The wait is over, and it’s a bit of a letdown. The long-winded trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues is complete, and center Kevin Hayes will be heading to the Blues for a 2024 sixth-round pick, the teams announced.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports the Flyers, as expected, will be retaining half of Hayes’ salary for the life of his contract. For the next three seasons, both the Flyers and Blues will be on the hook for $3.57MM in cap space for Hayes.
Fans of both teams were expecting a much larger deal to come through, but with Blues defenseman Torey Krug reportedly opting not to waive his no-trade clause, the additional pieces in the trade, expected to be Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim and one of St. Louis’ late first-round picks in this week’s draft, were removed.
While most would agree Hayes was overpaid on his deal, earning him more than $7MM, a 50 percent discount is an extremely appealing acquisition for the retooling Blues. He’s still a capable middle-six center, and his acquisition will alleviate Pavel Buchnevich, allowing him to return to his natural spot on the wing after shifting to center at the end of 2022-23.
St. Louis will be Hayes’ fourth team in his nine-year, 634-game NHL career. He’s had consistent offensive production throughout his career, routinely scoring between 40 and 55 points (at least in full seasons), but he was given far too lofty expectations when he signed in Philadelphia.
The messaging is clear here from the Flyers’ side: a rebuild is here, and it’s massive. Opting to retain a decent chunk of change on Hayes for three seasons – with essentially no compensation – signals they don’t anticipate spending to the cap ceiling anytime soon.
While moving on from Hayes doesn’t free up cap space that the Flyers need to use, it does free up some needed roster spots down the middle of the ice. Both Morgan Frost and Noah Cates are in line for more ice time after strong campaigns in 2022-23, and with Sean Couturier slated to return to play next season, Hayes could have pushed one (or both) of Cates and Frost into a bottom-six role.
Hayes’ 54 points in 81 games last season would have ranked fifth on the Blues. He’ll likely slot into a third-line center spot there behind Robert Thomas and Brayden Schenn, although he could overtake Schenn on the depth chart if things go well.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was first to report the trade.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ryan Johansen trade 2.0.
Here comes the off-season of weird trades. That’s all we can get for our guy??? Damn. Flat-damn-cap.
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877-Cash Nowwwwww
Flyers are a joke. Provorov was the 1 guy they should have kept. They already need a new GM. Next year will be another failure.
@Pyramid
You HAD to get that song stuck in my head, didn’t you?!?!
Thanks for nuthin!!
Provorov completely sucks. That trade was a steal.
provorov was definitely the expendable one
This isn’t an issue, we aren’t gonna be using all our cap space for a number of years so paying this for next three years is OK. Kinda socks only getting a 6th for him ,I was thinking more like a 3rd but I’m glad we opened the roster spot for Frost , Cates.
You must not follow hockey much or at least Flyers or you would know Provy has been not very good over last couple years only thing he does well is eat minutes. He’s also stayed he didn’t want to go through a rebuild. Plus the deal Briere got was a great one, did a good job.
Provorov needed a change of scenery. He was more than ready to move on and so was the team. If you followed the Flyers regularly at all that would be abundantly clear.
That contract stank even before it was signed.
I dont disagree but without covid the cap is 6-8 mil or more higher starting 23/24.
That’s a pretty decent move by St Louis. Hayes might not be worth his contract, especially as he ages, but he is absolutely worth a hair over 3.5 million.
With virtually no cap space, how are the Blues making this deal?
They had plenty to make this deal. They still have about $1.5MM left which will increase significantly once they move one of the D they’re shopping (Leddy, Parayko, Krug maybe somewhere else, etc.)
More than that, actually, that was just off the top of my head haha. CapFriendly shows them at $3.9MM left in space, they only have Toropchenko and a backup (if not Hofer) left to sign to fill out their roster. They’ll be okay.
Hayes at 3.5ish million is worth more than a 6th round pick. I’m kinda surprised this is the return or that no other GM would top that return.
Right? Jarmo must REALLY have not wanted Hayes. So much for all those CBJ rumors.
The proverbial bag of pucks. Well done, Briere.
Thanks for f’in nothing Torey Krug.
Certainly makes for an awkward situation now
Fletcher… the gift that keeps taking
Eat half the salary for only a 6th? Robbery by STL
Briere got taken by the Blues another sign he is in way over his head
Lol what was first sign according to you? Cause I believe he’s doing great so far!! Everyone will eat their words in a fes years when Flyers are competing in playoffs.
Give him some time, I used to think Sakic was a great player but over his head in the front office but he grew into the role and did well.
Great deal for Blues, can’t understand
the Flyers!
I liked the provy trade —- this sucks
One suspects that Krug will get an earful at Wells Fargo Center when the Blues come to town. As per Danny Briere, he should be forced to watch “Draft Day” with Kevin Costner lots of times. Costner wouldn’t have made this trade.
If this is all Philly could get for eating half the contract they should have just kept him.
If a player has a NTC, does he submit his list of teams on a yearly basis? Can the teams change?