Despite spending his whole career to this point in the Eastern Conference, Travis Konecny has always been a player with a strange connection to the Vancouver Canucks.
For years, he was known primarily as Bo Horvat’s cousin. Then, when the Canucks struggled to come up with enough homegrown offensive talent and started looking outside the organization for solutions, Konecny’s name came up constantly as a potential trade target.
Well, it would appear that Konecny isn’t leaving Philadelphia anytime soon. But his days of impacting the Canucks are not quite over because the massive extension he just signed with the Flyers really sets the stage as a comparable for the next major contract the Canucks need to sign.
That being the Brock Boeser extension.
Konecny’s teammate Travis Sanheim took to Twitter to announce the extension on Thursday.
When the details came out, it was indeed a considerable commitment: eight years at an average annual value (AAV) of $8.75 million. For the Flyers, of whom Konecny has been MVP for a few years running, it’s a deal they can definitely live with.
For the Canucks, who need to re-sign a very similar player in the immediate future, it could be seen as reason to worry.
Really, the similarities between Konecny and Boeser pass the threshold from notable to uncanny. They were born just weeks apart in 1997, Boeser on February 25th and Konecny on March 11th. They were drafted one after another in the 2015 Draft, with Boeser going 23rd overall and Konecny going 24th. Both have stayed with their drafting organizations ever since. Both play primarily on the right wing.
Both Konecny and Boeser hit the NHL in 2016/17, though it was a full season for Konecny and just a six-game audition for Boeser.
Beyond that point, and aside from some major injury concerns on Boeser’s part, the two have developed in relative lockstep. As of the end of the 2023/24 season, Konecny had worked himself up to 174 goals, 226 assists, and 400 points in 564 career games. Boeser has 179 goals, 205 assists, and 384 points in 479 career games.
For those who don’t want to bust out the percentage calculator, we’ve got you covered. Konecny is rocking a rate of 0.31 goals-per-game, 0.40 assists-per-game, and 0.71 points-per-game. Boeser, meanwhile, has career rates of 0.37 goals-per-game, 0.40 assists-per-game, and 0.80 points-per-game.
Those rates would seem to give Boeser the edge, but it’s important to note that over their careers, the Canucks have put up 3.00 goals-per-game to the Flyers’ 2.87. And that Boeser has been blessed with consistent assignments alongside either Elias Pettersson or JT Miller.
With those things factored in, it’s an offensive dead-heat between Konecny and Boeser.
Both have the fortunate distinction of hitting a career year in the penultimate season of their contracts (Konecny’s extension won’t kick in until 2025/26).
Last year, Konecny set new benchmarks for goals with 33 and points with 68. Boeser, of course, did the same with 40 goals and 73 points.
This leads us back to the notion of them being great contract comparables. There’s just one issue. The Flyers could absolutely afford to give a $8.75 million paycheque to Konecny from the years 2025 to 2033. He’s their franchise player until Matvei Michkov hits his stride. In many ways, the Flyers couldn’t afford not to retain Konecny at this price.
But it’s a different ballgame for the Canucks and Boeser. Boeser is not Vancouver’s franchise player, nor even close to it. His most recent breakout campaign solidified his place in the core, but it’s the lower end, decidedly placed behind Pettersson, Miller, Quinn Hughes, and even Thatcher Demko.
For the Canucks to sign Boeser to a deal that pays him more than Miller, and for longer, doesn’t exactly fit the salary structure of the team. So, the hope has to be that Boeser does not demand “The Konecny” in contract negotiations and that GM Patrik Allvin and Co. can find some reasons to bring him in at a lesser average.
One factor working against them will be playoff success. To this point, Konecny has only ever played in 22 playoff games and has managed just one goal and seven assists throughout them.
Boeser, meanwhile, is up to 23 points in 29 career playoff games, including seven goals and 12 points through 12 games last year, a run that included some truly heroic moments.
In terms of coming through when it counts the most, Boeser has an edge on Konecny.
But there are other factors at play.
While Boeser’s defensive game is really coming around, Konecny is undoubtedly the better player in his own end. He’s become one of Philadelphia’s leading penalty killers and continues to take on greater-than-average quality of competition at 5-on-5, and usually comes out ahead.
Konecny is certainly the more physically involved of the two and the leader in most ‘intangible’ categories. Although, Boeser doesn’t get enough credit for his puck-battling skills.
There is also that aforementioned question of durability, especially in the wake of Boeser’s recent brush with blood-clotting. Konecny has been a reliable presence for the Flyers throughout his career.
And that’s where Konecny really gains some negotiating distance from Boeser, in the nebulous “The Guy” category.
Over the past three seasons, Konecny ranks first on the Flyers in goals (80 ahead of 54 in second place), assists (101 ahead of 74), and points (181 ahead of 123). Over the same period, Boeser ranks third on the Canucks in goals and fourth in assists and points.
Konecny has been carrying so much of the load in Philadelphia for so long that he’s earned a little franchise pay. He’s “The Guy” for the Flyers, and players with that distinction tend to make more money. The reasoning goes that Konecny would probably do better in a setting where he didn’t have to be “The Guy,” or even one in which he just had a stronger supporting staff.
That’s the role that Boeser has enjoyed in Vancouver for nearly his entire career. Boeser isn’t “The Guy” in Vancouver – unless they’re down by one late in a playoff game, of course. His success comes in large part due to the contributions of his teammates. Konecny’s success comes largely in spite of the contributions of his teammates.
In that, Allvin and Co. have a path to pursue toward handing Boeser a similar, but lesser, extension than Konecny, should they choose to pursue it.
But how much lesser are we talking? Shave a million off the AAV, and you’ve still got Boeser coming in at $7.75 million, a more than $1 million raise on his current cap hit. That might be workable, but it’s probably more than a team wants to pay for a non-franchise forward.
Shave $2 million off the AAV, and you’re all the way down to the neighbourhood that Boeser is paid in now, and it feels like you’re too far off the comparable track set by Konecny.
We imagine the reality lies somewhere in between. Boeser should come in at less than Konecny due to injury concerns, a more one-sided game, and his more complementary role. But that doesn’t change the fact that Konecny’s new deal still stands as an obvious benchmark, and that means negotiations won’t stray too far from the standard he and the Flyers just set.
A range of about $7.25 million to $8 million now makes sense on a similarly-lengthed contract. Of course, the exact details will depend on when the contract is signed and what Boeser does between now and then.
Konecny, at the very least, is already in the books.
