On Thursday, Travis Konecny signed an eight-year extension with the Flyers for a total of $70,000,000. That exceeds (outside of the Shea Weber offer sheet) any contract the Flyers have doled out in their history, beating the Claude Giroux eight-year extension in 2013 by $3.8 million. And also beating out the 12-year, $69 million deal they gave Mike Richards back in 2008. Immediately fans and bloggers were in a frenzy over Konecny’s extension, some thinking it was a great deal while a larger share seemingly think the Flyers just traded Owen Tippett to Los Angeles and Matvei Michkov to Columbus with an hour of each other.
To help calm the waters and perhaps provide a bit of levity to the discussion, here are 70 reasons (or one per million) why the Travis Konecny contract and his staying here is a good thing that happened for the Flyers. And yes even the fanbase!
1. Konecny is coming off a career-high in goals with 33, two more than he scored in the 2022-23 season. This is 33 goals in a year where the power play was historically, comically inept.
2. The contract ensures the Flyers have one of their brighter spots the last few seasons with them for what is hopefully his prime production seasons and beyond. Konecny will turn 28 when the contract begins to start the 2025-26 campaign.
3. If Konecny’s new contract was plopped into this past season’s leaders in terms of AAV he would find his contract in forty-third spot, just $50,000 a year lower than Alex Pietrangelo’s AAV and $50,000 a year more than Sidney Crosby’s, Dylan Larkin’s and Patrik Laine’s.
4. With the contract the Flyers remain one of only a handful of teams to not have a player making $9 million AAV or over. And the lone team in the Metropolitan Division to not have a player making over that amount.
5. Having the contract signed in late July eliminates any distractions that could have emerged had both sides not come to an agreement. Any thunder from Michkov’s looming rookie season shouldn’t have been usurped by ongoing Konecny contract talks dragging into training camp and beyond.
6. Konecny’s extension should mean he remains one of the assistant captains on the Flyers. That is unless Torts decides to remove the letter from his jersey figuratively. Or literally with a pair of scissors.
7. The winger should play a crucial role in resurrecting the power play to non-embarrassing levels. Having a playmaker like Michkov on the first unit to start the season or at least shortly thereafter can’t do anything but help the Flyers get to perhaps 15 or 16 per cent effectiveness in 2024-25.
8. Konecny should provide some short-handed magic again this coming year and beyond. The Flyers last season had a league-leading 16 goals down a man, with Konecny responsible for six of them.
9. In layman’s terms, Konecny’s contract is a raise of $3.25 million per year over his previous contract. The figure of $3.25 million is less than what the Flyers will pay individually to Cal Petersen this season as well as Kevin Hayes and Ryan Johansen.
10. Further to the last reason (and perhaps in uber layman’s terms), the money being doled out by the Flyers this coming season to have Cam Atkinson, Hayes, Tony DeAngelo not play for them is almost $7.6 million. When those all come off the books that would account for 86.8 per cent of the funds needed to pay Konecny’s $8.75 million.
11. Konecny shouldn’t just help Michkov adjust to the ups and downs of an NHL season but his presence should help some of the more promising (and younger) forwards the Flyers have on the current roster and on the way. He has learned to play on that razor-thin edge far better of late between helping and hurting the team.
12. He will never come back to haunt the Flyers as a member of another team. Well, with the way the new contract is crafted he shouldn’t haunt Philadelphia at least for its first six years.
13. The original speculation of Konecny ending up with a $10 million AAV or at least in the $9 million range didn’t come to fruition. Instead the deal is 10 years after Giroux’s deal and for only $475,000 AAV more than what Giroux received back when he signed the eight-year extension in 2013.
14. Barring a few injuries that didn’t put him out of commission for extended periods of time Konecny has been healthy more often than not thus far for the Flyers in his career. Although missing 22 games in 2022-23, he only missed six this past season, three in 2021-22, six in 2020-21, three in 2019-20, zero in 2018-19 and one in 2017-18. That’s not a lot of missed time (knock on wood).
15. With this contract it’s conceivable Konecny will join both Giroux and Bobby Clarke (and possibly Sean Couturier) as skaters who have played 1,000 games for Philadelphia in their careers. Konecny currently stands at 564 games and a healthy or relatively healthy 2024-25 season would have him easily over the 600 mark.
