Flyers' Travis Konecny to miss at least two to three weeks with an upper-body injury

Konecny suffered the injury last week while the Flyers were on their road trip in Western Canada against the Calgary Flames. He left that game in the second period after he took a heavy hit from Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar along the boards.

Konecny’s timeline for a return was left in the air up until now, aside from the fact that the Flyers placed him on injured reserve on Saturday, implying that it wasn’t necessarily day-to-day. It’s not the first time they’ve downplayed injuries this season, as players like Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis and Cam Atkinson were all treated as day-to-day or close to returning at some point in the year. Not a single one has played a game this season.

It’s a bit of a momentum killer for Konecny, as he is in the midst of a career year for the Flyers. He has 27 goals, 27 assists and 54 points in 52 games this season, and he is on pace to beat his career high of 61 points that he set in 2019-20, while his goal total is already a career high.

Konecny was a 24th overall pick of the Flyers in 2015, and has spent all seven seasons of his career in Philadelphia. He’s in the fourth year of a six-year contract with a $5.5 million cap hit, one he signed after his entry-level deal in 2019.

While Konecny’s injury will certainly affect the Flyers lineup, it’s probably for the better if they want to improve their draft standing this season. They currently have 23-28-10 record and are 11 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final wild-card spot, so a playoff run is highly unlikely at this point of the season. The Flyers have lost their last three games since Konecny has been out of the lineup.