Pros & Cons of Flyers Extending Travis Konecny

While forward Travis Konecny is not set to become an unrestricted free agent until after the 2024-25 season, it’s not too early for the Philadelphia Flyers to think about extending his deal. The soon-to-be 27-year-old has followed up his 31-goal and 30-assist campaign last season (in 60 contests) with 23 goals and 20 assists in 51 games in 2023-24, putting him on pace to lead the Flyers in points for the fourth time in the last five seasons.

With his team in a playoff spot despite being in a rebuild, would it make sense for management to give him a big extension? Based on market value for a player of his caliber — with the cap slated to rise to $87.7 million next season — he could be due for a raise to $9 million annually (depending on if he’s willing to take a discount for, likely, the maximum term of eight seasons if he’s not selling himself short). What are some of the pros and cons of a deal like this?

Pro: Konecny Might Not Return a Haul

The Flyers giving up a player like Konecny — especially since he’s due for a big raise — won’t bring a return equal to what they’d give up. Likely, they’d be looking at a couple of late first-round picks and maybe a decent prospect along with that. He’s a star player, but not one that can carry a team, so that more or less makes sense.

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Instead of looking at the draft picks as just that, we need to look at the players they turn into. Among the couple hundred still-active players who were selected in late in the first round, very few of them are better than Konecny. Only Brock Boeser and David Pastrnak were drafted in the latter third of the first round and have more points this season, which is a very low hit rate.

So, unless the Flyers pull off a miracle and use the draft picks they’d receive in a deal for Konecny well, they wouldn’t be getting anything better or equal to him. Drafting a future middle-six forward in that range is usually considered a successful pick. Getting a roster staple who can play in the top nine of the forward group would be a solid use of that selection.

This argument flips if Konecny is dealt for a high-end draft pick. But how many teams are willing to do that? The Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres, and Arizona Coyotes all have fairly decent rosters and good farm systems that might just need that immediate star player to help them take the next step. But that can’t be the…