16. Some analytics-friendly outfits said Briere didn’t miss the mark by much with this Konecny extension. According to AFP Analytics they stated it was a deal that both the Flyers and Konecny should feel happy with.
18. By wearing #11 since 2017 and possibly keeping it until 2033, Konecny will leave the likes of former Flyers who wore #11 like Jiri Latal, Dan Quinn, Kevin Dineen, Tony Amonte, Alexandre Daigle and even Don Saleski in the dust.
19. It’s a win-win for those who doubt the rebuilding process could work in the first place with Konecny a part of it. Having Konecny here scoring hampers a draft pick’s development or worsens their chances for more lottery balls next spring for the 2025 draft and beyond. Having Konecny go into a slump proves they were right all along. I mean he signed the contract July 25 and he hasn’t scored a goal since, right?
20. With the contract discussions behind him and the future ahead of him quite clear, Konecny can now focus on the goal of playing great for the Flyers and helping them achieve their ultimate goal when he’s a few years into his eight-year contract.
21. The winger should be safely able to join the WAGTBHLTYJTAC Club alongside Travis Sanheim, Sean Couturier and Owen Tippett. Oh the acronym of course is We Are Going To Be Here Longer Than You John Tortorella As Coach.
22. Although there is the language barrier currently, Konecny should help Michkov in terms of his dealing with Tortorella. Konecny was benched early in the 2022-23 season along with the departed (and now Penguin) Kevin Hayes so he’s been both in the doghouse and the penthouse with the head coach.
23. This contract hopefully means that when July 1, 2025 and July 1, 2026 come around Briere isn’t trying to fill a huge offensive gap left by Konecny’s departure. And as we’ve seen in previous years (Kevin Hayes, although it was a trade on June 3, 2019 to get his rights earlier) not all UFAs blossom into key components on contenders. Sometimes it’s better to keep what you have. And sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because there’s more crap there.
24. With the cap ceiling rising to $88 million starting this coming season, Konecny’s extension currently would be just under 10 per cent of the team’s total cap (9.94 per cent). Should the cap continue to rise and the revenues continue to grow, it’s conceivable to see that percentage drop to possibly 8 per cent or lower as time passes.
25. Should he play out his entire extension without being traded, Konecny would join Bobby Clarke and possibly Sean Couturier as the only Flyers to have played a career of 15 years or more entirely with the Flyers.
26. As tweeted by a fellow BSH contributor (and editor) Thursday, Konecny has had more even strength goals the last two seasons than Leon Draisatl, Sam Reinhart, Tage Thompson, J.T. Miller, Cole Caulfield and Mitch Marner. Also on the list was Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, Anze Kopitar and Chris Kreider.
27. Making a commitment to a player they drafted (much like they did with Couturier and Sanheim) fosters a sense of loyalty that could appeal to players in the pipeline.
28. Konecny’s contract will not only outlast Tortorella’s deal but should also outlast the dreaded, vomit-inducing, kill-me-now bag skates that have started the last two training camps under Tortorella’s direction.
29. The $70 million should be able to pay for fresh, clean dog masks worn in the locker room after each Flyers victory the next eight years.
30. While some might think such talk is foolhardy, a Flyers Stanley Cup win during Konecny’s contract would mean that, after Couturier, Konecny would be the second person (or possibly third if an aging veteran is added) to hoist the Cup over his head.
31. By the conclusion of Konecny’s deal and assuming he remains in good health, it’s reasonable to believe Konecny would eclipse the 300-goal mark for his career. Again, an improved power play would make 300 goals almost a given and a definite shot at almost doubling his 176 goals thus far.
32. The contract could mean Konecny since 2013-2014 will have played for three teams until the spring of 2033. From 2013-14 until 2015-16 he played with the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League. He was then traded and played 31 games for the Sarnia Sting. Since then the next 564 games have been with a Flyers crest on the front. And is under contract for another 738 regular season tilts.
33. “I’ve always been in it for the long haul,” Konecny said Thursday. “This is the team that believed in me. I wanted to do the same for them now.” He also said he wanted to “lead by example” which is something you love to hear.
