Flyers Winger Travis Konecny Putting up Points in 23-24′

The Flyers Good Start – How Travis Konecny’s points have made the difference

We are several games into the young NHL season so far and it was only a matter of time before I touched on the start to the year that the Philadelphia Flyers have had. Many of the media predicted the Flyers will be a lottery team this year and in the basement of the Metro Division. For a rebuilding team like Philly, as long as the young players in the organization like Cam York, Bobby Brink, or Tyson Forester have productive years, a lottery ticket would be a welcomed sight; with a shot at the number 1 pick. This still may be what the future holds for the Flyers as the season is in its early stages. However, the Flyers are doing one thing right now that could jeopardize that chance. They’re playing well. The team as a whole- young players, rookies and vets, are gelling. Instead of focusing on the bright futures for the rookies I wanted to take a look at a more tenured Flyer.

So In all seriousness, as a fan, of course I want the Flyers to play well and win games. I am pretty happy with this start, as the Flyers are 3-2-1 as I type this and are 3rd place in the Metro division. Good enough for 7 points and 1 point behind the first place New York Rangers. Again, it’s early and this team could absolutely fall apart and the inexperience and youth could begin to show. However, right now things are good. Of all the players that are producing on this team right now I’d like to focus on one that’s been here since the 2016-17 season. Travis Konecny.

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Travis Konecny Leading the Way – Veteran Leadership

Konecny has had a great start to the season and in my opinion tends to fly under the radar in the NHL. It’s understandable as he’s not Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid but Travis Konecy is only 26 and coming off of a career year. Last season Konecny tallied 31 goals with 30 assists, his best season to date. Through 6 games in the 2023-24 season, TK has recorded 5 goals and 2 assists. Konecny was held scoreless in Vegas last night where the Flyers surprisingly made it a tough game for the Golden Knights, eventually losing on a last second goal. Before last night’s game however, Travis Konecny was on fire. Battling against the Dallas Stars, the winger managed to put up not one, but two shorthanded goals and kept the Flyers in the game until overtime when the Stars pulled out the victory. For one of the longer tenured flyers on the roster it’s extremely important for this club to have him make that next step and produce at a star level. His hot start may be an indication that Flyers fans should get used to the 30 goal mark and hopefully more.

NHL Edge

To further highlight Konecny’s good start we can check out the NHL’s new player tracking data model, NHL EDGE. You can find this at https://edge.nhl.com/en/home 

Here you can check out a player’s normal stats like Goals and shooting percentage but also:

• Top Skating Speed
• Top Shooting speed
• Skating Distance
• Speed Bursts

It’s a fun site to get lost in, scanning all of the stats. But let’s look at a few for Travis Konency that really stood out to me in the small sample size we have.

First of all Konency is in the 94th percentile in shooting percentage with a 27.8%. With 18 shots so far, the Flyer has taken 8 more shots than the league average of 10. With a team that has so many young players developing, scoring can be hard to find. The Flyers are surely looking to Konency to lead the way, and this season he should be putting the puck on net very often. Being in the 94th percentile in shooting percentage, you can see that these are not reckless shots. TK is finding the right spots. NHL EDGE also shows where Konecny has scored from and 3 of his 5 goals are up close to the net. I’m looking forward to mid season when we have much more data to analyze but for now it’s definitely an interesting way to get closer to the game.

The Flyers next game is at home vs the Minnesota Wild. After being held scoreless in Vegas, I think we see Travis Konecny get that goal total up to 6. Should be a great game!

This is an article written by Dylan "Mogo" Montgomery