New York Rangers: The impact of the return of Kevin Hayes to the Metro
On June 19, Kevin Hayes signed a seven year, $50 million deal ($7.14 million AVV) with the Philadelphia Flyers. With this contract officially complete, Hayes will return to the Metropolitan Division and face his former teammates with the New York Rangers.
The New York Rangers initially traded Hayes to the Winnipeg Jets, where Hayes played the final 20 games of the 2018-19 season and six games in the playoffs.
In return, the Rangers received the the 20th overall pick in the 2019 draft (which they traded back to Winnipeg in the deal for Jacob Trouba) as well as forward Brendan Lemieux and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2022 NHL draft (which they did not receive as Winnipeg did not win the Stanley Cup).
Winnipeg then traded Hayes’s rights as an unrestricted free agent to the Philadelphia Flyers who wanted to get a crack at Hayes before July 1 and managed to ink a big time deal with the 27-year-old forward.
This means that the Rangers will still see a lot of Hayes next season.
With both teams in the Metro Division, the Rangers and Flyers will face off four times during the regular season and already have two games against one another on their 2019-20 pre-season schedule.
Here’s what we can expect Hayes to bring to the Flyers.
His Game
Rangers fans know the impact that Hayes has on a roster. Despite being 6’5″ and 216 pounds, Hayes is a superb skater. He has a great ability to read plays, can create space and step up through defense to generate dangerous opportunity.
Due to his ability, he also makes a big impact on the power play. Last season he recorded three goals on the power play and 8 assists for 11 points.
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Hayes will likely serve as the Flyers number two center on a line with James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek. The pair recorded 48 points (27 goals, 21 assists) and 66 (20 goals, 48 assists) respectively.
Hayes notched a career high 55 points last season as he began to truly live up to his full potential. Now, with two established players that have a history of high production by his side, there’s a good chance that Hayes could see even better statistics.
Other things to consider
Coming back to haunt you?
This is not the first time that a trade has ended up meaning a player returns to the Metropolitan Division. Perhaps most notable is Carl Hagelin, who was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, but has made it back to win two Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins and just signed a four year contract extension with the Washington Capitals this summer.
Others who have ended up in the same conference are Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller (Tampa), Derick Brassard (Ottawa) and Keith Yandle (Florida).
The thing that makes the Hayes situation different than what happened with Hagelin, is that the Rangers effectively traded Hayes and Neal Pionk for a tremendous return, one of the most sought after young defensemen in the league in Trouba. Hagelin was traded because the team was unable to fit him within the salary cap.
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The Vigneault effect
The other fact of the matter is, Hayes is signing on with former Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault, now employed by the flyers.
While the Flyers general manager sees the reunion between Hayes and Vigneault as a positive thing, the head coach had a history of benching the young forward for long periods during games in his sophomore season.
There was no question that by the time it came to Vigneault’s termination in April 2018, tension between the coach and his players was high. The coach’s inability to adapt to the nature and identity of his team was a big reason why he is no longer behind the Rangers’ bench.
Perhaps things will be different in the new setting in Philadelphia, but it is something to keep an eye on as the 2019-20 season progresses. Also, Vigneault had to have some input into the signing of Hayes.
Final Thoughts
The impact of having Hayes back in the Metropolitan Division will not make life too difficult for the Rangers. Based on the moves that Jeff Gorton has made in the last two seasons plus the fact that in a few short days they will add the number two pick to the roster, the Rangers GM has effectively rebuilt the franchise in just over a year — an impressive feat.
The Flyers have many assets that could be threatening to other teams in the Metro (including Kevin Hayes), but the downfall for them is, that many of them are young.
In this offseason alone, the Flyers have already fed into Vigneault’s love of and reliance on veterans, and the additions of Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun (both 32-years-old) on defense show that he the head coach is not fully prepared to build on his young talent.
It will be hard to see Hayes in that dreaded orange and black, but it will be interesting to see how he grows in his role with his new (old) head coach on his new roster. Being flanked by two team veterans will likely help.
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However, when it comes to his threat to the Rangers, there’s a good chance they can handle whatever is thrown their way.
As they continue to solidify and build this roster that fosters the raw talent and ultimately the development of young players, it will be exciting to see the these players take on some of the more “well rounded”and more veteran teams in the league.