Travis Konecny

Travis Konecny (born March 11, 1997) is a Canadian professional ice hockey forward and alternate captain for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Konecny was born on March 11, 1997, in London, Ontario.

He grew up in nearby Clachan with his father Rob, a firefighter; mother Terri-Lee, a worker with autistic children; and brother Chase, an engineering student.

Outside of his immediate family, Konecny's cousin Bo Horvat also played ice hockey from a young age.

Because Clachan was too small to have its own ice rink, Konecny would practice on frozen ponds and would watch hockey games to develop his skills.

He was also childhood friends with Lawson Crouse, who he met when they tried out for the same hockey team at the age of six.

Coaches started to notice Konecny when, at the age of 10, he scored four goals and an assist in one period of a youth ice hockey tournament.

Although he began playing minor ice hockey with the local Chatham-Kent Cyclones, when Konecny was 14 years old he moved to Mount Brydges, where he joined the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs of the Alliance Hockey organization and began attending the PEAC hockey academy in London.

His 114-point season in 2012–13 caught the eye of the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), who selected Konecny first overall in the 2013 OHL draft.

Smaller than most of his teammates, Konecny was known for his physical style of play, with 24 penalty minutes through the first nine games of the 2012–13 season.

He told reporters, "I don't take stupid penalties [...] I like to battle and I don't like to lose a puck battle or a race to the puck."

He was also a strong scorer, recording 53 goals and 61 assists in 54 games that season.

Elgin-Middlesex, meanwhile, captured the Alliance championship, sweeping the Waterloo Wolves.

In the final game of the championship tournament, Konecny received a 10-minute misconduct penalty for fighting.

The Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), who were entering a rebuilding year after finishing the 2012–13 season with a 16–46–6 record, selected Konecny first overall in the 2013 OHL draft, an honour that came with the Jack Ferguson Award for the top OHL draft pick of the year.

Younger than most of his new teammates and opponents at only 16, Konecny registered two assists in his OHL debut, a 5–4 win over the Belleville Bulls.

While the 67's once again missed the OHL playoffs, Konecny had a dominant rookie season, scoring 26 goals and 44 assists while playing on an offensive line alongside Erik Bradford and Ryan Van Stralen.

Leading all OHL rookies in scoring for the 2013–14 season, Konecny was named Rookie of the Month on four out of six possible opportunities, and at the end of the season, he received the Emms Family Award for OHL Rookie of the Year.

He was also named to the OHL First All-Rookie team that year at centre.

Going into his second year with the 67's, Konecny was named team captain for the 2014–15 season.

Although he had a slow start to the season, with only three goals and 12 points through his first 18 games, Konecny soon recovered, finishing second on the 67's in scoring with 29 goals and 68 points in 60 regular season games.

Ottawa reached the playoffs, and Konecny recorded an additional three goals and 10 points in five games there.

The Flyers selected him in the first round, 24th overall, of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.

Born in London, Ontario, and raised in Clachan, Konecny grew up watching hockey on television while practicing on frozen ponds.

His minor ice hockey career began with the local Chatham-Kent Cyclones, but he soon moved closer to London in order to attend the PEAC hockey academy and play for the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs of the Alliance Hockey organization.

That year, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League traded two picks in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the 24th overall pick, which they used to draft Konecny in the first round.

The Flyers' other first-round pick, Ivan Provorov of the Brandon Wheat Kings, had played alongside Konecny at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game earlier that year.

Konecny signed an entry-level contract with Philadelphia on July 16, 2015.

At the end of the season, the NHL awarded Konecny the inaugural E.J. McGuire Award of Excellence, given to the prospect who "best exemplifies the commitment to excellence" in hockey "through strength of character, competitiveness and athleticism."

After attending the Flyers' training camp, Konecny was sent back to his junior hockey team in time for the start of the 2015–16 OHL season.

Konecny played two and a half seasons of junior ice hockey for Ottawa before he was traded to the Sarnia Sting at the start of 2016 in exchange for two players and eight OHL draft picks.

During his junior hockey tenure, Konecny also represented Canada at a number of international tournaments, including the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and the World Juniors.

Just prior to the 2016–17 NHL season, the Flyers announced that both Konecny and his fellow 2015 first-round draftee Ivan Provorov would bypass the traditional tryout period for rookies and would play in the NHL for the entire season.

Konecny's first two seasons in the NHL were uneven, with both scoring streak and slumps, and coach Dave Hakstol would frequently move his skaters up and down offensive lines.

There, he posted nine goals and 45 points in his third OHL season before becoming part of a major trade with the Sarnia Sting on January 6, 2016.

Konecny and Sam Studnicka were sent to Sarnia in exchange for Sasha Chmelevski, Chase Campbell, and eight picks in that year's OHL draft, with an option for two extra draft picks if Konecny spent the 2016–17 season in the OHL as well.

With Sarnia, Konecny played with future NHL players Jordan Kyrou, Jakob Chychrun, and Pavel Zacha.

After the trade, Konecny scored 23 goals and 56 points in the remaining 31 games of the regular season, and added a goal and two assists in his first two playoff games before a shoulder injury put his postseason run on pause.

After Hakstol's firing in December 2018, Konecny found a steady position with Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk, and his scoring became consistent.

He led the Flyers in scoring for the 2019–20 season, but ran into offensive difficulties after the interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, first with a goal drought in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs followed by a lackluster performance in the 2020–21 NHL season.