Former first-round pick Travis Konecny has already made a big impact with the Philadelphia Flyers in three seasons. Entering his fourth season and fresh off signing a six-year, $33-million deal, the 22-year-old could be primed for a breakout campaign.
Konecny’s Deal a Steal for Flyers
As already mentioned, the Flyers locked up Konecny with a six-year deal, which works out to a $5.5 million AAV.
Formerly a restricted free agent, contract negotiations weren’t going smoothly between the Flyers and Konecny during the offseason. Thatled to a stalemate that ran into the beginning of training camp.
However, with Konecny not looking for a bridge deal, one that would have allowed him to possibly cash in on another deal in two or three years, both sides came to an agreement. And the agreement they came to benefits both Konecny and the Flyers.
Konecny not only gets a significant bump in salary from his previous deal which had an average AAV of just over $1.1 million, but he also gets security with a six-year deal.
On the Flyers’ side of things, they lock up a potential future star on a very manageable deal.
Here’s a comparison of some similar deals around the NHL:
- Jonathan Drouin (MTL) six-year, $5.5 AAV
- Tom Wilson (WSH) six-year, $5.1 AAV
- Teuvo Teravainen (CAR) five-year, $5.4 AAV
- Jason Zucker (MIN) five-year, $5.5 AAV
- Colin White (OTT) six-year, $4.75 AAV
- Jake Guentzel (PIT) five-year, $6.0 AAV
- Elias Lindholm (CGY) six-year, $4.85 AAV
- Jaden Schwartz (STL) five-year, $5.35 AAV
- Jonathan Huberdeau (FLA) six-year, $5.9 AAV
Konecny is an Even-Strength Goal-Scoring Machine
Since breaking in with the Flyers his rookie year three seasons ago, Konecny has been one of the most productive players at even-strength (EV), in the league and with the Flyers.
Having already shown an impressive knack for goal-scoring, Konecny finds himself in some rare company at the just the start of his career.
Three seasons in, Konecny has scored 51 EV goals, making him just one of 20 players to reach that mark or higher over the first three seasons of a career since the 2007-08 season.
- Auston Matthews 86 EV Goals
- Connor McDavid 74 EV Goals
- Steven Stamkos 68 EV Goals
- Patrik Laine 66 EV Goals
- Artemi Panarin 64 EV Goals
- Jake Guentzel 63 EV Goals
- Sebastian Aho 61 EV Goals
- Sean Monahan 59 EV Goals
- Brayden Point 58 EV Goals
- John Tavares 57 EV Goals
- James Neal 56 EV Goals
- Jamie Benn 55 EV Goals
- Jonathan Toews, Nikita Kucherov 54 EV Goals
- Nikolaj Ehlers 53 EV Goals
- Jack Eichel, Evander Kane, Nikolai Kulemin 52 EV Goals
- Mitch Marner, Travis Konecny 51 EV Goals
After posting eight EV goals in his rookie season, Konecny scored 43 EV goals over the past two seasons combined. Between 2017 and 2019, only 32 players in the NHL have more EV goals than Konecny.
Furthermore, Konecny’s 43 EV goals over the last two seasons match the same output of Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews, Matt Duchene, and David Pastrnak.
Konecny Already a Prolific Goal-scorer in Flyers’ History
While Konecny has really come on in the past two seasons, scoring 20-plus goals in each year, his three-year totals put among the best in Flyers’ history as well.
Through a players’ first three seasons, only 11 other Flyers have produced more goals than Konecny’s 59 goals.
- Eric Lindros (1992-1995) 114 Goals
- Brian Propp (1979-1982) 104 Goals
- Bill Barber (1972-1975) 98 Goals
- Mikael Renberg (1993-1996) 87 Goals
- Simon Gagne (1999-2002) 80 Goals
- Bobby Clarke (1969-1972) 77 Goals
- Jeff Carter (2005-2008) 66 Goals
- Ron Flockhart (1980-1983), Ilkka Sinisalo (1981-1984), Peter Zezel (1984-1987), Dave Poulin (1982-1985) 65 Goals
- Travis Konecny (2016-2019) 59 Goals
Along with Konecny’s obvious goal-scoring prowess has been his ability to come through when it matters most. In Flyers’ history, only 12 players have scored more game-winning goals over their first three years in the league.
- Eric Lindros (1992-1995), Simon Gagne (1999-2002) 18 GW Goals
- Brian Propp (1979-1982) 14 GW Goals
- Jeff Carter (2005-2008), Peter Zezel (1984-1987) 13 GW Goals
- Dave Poulin (1982-1985) 12 GW Goals
- Bill Barber (1972-1975), Matt Read (2011-2014), James van Riemsdyk (2009-2012), Tom Gorence (1978-1981) 11 GW Goals
- Tim Kerr (1980-1983), Mike Richards (2005-2008), Ron Sutter (1982-1985) 10 GW Goals
- Travis Konecny (2016-2019) 9 GW Goals
Konecny Should Continue to Thrive Alongside Giroux and Couturier
While the Flyers largely struggled last season, one of the bright spots was their top line of Couturier, Giroux, and Konecny. League-wide, they were one of the more successful first lines in the entire league.
Last season, both Couturier (24) and Konecny (20) topped 20 EV goals, with Giroux just missing the mark with 19 EV goals in what was a down year for the captain.
All three players topped 20 EV assists on the year, Konecny with 21 EV assists, Couturier with 34 EV assists and Giroux leading the way with 42 EV assists.
In total, at even-strength, the Flyers’ top line finished with 63 goals and 107 assists.
After nearly breaking the 50-point plateau over the past two seasons, there’s reason to believe Konecny will only get better this season and beyond. Pairing his goal-scoring ability with the playmaking qualities of Couturier and Giroux for another season puts Konecny on track for another big year.
Not only should Konecny top 50 points this season, but in Alain Vigneault’s more uptempo system, the sky could very well be the limit for the fourth-year pro.
In fact, Konecny could break 60 points this year, with a real possibility of posting 30-plus goals and assists playing on the Flyers’ top line.