Anthony Di Marco reports the Flyers will take an axe to their veterans if the season doesn't turn around, even if Travis Konecny won't budge.
NHL Rumour Report relayed the story this morning, and it lands on a team that is 5-10-5 and sits 27th in the NHL. The Flyers are also in Edmonton tonight.
Here is how the NHL Rumour Report framed Di Marco's reporting:
The part about Konecny matters most. According to Di Marco, even if the winger holds firm and enforces his no-movement clause, the Flyers will still look to move veterans. The clause doesn't stop the plan, it only narrows who is available.
Di Marco's earlier reporting was blunter. Sources told him the veterans are the biggest issue right now and that the play of Porter Martone and Matvei Michkov isn't the problem:
Those sources explicitly called out forwards Konecny, Sean Couturier and Trevor Zegras, along with defensemen Travis Sanheim and Cam York, for not pulling their weight. That is five names, and the report doesn't say any of them is being shopped.
Konecny's season is the cleanest example of how thin this has been. He has 6 points in 10 games and a -4 rating. York has one point in 12 games and a -10.
Why Konecny's no-movement clause doesn't end this
Di Marco's second post makes that point directly: the Flyers would look elsewhere in the veteran group if Konecny stays put.
So the next question is who else has the numbers to hold up. Couturier has 7 points in 20 games. Sanheim has 8 points and a -5. Zegras is the outlier, with 14 points in 20 games, which ties Michkov for the team's best totals among the players in this story.
Michkov remains the backdrop. The heated bench moment involving Matvei Michkov on Monday in Vancouver already had fans wondering about his future. Chris Johnston has said there is no formal trade request and that Michkov is not a player the Flyers are looking to trade.
Still, sources waving off Michkov feels generous. He has 10 goals, but his -11 is the worst rating of anyone named in this story. If the Flyers want to blame veterans, they should be willing to look at that number too.
The earlier talk about the Flyers poking around the market, like their interest in Simon Edvinsson, now reads differently. A team that wants to reshape its core needs a way to do it, and so far nothing says it has found one.
For now, this is a report built on unnamed sources, not a done deal. The Flyers have won their last game, 3-1 in Vancouver, and they face an Edmonton team that is 7-0-1 on the road and 13-3-3 overall tonight. The veterans get their next test against the Oilers.
Quick hits
MINNESOTA WILDMartin St-Louis thinks Quinn Hughes "sold" the late slashing call on Cole Caufield that helped the Wild beat Montreal on Tuesday night. That is a coach with a lot on his mind.
NASHVILLE PREDATORSJuuse Saros blanked the Kings last night, one day after Pekka Rinne's Hall of Fame induction in Toronto. A fitting way to honor a legend.
ST-LOUIS BLUESJim Montgomery was blunt about Dalibor Dvorsky after the Blues' 3-2 win over Detroit on Tuesday night. When a coach gets blunt after a win, the player should listen.
NEW JERSEY DEVILSSheldon Keefe says change on the power play is "not too far away" after a 0-for-4 night in Winnipeg. Expect a shuffle soon.
WASHINGTON CAPITALSAlexander Ovechkin tied Nicklas Backstrom for the most assists in Capitals history Tuesday night, and Washington beat Ottawa 3-2 in overtime. Another franchise mark for Ovechkin.
This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.
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