34. The deal once again distances itself from the Holmgren era where players seemed disposable (i.e. Mike Richards and Jeff Carter). Konecny’s signing continues a line of deals dating back to Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek (identical in length and extremely close in AAV given both were inked over a decade ago) that gives players a sense that if you play well in Philadelphia you won’t be put on the trade block.
35. Unless the Flyers planned to blow 15 to 20 per cent of their cap in 2025 to lure Leon Draisatl or a higher percentage to entice Connor McDavid to Philadelphia (both of which were longshots to begin with), spending less to keep a talented forward around while continuing to develop youth is a wise thing to do.
36. When Konecny faces the Penguins in the 2032-33 season he be facing a 47-year-old Evgeni Malkin, a 46-year-old Kris Letang and a 46-year-old Sidney Crosby. The youthful core will each be in the midst of another four-year extension.
37. Had the Flyers delayed the contract talks through to the end of the 2024-25 season it’s possible Konecny could’ve been coming away with career highs in goals and points thanks to the arrival of Michkov and a resurging powerplay. That situation would’ve made it next to impossible for Briere to wrap Konecny up for that length and a term with any number under $9 million AAV or beyond.
38. To reiterate point #26 again, here’s another tweet which breaks down how effective Konecny has been in five-on-five play.
39. If for some reason the contract is a disaster by year seven or both the team and the player have soured on each other, the deal’s final two seasons contain no signing bonuses and payments each year of a base salary of $6.6 million. In other words a team could see the advantage of an AAV being somewhat higher than what they have to actually fork out and take Konecny. Of course Konecny always has the right to waive a no trade clause or no movement clause if he so chooses.
40. The vitriol that emerged on social media from the signing and the instant second-guessing has made the Flyers once again a hot topic in the dog days of summer. The interest is great for the team at a time when most organizations are busy booking vacations and ensuring bobbleheads do not go missing.
41. In reference to point #3, Konecny’s deal is currently the forty-third highest AAV in the league. It would be safe to assume that his deal’s AAV by the time year five, six or seven come around would see him out of the top 100.
42. Konecny’s emergence from a hot-headed winger to a winger to a productive and generally more disciplined winger is something that would take any recent or forthcoming draft prospect not named Michkov the same amount of time to develop.
43. Those wanting to see Konecny traded out of town this summer for a trove of young talent and draft picks had to realize at some point that the wish and reality were two different things. He wanted to stay in town, Briere wanted him to stay so it was just a case of number crunching to come to a resolution.
44. There will be two Flyers named Travis on the team for the foreseeable future.
45. Fans who have Konecny jerseys now don’t have to worry when they enter the Wells Fargo…I mean the hockey rink they’ll be wearing a sweater that is old.
46. With another nine years of Konecny the forward should see himself slowly but surely end up in the conversation of the top 50 (or top 20) all-time Flyer greats. If the magic phrase “Stanley Cup champion” precedes his name then that is all but guaranteed.
47. Having Konecny around for the long haul should help Michkov if he is benched at some point by Tortorella. Konecny was benched a few times under Dave Hakstol when he was in his early stages of an NHL career. So it’s easy to believe he’d know exactly how the Mad Russian is feeling towards Torts.
48. Show me an NHL team that hasn’t had important veterans as part of its championship team and I’ll show you a team that hasn’t won championships.
49. Ideally as both Couturier and Konecny become a bit longer in the tooth you’d love to see the Flyers possess enough homegrown, younger talent that could take some of the burden off their shoulders. If Konecny is still the team’s leading point-getter over the eight years than either he’s become possessed by Connor McDavid or every prospect including Michkov essentially fell into a deep, inescapable well. The latter idea is horrifying. the former idea is fantastic!
50. Elaborating on point #49 if Konecny is passed on the scoring list by a few of the emerging forwards that doesn’t mean the contract extension was a terrible idea. It means the Flyers are drafting well and adding talent to already proven talent, naysayers be irked.
51. Outside of the Philadelphia area, there have been few analysts or experts that have deemed this contract to be apocalyptic. Most have seen it for what it’s worth: a contract that sees a talented forward wanting to stay and a team wanting him to stay. Hopefully Konecny ends up with more grade-A or highly skilled players around him over this time span than what Giroux or Voracek had when both inked their eight-year contracts.
