Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Kevin Hayes

Injury Notes: Flyers, Maple Leafs, Canadiens

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Philadelphia Flyers are getting closer to having both Ryan Ellis and Kevin Hayes back in the lineup, two of the team’s most important players. Head coach Alain Vigneault explained today that the earliest Hayes would get back in the lineup is next Tuesday, but Ellis is ahead of that schedule and could even have an outside chance at playing tomorrow. If Ellis did play, he wouldn’t immediately jump up to the top pairing; Vigneault explained that the team would have to ease him in.

Ellis has played just three games for the Flyers this season, but had four points in those contests and averaged more than 24 minutes of ice time. The 30-year-old defenseman was acquired from the Nashville Predators in the offseason and was expected to carry a huge load at both ends of the rink. Hayes meanwhile is the team’s second-highest-paid player but hasn’t seen the ice at all as he continues to recover from offseason surgery. The 29-year-old had 12 goals and 31 points in 55 games last season and is a key option down the middle for the club.

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs had a few absences at today’s practice, most notably captain John Tavares. Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated that Tavares is day-to-day and a game-time decision for tomorrow’s match with the Flyers, according to Mark Masters of TSN. Ondrej Kase has the same designation, and is also a game-time decision for the Maple Leafs. With Petr Mrazek out, the Maple Leafs have the cap space to carry a pair of extra forwards and are expected to bring Joey Anderson and Kirill Semyonov to Philadelphia.
  • The Montreal Canadiens won’t have Jonathan Drouin back in the lineup tonight despite his appearance at the morning skate, while both Christian Dvorak and Josh Anderson are questionable for the game against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canadiens have lost their last two and have just three wins in 13 games so far this season. That puts them at the very bottom of the Atlantic Division table, just a few months after reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. A lineup without Drouin, Dvorak, and Anderson would certainly be put to the test by the Kings, who are currently on the league’s longest winning streak.

Injury Notes: Hayes, Sabres, Raanta

at CDT | by 7 Comments

While Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes is eligible to come off long-term injured reserve for Philadelphia’s game on Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it sounds like the forward isn’t quite ready to return from an injury that’s kept him out all season up until this point. Head coach Alain Vigneault won’t rule it out but says that “Wednesday is an outside chance, more on the outside than on the inside” in terms of Hayes’ availability. If Hayes does return, it will be ahead of schedule. He was expected to miss roughly two months after being placed on injured reserve in late September as he continued to recover from offseason core muscle surgery.

Other injury notes from around the NHL:

  • While the Sabres have dealt with some injuries to key players lately, it sounds like there’s good news on the horizon. Forward Victor Olofsson is close to returning, while a day-to-day injury that’s keeping goalie Craig Anderson out of the lineup isn’t serious enough to warrant placing him on injured reserve, per Sabres head coach Don Granato. Olofsson’s been a pleasant surprise, jumping out to lead the team in scoring with nine points in just eight games while playing over 17 minutes a night. The injury looks to be a bump in the road on a real breakout season for the Swedish forward, who’s often been chastised for his lack of production at even-strength.
  • Carolina Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta left Saturday’s game after colliding with Florida Panthers forward Ryan Lomberg, and the team’s public relations team tweeted that he won’t return to the game with an upper-body injury. Raanta’s lengthy injury history gives serious cause for concern here, and it appears as though Frederik Andersen could need to continue shouldering the load for the next little while. Lomberg was assessed a five-minute major penalty on the play.

Philadelphia Flyers Announce Several Injuries

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Philadelphia Flyers training camp hasn’t even officially opened yet and the team is already announcing multiple injuries. Kevin Hayes will be out six to eight weeks following abdominal surgery, Samuel Morin was given a six to eight-week timeline after knee surgery on September 10 and Wade Allison, who was injured at the recent rookie tournament, is out indefinitely with an ankle sprain. Zayde Wisdom is still out indefinitely following his shoulder surgery and Cooper Zech is out six to eight weeks with an upper-body issue.

Hayes is the obvious headline here, given he is expected to be a key part of the Flyers’ attack again this season. According to head coach Alain Vigneault, the veteran center felt pain in his groin yesterday and went in for surgery today. Six weeks from today is November 2, meaning he will miss at least the first ten or so games of the regular season should the timeline prove accurate.

In fact, the head coach specifically noted how difficult the first month of the season will be without Hayes and Allison, who also made quite an impact in his short time last season. The 23-year-old Allison scored four goals and seven points in 14 games with the Flyers after showing he was more than ready for the jump to the NHL. Selected 52nd overall in 2016, he could very well push up the depth chart this season as the team tries to find a new identity.

