What an offseason this turned out to be for the Flyers, and their proud faithful. On Monday June 3rd, 2019 at approximately 8:40 p.m. the Flyers traded for the rights of Center Kevin Hayes from the Winnipeg Jets for a 5th Round Pick. A little over two weeks later the orange and black signed Hayes to a 7 year-$50 million deal, worth an AAV of $7.14 million per season.
Hayes is a big bodied Center, as he stands at 6’5” weighs 220 pounds, and has really turned himself into an amazing playmaker. Gone are the days of trying to provide mismatches down the middle, the Flyers have found a gem in Hayes.
He has provided much-needed size down the middle for the Flyers, and Hayes is also versatile. Hayes can play the wing and the Penalty Kill. He is a legit scoring threat on the PK, which has helped the Flyers immensely. Better yet, Hayes has done everything right, including scoring 23 goals on the season. He potted four short-handed goals on the season, before the season was halted to the Coronavirus, and he is just relishing the moment right now, “UFA was a big thing for me, but once I got traded there I flew down, met with Chuck… I’ve played against these guys pretty much my whole career and they’re not fun to play against,” Hayes said, “I figured I’d join them, and so far so good. Year 1’s been great. The locker room’s awesome, the coaching staff’s great and everything’s been good so far.”
Featured on a line that is hot as a firecracker with Travis Konecny, and Scott Laughton, Hayes was a perfect complement for these two play makers, in goal scorers. Laughton now has four goals in three games played. Hayes continues to feed these two, and it is making their line very successful, “We played together for a while in the regular season and I thought things were going well when we were doing that,” Hayes said, “We kind of jumped to the offense there in the regular season and our coaches told us about it. Since we got back from quarantine we’ve talked about playing with each other and playing the right way defensively. Tonight even though we had a ton of offense we did everything right defensively, which allowed us to do that. When you play with TK and Laughts it’s easy out there when things are going well.”
“I think it’s tough to build momentum when you’re away for three or four months,” Laughton said, “We had a really good training camp in Philly. I think the guys are confident in each other. We have a lot of guys who work really really hard. It’s easy to execute when you have guys moving their feet and staying over top of teams and making it hard on them. We picked up from our camp and continue to grow our game. We need to continue to do that. We’ve got to keep pushing forward here, but it’s been a good start for us and guys have definitely bought in and want to win for each other.”
Konecny is the perfect compliment to this line. He brings chirpiness, grit, speed, and skill. He finished the season as the Flyers team leader in points (61), and goals (24), but he was also tied for second on the team in assists with 37. Konecny is a successful playmaker in this league, and now Laughton is becoming a successful playmaker, as well.
Laughton stands at 6’1 and weighs 190 lbs, and is tearing up the NHL playoffs at the moment. He has registered three goals, and one assist in two games played. This doesn’t count the one goal he scored in the exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Laughton is thriving in a top-six role, much like Sean Couturier did when he was placed into the top 6 a few years ago. He is really making the best of this opportunity, proving he always had it in him. Every prospect grows at a different rate, and Laughton is a perfect example of such.
This second line just scorching hot, and it’s a thing of beauty if you’re the Flyers. If you’re the opponent this is a match up nightmare. Kudos to Head Coach Alain Vigneault and his experienced coaching staff for putting this line back together.
