What we know about the Flyers reported trade of Kevin Hayes

Trade season is full of rumors and potential deals. Some come together quickly while some take hours or even days to iron out. And some fizzle out just as quickly as they began. Take the Carter Hart rumors for example. Right after the Ivan Provorov trade, it was mentioned the Flyers were working on a deal for Hart next. Those rumors died rather quickly.

Rumors have picked back up again, but not on Hart. This time it’s about Kevin Hayes. It’s all but a done deal that Hayes’ time with the Flyers is up. We know that he is expected to be traded to the St. Louis Blues. But what does the trade look like exactly? That is something that we are all waiting to find out.

Everything began early on Saturday evening when news about a potential deal between the Flyers and Blues began. It started with just Hayes and developed into much more than that. But that’s the tricky part about rumors. You don’t know how much is true and how much is just speculation.

What we know about the Flyers

Two things have seemingly been confirmed on Philadelphia’s side. Hayes is the centerpiece of the deal and Philadelphia is expected to retain a significant chunk of his contract. While Hayes had a strong statistical season, it seems as if the relationship between him and John Tortorella is far too gone to fix. The Flyers are also getting younger and Hayes simply does not fit where they are headed.

The other part is that Travis Sanheim is also expected to be traded to the Blues as well. Sanheim will be entering the first year of an eight-year extension he signed at the beginning of this season. With a cap hit of 6.2M, he also has a no-trade clause which will kick in July 1st, the start of free agency. So the Flyers are free to trade him wherever they want before then. It was a down year for Sanheim, especially after signing the lengthy extension. This season could have been an outlier, but with the rebuild in full effect, Sanheim likely doesn’t fit the timeline as he is already 27 and will be in his mid-30s by the end of this deal.

There were also reports that Scott Laughton and Tony DeAngelo could have potentially been in the reported deal. That is no longer the case as DeAngelo is reportedly on his way to being traded back to Carolina. The Flyers are expected to retain 50% of his 5M hit, which isn’t bad considering he only has one year left on his deal.

What we know about the Blues

This is where things get a bit murky. We probably know more about what isn’t coming from the Blues than what is. Reportedly, one defenseman on St. Louis was not waiving his no-trade clause. Five defensemen on their roster have a NTC. Doesn’t help narrow things down, right?

As the night progressed, more reports did come out about who the Blues hadn’t asked to waive their NTCs. That became Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy. Marco Scandella, who has a modified list, does not have Philadelphia on it so the Blues wouldn’t need permission. That left Torey Krug as the final option to have vetoed things on his side.

As San Filippo mentioned, the Flyers are looking to flip Krug to a third team where he would be more willing to waive his no-trade clause. So in essence, Philadelphia would simply be getting cap space.

It’s also been reported that a first-round pick will be coming from the Blues as well. They currently hold the 10th, 25th, and 29th picks. It would likely be one of the latter two picks coming Philadelphia’s way.

There is still plenty of work to do to make this deal happen but both sides appear as if they are willing to put in the work.