Photo Credit: The Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers season came and went, and it was gone in the blink of an eye Travis Konecny was a ball of energy, showing the Flyers life. He made his naysayers believers, as Konecny endured a career season under first year Head Coach John Tortorella.
“Just understanding the game a little bit better, working on being in better positions to help the team and score and being in better ice for the most part,” Travis Konecny said of his career season at exit interviews. “Also just coming in here knowing that with the new staff, you’re going to have to prove yourself. Maybe that was that season – I think AV was brought on that season, so maybe I was proving myself then too, I’m not too sure. Just tried to work hard and put the work in and it just paid off.”
With the Flyers starting out to a 5-3-2 record to begin the season, a player that really shined was Travis Konecny. Looking back, there was never a doubt that Travis was back to his old ways. He scored his first of the year in the season opener against the New Jersey Devils, and then he scored his second of the night in the third period of the same game to put the team up 4-1. Of course, the Flyers won that game 5-2. The Flyers then took on the Vancouver Canucks on October 15, 2022, and they won the game 3-2 with Konecny scoring the game winning goal. This was the game that everyone realized that Konecny was revitalized, he was fiesty, full of energy.
As much as people downed Konecny the previous year, I believe that he used that negativity to better himself this year and really help out the team. Travis’ teammates speak very highly of him:
“TK is an unbelievable player. He’s an all-star player in this league. He’s arguably our best player, and last year – stats aren’t always a big picture. I’m sure he thinks about it, it’s written about, it’s talked about. I don’t think he’s done anything too drastic to change. I think his energy’s always there; he’s always kind of a rat, and when he scores goals and he’s being himself it just adds to his fuel, and it makes him look that much better. He knows he’s a great player, everyone in this league knows he’s a really good player. It’s great that he’s off to a hot start and hopefully it keeps going.” – Kevin Hayes
I think most of us can agree with Kevin that Travis is an All-Star player when he is playing with confidence, “It was definitely something I’d been aiming at getting at some point. I’d been close in the past,” Konecny said when describing his 30 goal season. “Every summer, ever since I had hit the 24-goal mark, that was a goal going into the season. Unfortunately, how we ended isn’t the goal, but to hit that was nice.”
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Konecny elaborated on Tortorella, “You just knew every night you had to work hard, and if you didn’t, you were going to be held accountable. There’s something to be said about that. It doesn’t matter who you are, you know you got to go in and put the – whether it’s practice or morning skate, he was always paying attention to that stuff. We had a good relationship. To be honest, we didn’t really talk, we just kind of understood each other, and I knew what he expected for me. When I wasn’t giving that and kind of trending in the wrong direction, I knew that a conversation was going to come and then that would be it, and we would get back on track. I think that was a big moment for me and for Torts because after that, we had a discussion and kind of built a relationship after that (October). Like I said, it wasn’t like a whole back-and-forth communicating every day, it was it was more kind of right after that, and then we understood each other and kind of got that out of the way. I think it was big moment.”
For his efforts, Konecny lead the team in Points (61), Goals (31), and was third in Power Play points (15)- 5g,10a with the man advantage. His biggest stat, however, was finishing tied for first on the team with three Short-Handed Goals. Just superb stuff from Teeks, “I’ll just try to do as much as I can do and as much as I can control. Whatever opportunity I’m given, I’ll just continue to try to work hard throughout the summer,” says Konecny. “Whether that means trying to be around here maybe a couple weeks just to be around young guys, or phone calls, or whatever it may be, but work hard in the summer and then try to set an example at camp and we’ll go from there.”
Justin Braun
Braun was a class act during his tenure in Philadelphia. He never whined, never complained, just went about his business. Ride off into the sunset Justin, enjoy the wife and kids. Braun has officially retired from the NHL.
