The Winnipeg Jets have made their trade deadline addition, once again adding a second-line center for a deep playoff run. The Jets have acquired New York Rangers center Kevin Hayes in exchange for a 2019 first-round pick, 2022 conditional fourth-round pick and young forward Brendan Lemieux. The Rangers will receive the fourth-round pick if Winnipeg wins the Stanley Cup this season.
Hayes is the third-leading scorer on New York this season with 42 points (14-28-42) in 51 games and is on pace to set a new career high in assists and points. He’s also logging over 19 minutes per game and would step in quite nicely on Winnipeg’s second line while pushing veteran Bryan Little down to the third line. He carries a cap hit of $5.175MM which Winnipeg can easily absorb (they have over $24MM in full-season cap space) while still leaving room for other potential additions later in the day. LeBrun notes (Twitter link) that there is no salary retention in the swap which is notable as it means that the Rangers retain their final salary retention slot for the time being.
The 26-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season but that’s not necessarily a negative for Winnipeg. In fact, it may be a positive. The team already has Blake Wheeler locked up to a new extension while wingers Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor, as well as defenseman Jacob Trouba, are all slated to become restricted agents. Accordingly, that’s going to eat up most of their remaining cap space so it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to afford to keep Hayes around.
As for Lemieux, this is the second time already that he’ll be involved in a notable swap after joining Winnipeg as part of the Evander Kane to Buffalo swap back in February of 2015. The 22-year-old has spent the full season with Winnipeg but has spent time as a healthy scratch. Overall, he has nine goals and two assists along with 64 penalty minutes in 44 games in 2018-19 and will figure into New York’s long-term plans as a bottom-six player. He’s in the final year of his entry-level contract with a cap hit of just over $839K and will be a restricted free agent without salary arbitration rights this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Come on NYR let’s get some prospects and picks
Branden Lemuix and a first round pick is the underwhelming return.
Underwhelming?
lemieux, he claude’s kid?
Yes, he is Claude’s son.
if hes anything like his old man, that’s a good pick up.
Deal is done
Terrible deal, very underwhelming to say the least. 4th rounder if they win the cup? A 1st rounder should have been included in this deal just to make it decent.
But the deal does include a first rounder going to the Rangers. I mean this deal is a bit underwhelming but maybe Hayes’ market wasn’t as good as everyone thought. Realistically a first round pick for a half year rental is decent enough, especially since Winnipeg likely doesn’t have the cap space to resign Hayes without making some moves first.
They got a first rounder… a first, a 4th with a reasonable condition, and a young bottom six forward is not a bad return for him. I do wonder if they would’ve been better off asking for a first and a guaranteed 3rd, forcing WPG to waive Lemieux and then just claiming him, but who’s to say exactly what happened in those discussions, maybe they specifically wanted to avoid that.
It’s underwhelming both ways, Hayes is too slow.
He’s a 4th liner so no he isn’t
Hayes skates very well for a big man get your facts straight.
They got a first rounder.
Maybe I’m just being sentimental, but I would not hate it if NYR offered contracts to Hayes and Zuc after the season. There’s something to be said about players who you already know have been successful in your rink, instead of bringing in free agents from other places that might not be as much of a fit as those two were. Just don’t make the contracts too Long like they did with Staal and Girardi