For Morin, this latest surgery was to have loose bodies removed, not a repair of any major ligament. That should inspire at least a bit of confidence that he’ll be able to return at full strength, but it’s difficult to project anything for the 26-year-old at this point. Once a promising defensive prospect, his professional career has been ravaged by injuries, limiting him to just 58 games (at any level) since the start of the 2017-18 season. After a failed attempt to restart his career as a forward, Morin returned to the defensive side of the puck late last season and is listed again as a defenseman this season.

Kevin Hayes Undergoes Core Muscle Surgery

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The offseason is here for many teams and with it will come surgeries and lengthy injury recoveries. In the case of Kevin Hayes of the Philadelphia Flyers, that means core muscle surgery. Hayes went under the knife last week and is facing a recovery timeline of five weeks.

That obviously leaves him with plenty of time to get ready for next season, but it also doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be at full strength when things kick off in October. Core muscle surgeries are notorious for having long-lasting effects on performance, meaning the start of the season could be tough for the 29-year-old.

This injury could also explain some of the struggles that Hayes went through this season, scoring just 12 goals in 55 games for the Flyers and now really looking like the same player they had a year prior. He still ended up with 31 points but saw his role on the penalty kill decreased, resulting in zero short-handed goals for just the second time in his career. His nine even-strength goals were also easily the lowest total of his career, and certainly not what the team expected for more than $7.1MM per season.

Hayes still has five seasons left on that seven-year, $50MM contract he signed in 2019, meaning he’ll have to rebound if the Flyers are going anywhere in 2021-22. For those that believe a shakeup is in order, the veteran center is not a likely candidate to be moved, if only because of his no-movement clause. That clause will change to a 12-team no-trade after the 2021-22 season.

Injury Updates: Hayes, Russell, Paquette, Hutton

at CDT | by 4 Comments

Flyers center Kevin Hayes is set to undergo core muscle surgery sometime next week, GM Chuck Fletcher told Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News (Twitter link).  The veteran had indicated last week when the season ended that he would need to go under the knife but the specifics weren’t indicated at that time.  Hayes had a somewhat quiet season offensively with a dozen goals and 19 assists in 55 games, yielding a point per game average that was just below his first season with the team (which was down from the year before that) but still managed to finish seventh in team scoring.  There’s no word on how long the recovery time from the procedure will be.

Other injury news from around the league:

  • Oilers defenseman Kris Russell will not be available when their series against Winnipeg gets underway on Wednesday, notes Postmedia’s Jim Matheson. The veteran suffered a leg injury late last month against Calgary, missing the final eight games as a result.  His physicality and shot blocking are elements that head coach Dave Tippett would like to have on his back end but with him unavailable, Caleb Jones is expected to start on the third pairing.  Meanwhile, winger Kailer Yamamoto, who missed the last two games, will be available to suit up.
  • Hurricanes center Cedric Paquette remains unavailable and was not in the lineup for their opener against Nashville, relays Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer (Twitter link). The 27-year-old last played in late April and has been battling an undisclosed injury since then.  Paquette averaged 4.5 hits per game in Tampa Bay’s Stanley Cup run last season and Carolina will be counting on a similar level of physicality once he’s able to return.
  • Maple Leafs defenseman Ben Hutton doesn’t have an injury but he’s not currently available due to a non-COVID-related medical issue, mentions TSN’s Kristen Shilton (Twitter link). The situation is currently being monitored by team doctors.  Toronto brought the 28-year-old in at the trade deadline for injury depth heading into the playoffs but only suited up four times after being acquired from Anaheim.

2020 King Clancy Trophy Nominees Announced

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The NHL has announced the 31 nominees for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, annually presented to “the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Last year’s winner was Jason Zucker of the Minnesota Wild.

Each team submits one nominee. This year’s are:

