Oh look, a reason to actually pay attention to these final games!
The Philadelphia Flyers have activated forward Travis Konecny from injured reserve and placed him on the active roster ahead of Saturday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
Travis Konecny has been activated from injured reserve to the active roster.
— Olivia Reiner (@ReinerOlivia) April 1, 2023
It is still to be determined if this means that Konecny is playing on Saturday against the Sabres.
Konecny sustained an upper-body injury during the game against the Calgary Flames on Feb. 20 and has steadily been working his way back to making a late-season return. Now, with eight games left of the 2022-23 regular season, it looks like we’re getting the best player on this team to provide a little bit of a jump for a team that is on the cusp of being eliminated from playoff contention. What timing!
Despite missing 16 games – where the Flyers went 6-7-3 – Konecny is still the team’s leading scorer with 27 goals and 54 points in 52 games played. The next best is Kevin Hayes’s 53 points, but he has played a whopping 21 more games than Konecny.
Now, what does this really mean for the Flyers? Well, we get to at least see that he is healthy and watch some cool goals be scored again. But, it can also be seen that Philadelphia is waiving around a giant flag labeled “Travis Konecny Is So Healthy, Guys” to the other 31 teams so that they want to trade for him this summer.
It’s no secret that with two years remaining on his contract before he hits unrestricted free agency, Konecny’s days as a Flyer might be ending. The new front office might just feel that his timeline doesn’t work with a potential rebuild and whatever they can get back for him in terms of picks and prospects would benefit them more than having a very good player on this team.
In a not-so-similar vein, the Flyers might also be getting center Sean Couturier back before the season ends. Konecny and the 30-year-old forward have been skating together as they recovered from their various injuries and both made a return to team practice last month, as well as joining the team on the road during their recent game against the Senators (that might have been to hangout with Claude Giroux more than anything). As of Saturday, Couturier remains on the injured reserve list.
