Will Fans Add Travis Konecny and/or Carter Hart to All-Stars?

As we get closer to the halfway point of the season, will fans add another member of the Philadelphia Flyers to the All-Star Game in Florida on Feb. 4? 

Under their new format, the NHL Department of Hockey Operations has already voted one representative from each team to go to Sunrise, Fla.,  in a few weeks, and for the Flyers, that was left winger Kevin Hayes, a converted center who will make his first All-Star Game appearance of his career.

Fans can vote for the other three players of each division to be sent in on NHL.com, or on Twitter, which is a new way of voting. The voting process on Twitter will start Thursday at 12:01 a.m., and end on Jan. 14, at 11:59 p.m.

Per the NHL, “Each fan tweet must include the complete hashtag “#NHLAllStarVote” followed by a player’s full name or a player’s Twitter handle. Only referencing a last name will not count. All Twitter votes will be combined with online vote totals.”

Hayes, with 35 points in 38 games, will represent the club, but will another Philadelphia Flyers play join him on the Metro squad?

PHN: An Emotional Kevin Hayes Talks About Fulfilling His Brother’s All-Star Dream

Here are my Flyers nominees:

Travis Konecny

Konecny’s play has been, quite simply, remarkable this season. He’s easily been the team’s most consistent player and has really taken charge. On the season, he has a team-high 40 points in 33 games, having missed six games with a thumb injury suffered in November.

The 25-year-old right winger was placed on injured reserve, and the Flyers generated little offense without him in the lineup.

Konecny has his swagger back this season. Maybe it returned after John Tortorella benched him for the third period of an early-season game. Maybe it returned because his confidence has grown from his scoring spree.

He already has 20 goals and is on a 42-goal pace. His career high is 24 goals.

Since Konecny’s first game back on Dec. 1, he has been dazzling. He has erased the memories of a poor 2021-22 season. Tortorella has been so impressed that he is using him in all situations, including the penalty kill, which is a new duty for the forward.

“You see how I use him.  I’m always looking for him,” Tortorella said last month. “Does some crazy stuff at times still, and we need to work with situation play with him, but you gotta be really careful of how he’s just a reaction-type player.”

Tortorella also called him a “bundle of energy,” and noted that as the Flyers get better and push for the playoffs some day, he’s the type of guy who can lead the way when they reach that point.

Carter Hart

You can make a strong case that Carter Hart been the Flyers’ best player this season, stealing games and being one of the team’s main attractions. His GAA and save percentage aren’t among the league leaders, but if you have watched any portion of the games, he’s been better than his numbers. Much better.

On the season, Hart has posted a .911 save percentage and  2.86 GAA in 28 games. He returned from a concussion Thursday, and, though rusty early in the game, back-stopped the Flyers to a 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes, stopping 21 of 23 shots.

In short, Hart is the future in the nets for the Flyers. Will fans make him an All-Star?

Stay tuned.