Flyers weigh trading Owen Tippett or Travis Konecny

The Flyers have too many wingers and not enough centers, and the trade market is about to sort out which one goes.

Daily Faceoff

@DailyFaceoff

Sources: Something 'has to give' on trade market with #LetsGoFlyers' winger logjam The latest from @ADiMarco25 on Owen Tippett, Travis Konecny and more: t.co/RW3P5PXUda

Here's how they got here. Philly opened the season winless through 8 games, and for a while the wing was thin because Tyson Foerster, Konecny and Tippett were all banged up. Tippett went on injured reserve with an upper-body injury from the Ottawa game. Now the bodies are coming back while Alex Bump and Cole Knuble are up from the AHL, and Trevor Zegras has looked a lot better since moving back to the wing next to Christian Dvorak. That's a lot of guys for not many spots, and Di Marco's sources say the Flyers would move a winger to get help up the middle.

Tippett is the name that comes up more. According to Di Marco, teams ask about him more often than Konecny, mostly because Konecny's no-movement clause makes any deal a lot harder. That lines up with earlier chatter: Edmonton was linked to Tippett before the season, and the Canadiens have been mentioned as a possible fit once the Flyers started looking like sellers.

Konecny is the harder call. Di Marco's earlier report said the Flyers could eventually ask him to waive the clause if the losing kept up, and quoted sources who were frustrated that the play often dies on his stick. He signed an 8-year, $70 million extension in 2024 and had only 3 assists in 5 games before he got hurt. Kevin Kurz, who covers the team for The Athletic, wasn't having any of it.

Kevin Kurz

@KKurzNHL

Konecny led the team in scoring the last 5 years. He's in the second of an eight-year deal and doesn't break the bank. He's probably the one player that's committed to the organization more than anyone. He's gone out of his way to try to help guys like Michkov and Zegras get acclimated. He just built a house in the area with his family. He has a full NMC clause for four more seasons after this one. Danny Briere, I strongly believe, is not the kind of GM that will try and force a player to waive his NMC. Konecny is not getting traded anytime soon, and frankly it's not even worth discussing unless this season truly goes off the rails (which is possible!)

Jason AAV

@JasonAAversano

@KKurzNHL Will be a great day when he is finally gone. He is like a friggin plague.

Kurz isn't wrong about the leverage. A full NMC with 4 more seasons on it after this one means Konecny decides whether he moves, and Kurz says Danny Briere isn't the type of GM to push a guy into waiving. He also lays out the off-ice case: Konecny has led the team in scoring 5 years running, he's been helping Michkov and Zegras settle in, and he just built a house in the area with his family. That's not a guy looking for a way out, and the Flyers would need his signature to trade him anyway.

So the realistic version of this goes through Tippett, and maybe a prospect, for a real center. Next thing to watch is who stays in the lineup once everyone is healthy. If Zegras stays on the wing and the kids keep producing, the logjam only gets worse, and Briere probably won't wait long before making a move.