NHL Network: David Pagnotta on NHL Network on Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny, who has one year left on his contract and is eligible for a contract extension after July 1st. The panel also touches on Sean Couturier and Scott Laughton.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Kathryn Tappen: “All eyes are on Travis Konecny and the conversations surrounding him. So will he be a Philadelphia Flyer moving forward? Dave, tell us.”
Pagnotta: “He’d like to be.”
Tappen: “Yeah.”
Pagnotta: “And the Flyers definitely want to keep them long-term. And he’s got another year on his contract, so technically, they don’t necessarily, there’s no worry at this stage.
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But there has been, negotiations, I guess formally haven’t started yet but the conversations have at least gotten underway. So that the flyers have an understanding of what connection he’s looking for. Which by the sounds of things starts with a 10 in that $10 million range on an AAV.
I think Konecny’s camp understands you’re probably at least from Philly’s perspective, starting with an eight. can you bridge that gap? But there’s a lot of time certainly to get to that point.
But they’ve already had some loose conversations. Anthony Di Marco, my colleague also confirming that $10 plus million dollar mark on the AAV. At least from what they’re looking at.
So it’s a high price tag. And they’ve got some time to negotiate but at least both sides right now understand where each side is at.
EJ Hradek: “Well, $10 million, he’ll enjoy some other cities. I mean, that’s where I would be but I guess it’s, it’s the Ying and the Yang.
Pagnotta: “Right.
Hradek: “You go back and forth with this thing. And he’s really an important piece for them, but that is a high dollar amount.
Tappen: “But is it the right amount, you know, is it for him?”
Hradek: “Yeah. Exactly.”
Dave Reid: “For a year, two years, like are you looking, you start stretching those numbers out with term.
Pagnotta: “Yeah,.
Reid: “Like, that’s the issue with going term with a high number of some players. It’s like, at $10 (million), seems a lot but that you know, that’s, that’s negotiating part of it. And again, it’s not just it’s yeah, okay, we got three years, three really good years left, you know, what are that three to eight? Where’s that going to take us? AAV doesn’t get lower.
Hradek: “Yeah, that’s my fear with a player like Konency because I love watching that guy play. But he’s not the biggest guy. He plays way above his, like he punches above his weight.
Pagnotta: “Right.
Hradek: “And that’s great while you can,
Pagnotta: “Right
Hradek “But as you know, Dave, we’ve seen it right? Those type of players, their shelves, their shelf life is really limited because then that inevitably they get dinged up. hey get beat up and they’re just not the same players.
So I just think it’s, you know, I’d have a hard time going that kind of term, that kind of money for Konecny as much as I love him as a player.
Pagnotta: “They’ve got a lot of depth on the right side, especially organizationally as well, with Mischka of potentially coming over as early as now, as early as next season. It’ll be interesting to see how they maneuver the roster and how Torts maneuvers.
Hradek: “And (Sean) Couturier, who’s got another big, long contract. So that’s another guy you got to figure out. He was the captain. Then he was scratched. Where does he fit in, right? So they got some work to do.
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Pagnotta: “And they’re going to explore a couple other options as well. Scott Laughton was a guy that generated some interest during the season. There’s some willingness to at least listen on that front from Philly side of things. So Danny Briere, I don’t think he’s gonna look to make too many significant changes, but he’ll, he’ll listen and of course, continue the conversation with Konecny’s camp.
