Provorov, Konecny in contract talks with Flyers

Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny continue to negotiate contracts with the Philadelphia Flyers, general manager Chuck Fletcher said Friday.

Signing the two restricted free agents are the remaining items on Fletcher's offseason to-do list.
"That's the biggest challenge we have right now," Fletcher said. "Looking at a lot of teams around the League, it looks like there's several teams dealing with the same situation. We'll continue to focus on that and get these players signed as quickly as we can.
"I expect that as the summer goes on we'll continue to chip away at this and the market will continue to flush out as we go. We'll get there by the end."
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Provorov, a 22-year-old defenseman, had 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists) and a minus-16 rating in 82 games last season. In 2017-18, he tied for the NHL lead among defensemen with 17 goals.
He was sixth in the NHL last season at 25:07 of ice time per game and has led the Flyers in average ice time in each of his three NHL seasons.
Selected by the Flyers with the No. 7 pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, Provorov has 97 points (30 goals, 67 assists) in 246 NHL games.

Fletcher said the number of restricted free agent defensemen similar to Provorov could be slowing discussions. Among those in the same situation are
Jacob Trouba
of the New York Rangers, Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins and
Will Butcher
of the New Jersey Devils. Trouba has an arbitration hearing scheduled for July 25 and Butcher for Aug. 2.
"I wouldn't know how to characterize it; certainly amicable," Fletcher said of discussions with Provorov's agent, Mark Gandler. "Everything's cordial and amicable, but I think until the market settles out a bit, it may be difficult to move forward on Provorov."
Konecny, a 22-year-old forward, had an NHL career-high 49 points (24 goals, 25 assists) in 82 games.
The No. 24 pick of the 2015 Draft, Konecny has scored at least 20 goals twice in his three NHL seasons and has 124 points (59 goals, 65 assists) in 233 games.
"Konecny, we've had some good conversations and we'll continue to work at it," Fletcher said.

The Flyers signed restricted free agent forward
Scott Laughton
to a two-year, $4.6 million contract on Friday,
avoiding a salary arbitration hearing
scheduled for July 30.
Laughton set NHL career highs last season in goals (12), assists (20) and points (32) in a bottom-six role, and was second among Flyers forwards in shorthanded ice time at 2:15 per game.
Selected by the Flyers with the No. 20 pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, the 25-year-old has 79 points (31 goals, 48 assists) in 272 NHL games.