There was some hope that after Ivan Provorov signed that the Philadelphia Flyers would put all their attention on their other unsigned restricted free agent, Travis Konecny, and hopefully getting him to training camp as quickly as possible. Instead, that hasn’t happened yet, with Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi reporting that no progress was made between the two sides on Saturday.
Philadelphia Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault expressed his disappointment that Konecny isn’t in camp yet, as he will be missing valuable time learning the new coach’s system. Vigneault said after his first practice leading the Flyers, via NBC Sports’ Jordan Hall:
“I’m very disappointed that T.K. is not here. It’s the start of a new era, a new group, I felt that it was very important for everybody to be here. With my time in the NHL, my experience, anybody that falls behind — whether it’s injury or in T.K.’s situation not coming to camp — usually it takes them a little bit of time to get back at it, especially at this time with a new coaching staff and new way of doing things. It’s unfortunate, but I’m going to work with the players that are here and going to work extremely hard with those players.”
Konecny could also find himself sliding down the lineup if he can’t get back to camp quickly. On day two of training camp, Vigneault used rookie Joel Farabee (in place of Konecny) with first-liners Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, with the rookie faring quite well and getting praise from Vigneault.
“He showed that he belonged there,” said Vigneault.
Here's more from the Metropolitan Division:
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!