The Flyers’ slow start has already started to generate the kind of noise that usually comes with a team in trouble: trade chatter, frustration, and plenty of second-guessing. Philadelphia has not made a splashy move yet, settling instead for veteran winger Michael Bunting and a depth swap that brought up Jack Studnicka for Carl Grundstrom. A bigger deal could still be coming, especially with Danny Briere drawing calls from around the league, but nothing has materialized.
At the same time, Travis Konecny has become part of the conversation. He has led the Flyers in scoring in each of the last five seasons, and he is tied for the team lead with three points even though he has played in only five of their first eight games. That has not stopped reports from surfacing about frustration inside the organization over his play.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman addressed both topics on Thursday’s 32 Thoughts, and his message on Briere was straightforward: don’t expect a rushed move just for the sake of doing something.
“I just think that Daniel Briere, he’s not going to do something that makes no sense,” Friedman said. “I just think he’s trying to be smart and not walk himself into a bad move because of pressure.”
That fits the situation Philadelphia is in. The Flyers are winless, and that kind of start strips away whatever leverage a team might want in trade talks. Briere has long said a deal has to make sense, and Friedman's point was that a panic move would run counter to that.
The Konecny talk, though, is what really lit up the latest round of discussion. Friedman said he was not questioning the report itself, but he clearly had thoughts on how it landed.
“The Konecny thing, about they might ask him to waive because there’s certain things he does that just aren’t effective enough,'” Friedman continued. “I’m not disputing any of the reporting, I have no reason to believe that’s false in any way, shape, or form.
“There are times when Craig Simpson looks at me and says, ‘Someone told you that?’ and it offends his sensibilites.
He gets upset. As a former coach and player, there are things that we report from time to time, and he can’t believe that somebody would tell us that, and I call those a Simpson.
When I saw that Konecny thing the other day, I said, ‘That’s a Simpson.'”
Friedman was referring to a Daily Faceoff report from Anthony DiMarco earlier in the week. DiMarco wrote that there was “a growing sense of frustration from within the Flyers organization with Konecny,” and added that one source viewed him as a player who isn’t “overly impactful” when he isn’t scoring or antagonizing opponents. The report also said the puck often dies on his stick and pointed to turnovers, while describing Konecny as “a fairly-damning criticism” in relation to the team’s power play.
There is, however, a wrinkle worth noting: DiMarco did not specifically identify that Konecny comment as coming from a team source, only from sources generally. Friedman didn’t miss that detail, either.
It is also fair to say that pinning a decade-long power-play issue on the club’s leading scorer is a sharp charge.
Friedman also talked about what happens when a leak like that gets out during a losing streak. He said he has seen people react badly when they learn a rumor is about to become public.
“I’ve been on the end of those calls where you call someone, you say ‘Look, I’m hearing this, and I want to check this’ or ‘I’m going to report this’, and the person on the other end is steaming that somebody told you that,” he said. “I think that that thing with Konecny, again I’m not knocking the reporting in any way, shape or form, I just know that when you’re losing and something like that gets out, I know what happens behind the scenes.
There are people there who are like, ‘Really? Really?
We’re losing, and this is what gets out?’ Because you know there are a lot of people who are going to be furious, furious, to see that written or said and think that somebody told them that.
Because when the season starts the way it started, you want all your guys pulling together. Even if you’re not winning, pull together, OK?
And when you see something like that, you’re like, ‘We’re not pulling together. And as a matter of fact, people are being thrown off the bus.'”
The Flyers have said they need to stick together to climb out of this. Friedman pointed to that same idea, noting the locker room is close and that the team showed last season it could find a run that changes its outlook. So far, though, that spark has not shown up in this season’s opening stretch.
What is clear is that Philadelphia needs a shift somewhere. Maybe it comes behind the bench, maybe in the room, maybe in the effort on the ice. But a team that has looked this flat through eight games cannot keep going at this pace.
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Any real hockey trade would almost certainly force the Flyers to part with meaningful young talent, and that is where the conversation gets complicated. Tyson Foerster and Matvei Michkov are among the names that would have to be considered in a serious deal, while Porter Martone is viewed as untouchable. With other pieces like Trevor Zegras, Noah Cates, Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny all part of the broader roster picture, the Flyers are left balancing present-day needs against the kind of assets they are willing to move. [Read more 🡒]