Back in the summer of 2019, Flyers fans spent each day wondering when the Flyers would sign the young promising wing Travis Konecny to a long-term deal. Negotiations went on all summer when finally the Flyers and Konecny agreed to a 6-year extension worth $5.5M a year.
In the first season of his contract, Konecny soared, leading the Flyers in both goals and points last season with 24 goals and 61 points in 66 games; however, this year has been different.
On their own, Konecny’s numbers don’t look much different than last season. With 6 goals and 6 assists in 17 games, he looks like he’s a constant contributor to the team night in and night out. That’s not really what’s happening.
Konecny, like last season, started off guns blazing putting up 8 points in the first 7 games, including a hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He seemed to fight off that lack of goal-scoring he had in the playoffs last season and continue to be a leader on the ice for the Flyers. That didn’t happen.
After the January 26th game against the Devils, Konecny’s 7th game of the season where Konecny tallied a Goal and an Assist, he only played one more game before getting benched by head coach Alain Vigneault.
In that same window, Konecny also missed an extended period of time with COVID-19 as he missed the Lake Tahoe game and was the last player in the big group of Flyers on the list to come off of it. He went almost an entire month without playing a hockey game, going from February 7th to March 2nd without getting in an NHL game. In the 5 games since returning back, he has contributed more by tallying 4 points, scoring 1 goal and 3 assists while also taking 12 shots on goal in those games.
The high numbers seem to show Konecny’s improvements on the ice, but again, that is not the whole picture. His play has been inconsistent and shotty, as his only goal came on a 2-0 breakaway against the Penguins. Most of the other times in this stretch, and even this season, he has seemed off. He’s missed nets, hit the post a lot, and turned the puck over a lot.
Hopefully, Konecny gains some consistency again, as he can be one of the Flyers’ best players when on his game, but until then, he has to continue to work hard to get out of the funk he seems to be in.