Recent discussions about Travis Konecny’s potential contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers have stirred significant debate. According to Jim Jackson, who joined SportsRadio WIP, Konecny’s new deal might be in the range of $10 million per season. While Konecny is undoubtedly one of the Flyers’ top performers, such a hefty contract would arguably represent one of the biggest overpayments in the NHL, consuming 11.4% of the salary cap.
To put this into perspective, As Alexander Appleyard of PHLY Sports points out, similar contracts in percentage terms include elite players like Nikita Kucherov (11.7%), Matt Tkachuk (11.5%), Brayden Point (11.5%), Mikko Rantanen (11.4%), and Sebastian Aho (11.1%). Each of these players are 90+ point contributors, a level Konecny has yet to reach.
Konecny, who is entering the final year of his current contract at $5.5 million per season, posted a career-high 33 goals and 68 points during the 2023-24 campaign. While these are impressive numbers, they fall well short of the output from the NHL’s true elite forwards. Even as the salary cap rises and the Flyers have room to pay Konecny this kind of money, it doesn’t mean they should.
Flyers Are Best To Move On If This Number Is Accurate
Short of Konecny posting a 100-point season in 2024-25, the Flyers need to stay away from a contract this large for a player who hasn’t earned it. Not only does overpaying good, but not great players set the organization up for repeated problems with other contract negotiations, but the Flyers are currently in a rebuilding phase. This further complicates the decision to re-sign Konecny at such a high price. At 27 years old, Konecny’s prime years do not align perfectly with the team’s timeline for becoming competitive again. Investing $10 million annually in Konecny would be a massive misallocation of resources, especially when the team has multiple needs to address.
Given these considerations, if the player is insistent on earning this kind of money, it may be in the Flyers’ best interest to trade Konecny. Moving him now could bring valuable assets in return and provide the flexibility needed to build a more balanced and competitive roster in the coming years.
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