell to 0-8 to open the season. That backdrop helped frame a Daily Faceoff report from Anthony Di Marco on Tuesday, which examined the kinds of changes the Flyers might consider as the skid continues. Coaching was part of the conversation, but so were possible roster moves.
Konecny ended up as one of the most intriguing names in the piece, and the reporting around him was blunt. Di Marco wrote, “Speaking with sources Monday, there is a growing sense of frustration from within the Flyers organization with Konecny.
According to one source, Konecny doesn’t isn’t overly impactful when he isn’t scoring or antagonizing the opposing team. The play often dies on his stick, making bad decisions with the puck that often lead to turnovers.
As one source said, the one-constant on the Flyers’ struggling power play the last number of seasons has been Konecny - a fairly-damning criticism.”
That frustration raises a simple question for Philadelphia: what do you do next?
One path would be to ask Konecny to waive his no-trade clause, but that would only matter if another team presents an offer he’d actually accept. The timing makes the idea even more notable because Konecny is just in year two of the eight-year extension he signed with the Flyers. If the organization is already unhappy with what it’s getting now, the next seven seasons start to look awfully complicated.
The other option is to simply wait and hope the production comes back.
That’s not an empty hope, either. Konecny has been a major scorer for Philadelphia, leading the team in points over the last five seasons. The Flyers need offense badly, and if he can shake loose from this current slump, he could still be a major help.
But the uncertainty is the whole issue. The team is struggling across the board, and Konecny is the one drawing the loudest criticism in the report. For now, Philadelphia is stuck weighing whether his value is too important to move, or too frustrating to ignore.
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