Anaheim: Cam Fowler

Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Boston: Patrice Bergeron

Buffalo: Jack Eichel

Calgary: Travis Hamonic

Carolina: Jordan Staal

Chicago: Jonathan Toews

Colorado: Gabriel Landeskog

Columbus: Cam Atkinson

Dallas: Tyler Seguin

Detroit: Justin Abdelkader

Edmonton: Leon Draisaitl

Florida: Sergei Bobrovsky

Los Angeles: Trevor Lewis

Minnesota: Matt Dumba

Montreal: Carey Price

Nashville: Pekka Rinne

New Jersey: P.K. Subban

NY Islanders: Matt Martin

NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist

Ottawa: Brady Tkachuk

Philadelphia: Kevin Hayes

Pittsburgh: Sidney Crosby

San Jose: Evander Kane

St. Louis: Ryan O’Reilly

Tampa Bay: Alex Killorn

Toronto: Mitch Marner

Vancouver: Alexander Edler

Vegas: Marc-Andre Fleury

Washington: Garnet Hathaway

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Snapshots: Rangers, Lagesson, Maletta

at CDT | by 6 Comments

Back in the summer, it looked as if the Rangers had done rather well for themselves with the acquisition of Jacob Trouba with the centerpiece of the return being the first-round pick they had received from Winnipeg months earlier for rental center Kevin Hayes.  However, Larry Brooks of the New York Post opines that in hindsight, they may have been better off keeping Hayes and signing him at the price he was looking for in the 2018 offseason over acquiring Trouba via trade.

Trouba has done well for New York this season but hasn’t quite lived up to the billing relative to his $8MM price tag.  Meanwhile, Neal Pionk, the player that Winnipeg acquired in the swap, has actually outproduced Trouba offensively by five points so far this season.  There’s still plenty of time for things to change but as of right now, the two Winnipeg trades haven’t quite worked out as well as the Rangers would have hoped, especially with young center Lias Andersson not panning out like they were expecting.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Oilers prospect William Lagesson has switched agencies, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal. The defenseman has joined Allan Walsh and Octagon after previously being represented by Markus Lehto.  The 23-year-old is in the final year of his entry-level contract and has yet to suit up in Edmonton despite being recalled twice already this season.
  • Former Blue Jackets prospect Jordan Maletta has been cleared to return to hockey and is set to enroll at Brock University next semester, notes OHL broadcaster Victor Findlay (Twitter link). The 24-year-old was flipped to Arizona in February of 2018 before being a part of the Marian Hossa trade five months later but Chicago terminated his contract when he was deemed medically unfit to play.  He spent last season as a part-time assistant coach with OHL Niagara but now will unretire and resume his playing career.

Metropolitan Notes: Murray, Gostisbehere, Gardiner

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray has been criticized for many things, but playing too much has never been one of those. Regardless, Murray has seen the ice quite a bit already this season and if he continues to play as much as he has, Murray will easily break his season-high in minutes played. Last season, the 25-year-old netminder played 2,880 minutes, but Murray has already broken 1,000 minutes at just the quarter-point of the season.

While it’s nice to see Murray thriving without injury concerns, TribLive’s Seth Rorabaugh wonders whether the team might be smarter to cut down on Murray’s workload, considering how well backup Tristan Jarry has played in limited opportunity. While Murray has been solid with a injury-plagued team in front of him, boasting a 2.60 GAA and a .903 save percentage in 18 appearances, the 24-year-old Jarry has done even better with a 1.80 GAA and a .945 save percentage in six appearances.

With the team only using Jarry on the second night of back-to-back games, it might be time to give the backup more playing time in hopes of avoiding wearing down Murray later in the season.

  • Although the expansion draft remains far off, the summer of 2021, The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor (subscription required) looks at possible scenarios of who the team might protect down the road. He notes that with the signing of center Kevin Hayes, who carries a no-movement clause with him, and the emergence of Oskar Lindblom, the team may have to make a major decision with their defense. The scribe writes that with the disappointing play of defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, who continues to struggle this year after a poor 2018-19 season, could find himself on the outside looking in when it comes to what players the Flyers may keep.
  • In her most recent mailbag, The Athletic’s Sara Civian (subscription required) writes that Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner, who the team quietly signed in the offseason, continues to struggle as a third-pairing option. With fewer minutes than he is used to, the risk-taking blueliner has made quite a few defensive miscues as the team has scored 10 goals when he’s on the ice, but the Hurricanes have allowed 19 at the same time. Gardiner has just one goal and five assists, while sporting just a 3.7 percent shooting percentage on 27 shots. The hope is he can eventually work his way to a second-pairing option.

Metropolitan Notes: Flyers’ Offense, Hornqvist, Tanev, Merzlikins

at CDT | by 2 Comments

With a modest 10-6-4 record, the Philadelphia Flyers sit in tied for fourth place in the Metropolitan Division. One thing holding the team back is their lack of scoring, far behind teams like the Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes and the injury-riddled Pittsburgh Penguins.

Sam Carchidi of Philly.com suggests that one of the biggest problem is the lack of production from some of their top-six players, including Kevin Hayes, James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek. It’s been even worse in the last 10 games, even though Philadelphia has gone 5-2-3 in that span. Regardless, Philadelphia has scored just 25 goals, for an average of just 2.5 goals per game in their last 10.

