Report: Flyers close to trading away standout veteran

The Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues are finalizing a trade revolving around center Kevin Hayes, according to reports from The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford and The Fourth Period’s Anthony DiMarco.

Both DiMarco’s and Rutherford’s reports indicate this is set to be quite a complex trade with multiple moving parts. The Flyers were reportedly looking to add a third first-round selection in this year’s draft, while the Blues were looking to trade one of their two first-round picks later in the draft (25th or 29th overall).

Hayes was one of many Flyers involved in rampant trade speculation in recent weeks, although he had mostly been connected to the Columbus Blue Jackets going back to last year. Those talks, which have continued into this offseason, reportedly fell off last week.

Now 31 years old, Hayes was still among the Flyers’ highest-scoring players during a tough year offensively for the team. His 18 goals, 36 assists and 54 points were actually his best point-producing pace since signing a seven-year, $50M contract with Philadelphia in free agency in 2019. Those 36 assists led the team while his 54 points were good enough for second on the team behind Travis Konecny, who was the only point-per-game Flyer this past season.

Hayes still has three years remaining on that aforementioned contract, which pays him $7.143M per season. It’s a very steep cap hit for a player with defensive deficiencies who is only a safe bet for 45-60 points in a full season – which would lead to questions about salary retention. The Blues have some steep contracts paid out to their defenseman, though, which could soften the blow if they are able to move one of them to the Flyers in this deal – which seems poised to include multiple NHL roster players in both directions.