He's not Guentzel...but i don't know that he's far enough off to think it's that laughable as an opening ask. Not with the cap expected to continue rising into the stratosphere. I wouldn't be shocked in the slightest if there were teams out there (and competitive ones included) that'd give him the Guentzel deal in a heartbeat.
I think it's probably a mistake. But then, probably so was the Guentzel deal, other than trying to load up for a few more runs with the gang in Tampa and who cares what happens after.
But with Konecny, i'd just be particularly worried about how he's going to hold up long-term physically. The rambunctious way he plays, you love it...but he's still never been a big guy and that kind of game really takes a toll on players, particularly when they're smaller. The way Gallagher just clomps around these days as a battered and broken, feisty and very small stature, but extensive collection of injuries incarnate...would be hard to shake from my mind.
Exactly. Konecny is a very nice player. But the Flyers trajectory and asset-building initiative need to be timed perfectly, and this is where a potential Konency deal becomes problematic.
Firstly, outside of Michkov
(and perhaps Tippett if I'm being generous) the Flyers don't have any world-class, franchise-changing pieces. At the very least they need one more elite piece. But if they want to be a legit contender long-term they need at least two.
Tampa has/had Kucherov, Hedman, Stamkos, Point and Vasilevskiy.
Florida has Barkov, Tkachuk, Reinhart and Bobrovsky.
Pittsburgh has/had Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Kessel, Staal, and Fleury.
Chicago had Kane, Toews, and Keith (plus insane depth).
Colorado had/has MacKinnon, Makar, Rantanen and Landeskog.
The Kings had Kopitar, Doughty, and Quick.
The Capitals had Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson, and Holtby (plus good depth).
The Flyers biggest problem since the cap era began is their penchant for overpaying for very good players in both cap hit and term. And their decision-making when it comes to timing is borderline grotesque.
Committing long-term to Couturier knowing he gets dinged up and his contract will be a detriment for the final 4-5 years was foolish. Overpaying for Kevin Hayes on the open market was foolish. Committing 8-years to Travis Konency
(who is going to be 28 this coming season) is foolish... unless that deal comes with a significant hometown discount
(like 8 x 7.5). Even then, signing him
at all could be foolish.
There are only three ways the Flyers can acquire elite pieces to help Michkov carry the team:
1. Draft them
2. Trade for them
3. Sign them
Committing to Konecny now -- or negotiating with him during the season before possibly trading him at the deadline -- is a huge detriment to option 1
(drafting them). A healthy Konecny will certainly contribute to the Flyers likely winning 4-7 additional games this coming season, which can be an 8-14 point swing in the standings and the difference between picking 2nd overall and 7th overall
(or out of the Top-10 like in 2024).
The Flyers already
"wasted" their opportunity last season to pick Top-5 in a rebuild by winning meaningless games and crashing at the end. Ironically, a Top-5 talent
(and potential #1D in Buium) fell into their lap regardless and they still managed to screw it up by going off the board and reaching for a nice, solid player in Luchanko who projects to be a very nice complimentary player as opposed to a star-level contributor. They simply cannot make the same mistake again and play themselves out of a Top 3-5 pick in a high-quality draft year.
It could be argued that the implications of keeping Konecny on the roster today
(along with Laughton, Ristolainen, and Farabee) are amplified due to its timing. Let alone an overpayment to Konency which could set the franchise back 5-10 years.
Moving to option 2, the likelihood of any team
(let alone the Flyers who already traded their best chip in Gauthier) trading for an elite superstar is almost nonexistent. So there goes that.
The third way for the Flyers to surround Michkov with elite star power is to secure it on the open market. This option generally comes with an overpayment -- a concession that could be justified if a team is on the cusp of 4 year Cup run and needs one key piece. For this to happen, the Flyers need tons of money in their arsenal. And this will likely be in 2-3 years. But only if the Flyers have at least one more key piece in the system to make a splash.
The Flyers are already committing decent money long-term to Tippett and Sanheim. Drysdale will be up for a raise soon as well as other "good players." In three seasons the Flyers will need to pay Michkov a fortune and with the Hart situation
(and Kolosov possibly gone) they still need to acquire and pay a top-tiered goalie if they wish to truly contend.
Unfortunately, they are most likely straddled with Couturier's contract. He is signed long-term, and even if semi-healthy, will likely be on the downswing when the Flyers most need him to play up to his contract. This contract could be a potential roadblock when it comes to overpaying a big fish. Adding another 8.5+ contract in Konecny will make matters even worse and could very well be the difference between the Flyers targeting the best of the best and settling to overpay a
"very good piece" when they hit the market.
And ^ this is the pattern the Flyers continually
(and willingly) put themselves in. When other teams are paying players like Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin, Kane, Doughty, and Kopitar, etc. huge money to win Cups, the Flyers are allocating top dollars to players who are a level below them (Richards, Carter, Giroux, Voracek, Couturier, Konecny, etc.)
When will they learn that in a hard-cap league, you can only pay your best money to elite, franchise-changing superstars
(not very good ones) and the best way to get them in the first place is by drafting them in the Top-5 of the draft?
By not trading Konency today for assets, Briere is publicly tipping his hand that the Flyers are content with being good-to-very-good during the Michkov era but they are not willing to do what it takes to reach for the stars. So basically, status quo with the way this franchise has operated for decades.