It’s safe to say that the Flyers would like to sign pending unrestricted free agent Kevin Hayes. The team announced that they have acquired the negotiating rights to the center from the Jets in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round pick.
In the team release, GM Chuck Fletcher explained the rationale behind the move:
By gaining the rights to Kevin at this time, it provides us with an opportunity to negotiate with him prior to July 1 when he is due to become an unrestricted free agent.
Hayes is coming off of a career season in 2018-19. He spent most of the season with the Rangers before joining Winnipeg as a deadline day acquisition in exchange for a first-round pick along with winger Brendan Lemieux. The Jets were hoping that Hayes would have a similar impact as Paul Stastny did the year before but that wasn’t the case as his playing time dwindled in the postseason.
Despite the poor showing in the playoffs, Hayes wound up with 19 goals and 36 assists in 71 games between the two teams; his assist and point totals were career highs. The 27-year-old is expected to be one of the top centers available in free agency and with other teams already being reported to have interest in him, Fletcher obviously felt it was worth parting with a later draft pick to give themselves a few weeks to talk to him before the UFA interview period opens up after the draft. New head coach Alain Vigneault is also quite familiar with Hayes from their time with the Rangers.
Hayes would certainly fill a useful role with Philadelphia. Sean Couturier has established himself as a legitimate top liner but Nolan Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, isn’t ready to take on a full-time spot in the top six just yet. While Claude Giroux can play down the middle, he has taken off offensively since being shifted to the wing so moving him back to that spot isn’t optimal. Hayes, if signed, would slot in nicely between Couturier and Patrick, allowing the latter to continue to develop before potentially flipping roles down the road.
The big question will be how much it will cost to get Hayes signed. He made $5.175MM this past season on a one-year deal to avoid salary arbitration. Presumably, it will take a fair bit more than that to lock him up this early. Winnipeg, with several other prominent players to re-sign this summer, knew that they wouldn’t be able to afford to keep Hayes in the fold so the move allows them to recoup at least a small asset in return over losing him for nothing and considering they only had three 2019 draft picks before the move, adding a pick in this draft is also a nice pickup, especially since it prohibits the selection from being contingent on Hayes signing with Philadelphia.
I wonder if Vigneault put feelers out to see if Hayes was receptive to playing for him again before the trade. I would think Flyers wouldn’t throw away a draft pick unless they thought chances were good he’d sign with them.
That being said, I thought that Hayes used to get in AV’s doghouse a few times in their first few years together, or am I not recalling that correctly?
Regardless of where he ends up, I wish him good luck. He was a Ranger that I liked.
Send them another for Tyler Myers.
And hopefully this means Ghost don’t get moved.
I don’t see how this relates to Ghost
Hayes is a good 2nd line center upgrade for most teams. Flyers should be excited that he might sign there.
Because there was talk of them considering trading Ghost for a top 6 forward….If we sign Hayes,the need for a top 6 forward goes away.