St. Louis Blues acquire Kevin Hayes from Philadelphia Flyers

After several days of waiting, the Kevin Hayes trade is finally here!

The St. Louis Blues have acquired the center from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2024.

This deal had been rumoured to be in the works for a few days now, with reports as early as Saturday saying the Blues and Flyers were close to a deal. Many other players and pieces were rumoured to be involved, including Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim also moving to St. Louis, with one of the Blues defensemen going the other way. However, a no-trade clause on the Blues side seemed to impede that trade, so that resulted in the eventual deal being made instead.

The Flyers will be retaining 50% of Hayes’ contract, so the both teams will be on the hook for $3,571,428.50 for the next three seasons. The trade becomes more of a cap dump than a sell for a rebuild with just the sixth round pick going the other way.

Hayes is coming off of one of his best seasons, as he had 18 goals, 36 assists, and 54 points in 81 games this season, and also made the All-Star Game for the Flyers. However, he did get into a bit of hot water with Flyers head coach John Tortorella, including getting healthy scratched at one point in the season, all of which was a big reason why the Flyers wanted to move on from Hayes.

Hayes was a first-round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, but opted to play four years of college hockey at Boston College instead of signing with the Blackhawks. He then signed a professional deal with the New York Rangers in 2014, where he spent parts of five seasons before he was dealt to the Winnipeg Jets in 2018-19 at the trade deadline. The Flyers then acquired his rights from the Jets for a fifth-round pick and signed him to his current seven-year deal with a $7,142,857 cap hit.

Hayes joins a Blues team looking to return to the playoffs after missing for just the second time since 2011. They finished the 2022-23 season with a 37-38-7 record, only good for sixth in the Central Division and putting them 14 points behind the Jets for the final wild card spot.