Kevin Hayes saw a report over the weekend that the Flyers were on the verge of selling him to the Blues. His Philadelphia teammate, defenseman Travis Sanheim, was also reportedly part of the deal.
“I texted a bit with Sandy,” Hayes told The Athletic on Tuesday. “We’ve heard some rumours. We heard it was done and then it wasn’t done, then it was done and it wasn’t done.”
According to league sources, the swap was pending because the Blues planned to trade defenseman Torey Krug to the Flyers in return, along with a first-round pick in this year’s draft. But Krug, who signed a seven-year, $45.5 million free agent contract in 2020, has a no-trade clause and they would have to forego it. That’s the final detail in such a deal – after the clubs have agreed on the assets.
Hayes, 31, is an avid golfer who spends his summers in his hometown of Boston. So he spent Saturday and Sunday on the golf course wondering if he was going to be a blue.
“Honestly, it was out of my hands,” Hayes said. “I couldn’t do anything about it.”
But what Hayes had in his hands was his phone, so he texted a longtime friend about the situation. That friend was none other than Krug, with whom Hayes had played hockey with the Boston Icemen since he was 10. Krug, a Michigan native, flew in over the summer and played with the team. When Krug was with the Boston Bruins, Kevin’s older brother, Jimmy, was his teammate.
“I’ve known Torey for a long time,” Hayes said. “So I was talking to Torey the whole time. You hear rumors and I texted him and I was like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’”
Hayes declined to disclose what was said in his conversation with Krug – “this thing is between us,” he said – but he soon found out what we all eventually learned, which was that Krug referred to his no-trade Clause called to block trade in Philadelphia.
“He earned that right,” Hayes said. “He’s an incredible player and I don’t question anything he’s done. Whatever he wanted to do, it was great with me.”
Four days after it appeared that Hayes and Sanheim could move to St. Louis and Krug to Philadelphia, the Blues opted for a smaller version of the trade on Tuesday, bringing in Hayes for a sixth-round draft pick in 2024 The Flyers will retain 50 percent of the center’s salary cap for the remaining three years of his contract, leaving the Blues with an annual average (AAV) of $3.6 million to contend with.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, who is in Nashville for the NHL draft on Wednesday and Thursday, will address the media on Wednesday afternoon about the trade.
This off-season, Armstrong has admitted the Blues are in the midst of a restructuring, but he’s also made it clear he wants his club to be competitive in the 2023/24 season and Hayes supports that cause.
The 1.90 meter tall, 100 kilogram player scored 18 goals and 54 points in the 2022/23 season and was an All-Star for the first time in his career. But he clashed with Flyers coach John Tortorella, who transferred him to the wing and gave him a healthy scratch in one spot.
“I made the All-Star Game and at some points I still didn’t feel like I was helping the team,” Hayes said. “They kind of started a rebuild and didn’t see me as a part of it, although I saw myself as a part of it. I’ve never lost confidence in my game, but maybe the coaches have. It’s just that maybe they didn’t think I could help their team as much as I thought.”
“I knew I was pretty traded all summer. Nobody told me that, but I can read the writing on the wall.”
Hayes said that when speculation about St. Louis began a few days ago, he was excited because he is a cousin of former blues player and current blues college scout Keith Tkachuk, alongside his mother Shelagh Hayes.
“I feel like everyone says they’re a fan of the team they’re being traded to, but that’s true,” Hayes said. “I grew up with Keith when he was in the Coyotes and the Blues. Every time they came to town, I would drop out of school and go to their practice.”
But while Hayes waited for the trade to go through Sunday and then into Monday, he and agent Bob Murray, who was also Tkachuk’s agent during his career, didn’t have high hopes.
“We didn’t really know,” Murray said. “Most of what we got came from the media. … Everyone thought the deal would go through on Saturday, but that wasn’t true. Then there is the fear that the whole deal could fail.
“But it seemed like St. Louis wanted Kevin and Philly was willing to do whatever it took to make it happen. I spoke to (Flyers GM) Danny Briere a few times and he was very honest and open which was nice. We just waited and hoped it would be finished. I was confident, but you never know.”
As of Monday night, Hayes had heard no rumors about the deal, which would go through on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, he was playing golf again and told the four players that he needed to be near his phone.
“I said, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to keep the ringer on loud,'” Hayes said. “But in my family group (text) chat, it was, ‘Bing, bing, bing.’ It wasn’t even about hockey. It was about my 9 year old niece’s soccer game. I thought, ‘I’m going to turn that off.’ So I turned on the mute switch and literally five minutes later I look down and had three missed calls from Danny B. and two from my agent.
“It’s weird when you read about a deal that doesn’t go through and a few days later it’s a different kind of deal. Everything was released a few days ago, but yeah, it’s super exciting that I ended up in St. Louis.”
After hearing from Briere, Hayes received a call from Armstrong.
“He just said, ‘Look, we didn’t have the year that we wanted,'” Hayes said. “He believes in the people he has in this room. It hasn’t been that long since they’ve been very successful and he thinks I’ll be a big help to them. I’m very excited. I think I can help the team and I can’t wait to get there.”
Hayes also joked that blues fans owe him one.
In 2019, he played for Winnipeg and faced the Blues in the first round of the postseason. The best-of-seven series drew two games each, and the Jets won Game 5 at home 2-0. He had a chance to give his team a 3-0 lead in the second period, but when Hayes tried to stuff the puck past goalie Jordan Binnington, he accidentally stopped the goal from coming in and the Blues rallied for one 3-2 win .
“I actually shot a puck out of the net that went in for Winnipeg,” Hayes said. “I think (St. Louis) should thank me for that.”
Hayes knows several players in the Blues squad and heard from some of them on Tuesday. He played with Pavel Buchnevich at Rangers and also knows Nick Leddy.
“They have some good young players and also some older players who are fantastic. “A great goalkeeper,” he said. “I think I should fit in pretty well with the group. I have great confidence in my ability to play in this league. I’ve been in the league for a while. I think I’m a player who drives offense and makes the players around him better, and that’s what I plan to do when I come to St. Louis.”
The one player he’s wondering if he’ll be teammates with when he moves to the Blues is Krug. The defenseman exercised his no-trade clause in the deal with the Flyers, but that doesn’t guarantee he won’t be transferred at some point this summer.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to him from here,” Hayes said. “I hope he’s with us in St. Louis. I would be very happy. I would like to play with him. He’s a great guy.”
(Photo by Kevin Hayes: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)