With Daniel Briere taking over in Philly, the Flyers are in full rebuild mode. We have already seen the beginning with Provorov being dealt to the Blue Jackets, and now Carter Hart has been at the top of the rumor mill. Although, some cold water was tossed on Hart being moved in the near term. Most likely closer to the Draft.
Kevin Hayes is another name that has been in trade rumors since the last offseason. It has been reported that Hayes and Tortorella didn’t see eye to eye, and Hayes would rather play on a competitive team. Last year, after the Johnny Gaudreau addition, there was lots of chatter about Hayes being moved to CBJ. Up until recently, that was still true.
It is now believed that CBJ is looking for a younger, more significant addition at the center position. This leaves Hayes’ future in a fog.
Thankfully for Hayes and the Flyers, the NHL has a buyout window.
As you can see in the table above, the Flyers would get quite the cap benefit from buying out Hayes. The first thing you hear is, “The Flyers are rebuilding; why bother buying him out?” I hear you, but the point would be the valuable cap space that can be weaponized and turned into valuable draft picks. It’s not out of this world to think $4.8m could fetch you a first round pick for a cap dump.
It remains to be seen whether Hayes will be traded or bought out, but it remains clear that he needs a change of scenery.
