Photo Credit: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
The Flyers were getting pummeled, an onslaught was taking place with the Carolina Hurricanes up 6-2 with 17:52 to go in the second period in December. Carter Hart goes down and the passionate fans of Philadelphia were left gasping for air.
Rasmus Ristolainen pushed a Cane into Hart and Hart flew back into the net. He was then pulled for Samuel Ersson, to which Ersson made 25 saves on 30 shots faced in his NHL Debut. Hart was later out with an upper body injury, and that is all that was told to us from the Flyers.
However, the buck did not stop there. Kevin Hayes at that point in the season just looked disinterested and disengaged. I’ve personally never seen Hayes look that disinterested with players skating by him, with lackluster defensive effort to protect the two defensemen. The Canes were just skating by Hayes with no problem, and there was no fight back from Hayes.
Hayes, on top of being a sizeable Center was also brought in as a defensive specialist by former Flyers’ General Manager Chuck Fletcher. He was an excellent player on the defensive side of the puck that possessed excellent penalty killing skills. These skills aided the Flyers in 2019-20. Yes, he was producing at this point of the 2022-23 season, but the attention to detail on the backend was brutal. Which leads me to this point, it does not make sense to buy out Hayes given his production last season.
There are a few reasons why it does not make sense to buy out Hayes, one being he would be the third or fourth best center on the market free agent wise, and two the Flyers would have to take a cap penalty of six years in order to free Hayes from the Flyers.
With the free agent crop being lackluster at the Center position this offseason. There just might be a team that will call for Hayes, especially if/when the Flyers retain 50% of his contract. That would bring his cap hit to approximately $3.6 million, which is perfect given his recent production this past season (18g,36a-54P). Ivan Barbashev leads the crop for free agent Centers in my opinion. He is just 27-years-old and coming off a 45 point season (16g,29a), followed by Ryan O’Reilly (25g,40a), Jonathan Toews (15g,16a), Patrice Bergeron (27g,31a). Bergeron might/could possibly even retire. The list goes down from there with Lars Ellers a free agent, as well. The Center crop of free agents are just not that strong this offseason.
If the Flyers were to buyout Hayes they would face a significant cap hit for two seasons (2024-25, 2025-26), but they would also be on the hook for a cap hit for six seasons until following the 2028-29 season. Here is what a buyout would look like, and all numbers are from a reliable source in Cap Friendly:
| SEASON | INITIAL BASE SALARY | INITIAL CAP HIT | SIGNING BONUS | BUYOUT COST | POST-BUYOUT EARNINGS | SAVINGS | CAP HIT ( PHI) |
| 2023-24 | $6,500,000 | $7,142,857 | $0 | $1,611,111 | $1,611,111 | $4,888,889 | $2,253,968 |
| 2024-25 | $4,000,000 | $7,142,857 | $1,250,000 | $1,611,111 | $2,861,111 | $2,388,889 | $4,753,968 |
| 2025-26 | $4,000,000 | $7,142,857 | $1,250,000 | $1,611,111 | $2,861,111 | $2,388,889 | $4,753,968 |
| 2026-27 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,611,111 | $1,611,111 | -$1,611,111 | $1,611,111 |
| 2027-28 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,611,111 | $1,611,111 | -$1,611,111 | $1,611,111 |
| 2028-29 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1,611,111 | $1,611,111 | -$1,611,111 | $1,611,111 |
| TOTAL | $14,500,000 | $21,428,571 | $2,500,000 | $9,666,667 | $12,166,667 | $4,833,333 | $16,595,237 |
Adding more cap for a dead contract is just not a good idea for a rebuilding club. Now if the cap hit penalty was only for a handful of seasons, sure. However, the Flyers are looking to become serious contenders within the next two-three years, so they should be shedding as much cap as possible, not adding to it, especially for six seasons. This would be an Ilya Bryzgalov 2.0 situation.
Hayes does in fact have a M-NTC, but I’m sure the Flyers know what 12 teams he would like to be traded to. However, that does not mean that’s all the teams Flyers’ General Manager Danny Briere can talk to. If Hayes waived his M-NTC for any team, maybe he says yes, if he wants out that bad. Plus, a $3.6 million cap hit for a team? I’m sure they can find a taker, Even if that means a little more patience, after the first day of free agent frenzy.
Of course, Hayes was not the player fans have come to know him by this past season, minus the production. It’s also hard to disagree with anyone when they say Hayes and the Flyers should move on, as Hayes and Tortorella definitely had their fair share of disagreements throughout the course of last season. However, Hayes could still be moved, and he becomes a viable option given the lackluster free agent center crop this offseason.
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