Hayes, who signed a seven-year, $50MM deal this offseason, has score zero goals and is minus-eight in his last 10 games. Van Riemsdyk has just one goal in his last 11 games, while Voracek also has failed to score in his last 10 games.

“We’re working on getting better as a group,” head coach Alain Vigneault said. “We’re not where I think we can get to, but we are working extremely hard and we’ve got a lot of faith that we’ll be able to get there.”

  • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel reports that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist participated at practice for the first time since he suffered his lower-body injury on Nov. 2. The 32-year-old worked on his own before the Penguins practiced and wore a gray, non-contact jersey during the light practice. With the practiced focused mainly on the power play, Hornqvist did not participate in those drills. “He’s making significant progress. Obviously, the fact that he joined the team in a non-contact jersey is an indication of that,” head coach Mike Sullivan said. “With the limited time I had an opportunity to watch him … I thought he looked pretty good.”
  • The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription required) wonders if the Penguins should consider moving fourth-line forward Brandon Tanev up in the lineup permanently. The team’s free-agent acquisition was moved up in the lineup recently due to the Penguins’ rash of injuries and has played well. His performance Saturday against Toronto was impressive two as the 27-year-old had two assists, four hits and a plus-two and made a positive impact.
  • NHL.com’s Jeff Svoboda notes that while Joonas Korpisalo has received the majority of appearances for the Columbus Blue Jackets in net, that may change. Backup Elvis Merzlikins may be seeing more time soon. Their stats lately have been almost identical. Korpisalo in his last five games has a 2.40 GAA and a .919 save percentage, while backup Merzlikins has a 2.45 GAA and a .919 save percentage. “Elvis is improving,” head coach John Tortorella said. “That comes into some decision making for me as we go through here because I have to monitor everything with those two guys because of just the situation we’re in. We’ll see where it goes.”

Metropolitan Notes: Hall, Hayes, Greiss

at CDT | by 5 Comments

No one expected for New Jersey star and 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner to miss as much time as he did last season. The Devils’ forward didn’t play another game after Christmas due to a knee injury and then in February underwent arthroscopic knee surgery that helped keep him out for the rest of the year.

However, NHL.com reports that Hall now says he’s fully healthy and will be ready for training camp.

“I feel really good,” Hall said. “It’s been a long process not playing a game for that long. It really takes a toll on you mentally but being back on the ice and being able to play at a at a pretty high intensity, even though it’s just the summer, feels really nice. I haven’t had any issues with the knee so far since I’ve been skating, and it’s been a really good process, so hopefully that can continue in [training] camp.”

Despite than missing more than half a season (33 games total), he still was on pace for a big season with 11 goals and 37 points and the 27-year-old is hoping to return to his 2017-18 success when he tallied 39 goals and 92 points and helped, practically single-handedly, lead the Devils to a playoff berth. He will have much more help this season as New Jersey have added first-overall pick Jack Hughes to the team as well as star defenseman P.K. Subban and KHL star Nikita Gusev.

  • The Philadelphia Flyers were able to sign second-line center Kevin Hayes this offseason, but there were many who wondered whether Hayes would choose to sign with Philadelphia after the team hired head coach Alain Vigneault this summer. Vigneault, who coached Hayes with the Rangers, was known to limit Hayes’ playing time on the power play. However, Philly.com’s Sam Carchidi writes that Hayes said that Vigneault was one of the main reasons why he signed in Philadelphia. “I had a great relationship with AV,” said Hayes. “Obviously as a player, you want to play the most minutes and you want to play in every situation. But when I entered the league, you have to prove yourself, and I thought every year with AV, I got more and more ice time and more and more situational play. We had a fine relationship, to be honest, off the ice and on the ice.”
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes that New York Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss said he doesn’t know how much playing time he will get this year as the backup behind recently signed Semyon Varlamov. “I have no clue what happens,” Greiss said when asked whether he expected to split time with Varlamov. “It depends what’s happening on the ice. If you play well, you’ll get the ice time. If you don’t play well, then we’ll see you on the bench.” Despite quite a bit of attention that was geared towards Robin Lehner last year, Greiss had an impressive season as well. He played 43 games with a 2.28 GAA and a .927 save percentage, but only made one appearance in the playoffs. Varlamov was signed to a four-year, $20MM deal and will likely be expected to carry the load. However, with Varlamov’s injury history, Greiss might get plenty of playing time.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top