52. Nine more years of sporadic videos possibly featuring Gritty and Konecny together. Cue the laugh track.
53. The Toronto Maple Leafs will now have to cross Konecny off their list of Ontario-born players who must finish their illustrious and storied careers in Toronto.
54. Say what you want about the NHL, the way contracts work is quite different than any other professional sport. They are guaranteed unlike some NFL contracts. Nor can they be restructured in the midst of the contract for more money like NBA deals. Nor is there an opt-out clause with them to renegotiate for additional money. Barring some CBA impasse between the owners and the NHLPA Travis Konecny will get the same amount of money beginning in 2025-26 for eight consecutive seasons. Like it or lump it.
55. Konecny’s contract makes him the Flyers player with the longest term on the team, eclipsing Owen Tippett’s contract by one season. Tippett’s deal will expire following the 2031-32 season when Tippett will be 33 years old.
56. The Flyers (outside of the Leafs, Canucks and Sabres) have the longest Stanley Cup drought of any NHL team. Half a century since their first Cup win this year and next season will mark 50 years since their last. Konecny’s presser after the signing demonstrated just how important winning a Cup in Philadelphia means to him. “There was no other option. I look at, if I get the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup — which I believe we can do in Philly — that just wouldn’t feel like an accomplishment unless it was with the Flyers,”
57. The forward hasn’t been in the spotlight for any misbehavior away from the rink or stirred up any controversy off the ice. It’s doubtful this contract will do anything but have him focused on winning, much like the Russian who just came over sporting the Phillies baseball cap. If $5.5 million a year on average hasn’t gone to his head it’s a stretch to think an average of $8.75 million annually will.
58. The Sign Man will not have to discard any Konecny-related signs he spent his hard-earned bristol board and Sharpies on over the previous seasons.
59. Having this extension done and now in the rearview mirror allows Briere to move forward with one less question mark on the board.
60. The organization under Briere moved out pieces they thought were problematic by being creative and thinking long-term. And even eating some of the contracts for a year or two if need be. Signing Konecny shouldn’t have many people today checking what the terms of a buyout would be. But you can bet there will be a few.
61. In a season that saw a starting goaltender now preparing for a Canadian courtroom, the bigger picture here is a player who wanted to stay here is staying here to help Philadelphia get over the top.
62. The added money could make Konecny possibly involved in name rights for the team’s home rink after the departure of Wells Fargo. I’m thinking the Konecny Coliseum.
63. If the forward decides after his career he wants to stay within the organization in some capacity, it’s almost a certainty that will happen under this front office as it’s currently built. The Flyers have brought back former players (Briere, Keith Jones and Patrick Sharp to name three) while looking out for those who unfortunately didn’t pan out as expected (Sam Morin).
64. Konecny has two hat tricks in his career. One would expect that number to increase over the extension. In February, 2024 against Winnipeg he had a “Gordie Howe” hat trick (goal, assist, fight)
65. After winning the Bobby Clarke Award as team MVP in April, look for Konecny to be in the running for the trophy one or two more times. And don’t forget the Toyota Cup for three-star voting after home games.
66. The contract comes with 50 per cent of the $70 million paid in signing bonuses the first six years: $9 million, $3 million, $7.5 million, $6 million, $5 million and $4.5 million. Konecny’s base salary is as low as $2 million in year one and as high as $5.25 million in year two over the first six years.
67. Besides ties with the team, Konecny’s staying in Philadelphia should only enhance his charitable work with various Philadelphia-area groups and organizations he’s developed a relationship with since coming into the league.
68. If Konecny were to average 70 to 75 points a season over the contract by keeping healthy and playing with more high-end talent one would be hard pressed to find fault with it. A decline is expected with age but some players age more gracefully than others. Hopefully Konecny is one of those.
69. Although this doesn’t solve any dearth down the middle, this contract should ensure that the first three years of Michkov’s entry-level contract sees the team a bit more competitive a bit more quickly. This clearly isn’t going to be the typical “tear everything down to the studs” rebuild which is no guarantee equation for success either (i.e. Buffalo, Ottawa).
70. This has little to do with Konecny’s contract but I am grateful I wasn’t around to write why Shea Weber’s offer sheet from the Flyers for $110 million was a good thing. I would still have another 40 ideas to come up with.
