In case you missed it, Kevin Hayes was a healthy scratch before the Philadelphia Flyers played host to the New York Rangers on Saturday. He was benched for the entire third period in their previous game against the New Jersey Devils and he was also benched in an earlier game on October 23rd against the San Jose Sharks.
Head coach John Tortorella is not shying away from players that he feels aren’t performing up to his standards, and unfortunately Hayes has entered that crossfire, regardless of his standing in points. He returned to the lineup for their game against the Columbus Blue Jackets last night, where he played 14:21 and fired 3 shots on goal, however he looked very disinterested most shifts.
Now, there are a few ways to look at this move because for most teams, they’re not benching, admonishing, or scratching their top scorer – especially when your team is near or at the bottom in almost every conceivable offensive category. However, this isn’t a normal team, this isn’t your average head coach, and this year is a process year for the Flyers as Tortorella has mentioned countless times. They’re trying to figure out who is who, who fits where, and if anyone is a fit at all.
You won’t get anything out of Tortorella as he was quoted as saying last night, “You are trying to pin (Kevin Hayes) against me, which is so ludicrous. So I’m not going to give you an update on him”. Meanwhile he sang the praises for Travis Konecny and Morgan Frost, gave Wade Allison a thumbs up on his first game back from injury, and has never been the type of head coach to hide behind the curtains. The risk-reward system that is currently in place has shown us that no one is above the law and that you have to work your tail off to get to where you believe you should be. Konecny was benched alongside Hayes in October and he hasn’t looked back since.
Tortorella was as close as he can ever get to gushing over a player after their 5-3 win last night in relation to Konecny, whereas things are seemingly are completely different with Hayes. It is also very rare in the NHL for players to be outspoken about their current situation or about being in the doghouse, as it’s usually a tight-lipped procedure and publicly stating that you are unhappy about your benching isn’t going to get you back in the good books – no matter his prerogative to do so or how warranted it actually was.
Kevin Hayes and Travis Konecny have been the heartbeat and the pulse on the offensive side of the puck for the Flyers this season. Owen Tippett has had his moments in the sun, Joel Farabee has been inconsistent all season as he might’ve rushed his return from a neck injury, Morgan Frost is starting to come out of his shell , and James van Riemsdyk missed 20 games. Hayes has 29 points on the season, is on pace for a career high 74, but has caught the ire of his head coach due to his off-the-puck play.
Elliotte Friedman reported on his 32 Thoughts podcast that, “As for Kevin Hayes, this is a guy who’s on pace for 76 points, I’ve heard this has been brewing, I’ve heard Tortorella has told Hayes before that he doesn’t like the way he plays without the puck all the time.”
“I’ve looked at Hayes’ contract, in his deal there’s about $14 million in bonuses, almost all of that is paid off. Next year, there is no bonus. I have to tell you, I can’t help but look at this contract and say is this going to be a buyout at the end of the year.”
Friedman also touched on the topic of a Flyers rebuild.
“I think that they should, and to be honest I don’t think it’s impossible. I do believe this has been something that has been discussed for awhile now and I think there’s always been a worry. that at very high levels they just don’t want to do it and now I think you can’t help but look at it and say at some point in time, you’re going to have to do it.”
“If this is a marriage that’s not going to work, maybe this is the solution where he gets bought out and starts somewhere else.”
With Ryan Ellis’ return a mystery, Cam Atkinson set to miss the entire season, recently-extended Sean Couturier out until February-March, James van Riemsdyk set to become a free agent at the end of the year, and now the Hayes situation, it all finally points back to an eventual rebuild. The Flyers have tried their best to avoid it by signing or trading for plug-ins that at some point in time made sense or were viable options but now their entire team is signed through till at least next year and they have almost no cap flexibility.
With the direction that the Flyers might finally be heading towards, Hayes’ contract now looks like a prime candidate for a buyout at the end of the season. Hayes, who signed a 7-year deal with a cap hit of $7.142 million in the summer of 2019, has 3 years remaining after this season. However, if the Flyers execute the buyout, then they would be on the hook for a percentage of the contract over a 6 year span.
According to CapFriendly, the buyout would be affect the Flyers with a $2.25 million cap hit next year, $4.75 million in the following 2 years, and then $1.6 million in the final 3 years. CapFriendly has the Flyers pegged at $7.964 million in projected cap space for the summer of 2023 as things currently stand – LTIR appointments might be made to alleviate cap depending on the severity of injuries – but with a Hayes buyout, it would immediately alleviate another $4.6 million for next summer.
With most of the team already locked up, the Flyers don’t have a stressful or strenuous amount of contracts to take of care outside of Noah Cates, Morgan Frost, and Cam York. Players like Zack MacEwen – who has reportedly drawn interest from the Edmonton Oilers – Justin Braun, Patrick Brown, and Max Willman seem inconsequential at the moment unless the Flyers want to re-up on their depth yet again.
The Flyers strangle-held themselves into this position by trying to retool on the fly and to try to get this back on track. However, things have taken an ugly turn and aren’t looking any better as the days pass by. Sean Couturier suffered a setback that will keep him out until the end of the season, Cam Atkinson is out for the year, Ryan Ellis is a mystery no one will be able to solve, and the team is just bereft of talent yet somehow stacks up with contending teams in terms of the cap and projected cap space.
The walls need to be torn down, the infrastructure needs to be taken down by a bulldozer, and they need to start from the ground up. The pipeline needs replenishing, draft picks have to stop being moved, and they need to acquire as many future assets as possible for whatever value players they have left. John Tortorella has seemingly taken the keys to this team, and what he wants might be the way the Flyers move ahead.
Hayes doesn’t agree with the benching, he said it shouldn’t have happened, but he understands that it’s the coach’s decision. His play of late has warranted a benching based on the criteria that Tortorella laid out earlier in the year. No one is safe from admonishment and it doesn’t matter where you stand amongst the team leaders. It happened to be the team’s leading scorer but he also has been bad away from the puck, slows down the pace while everyone else around him is moving in normal speed, and has been warned by his head coach on numerous occasions.
As the video from NHL Network shows he has been out of position countless times – within the same game – he has avoided finishing checks which is a basic hockey function for someone of that size, and his turnovers have led to costly scoring chances and sometimes goals.
The writing was on the wall the moment Tortorella showed up and the fact that he’s been warned several times and still hasn’t cleaned up his on-ice antics is not a good look. The points are fantastic and he has proven to be the pulse of the offence alongside Konecny, however in saying that, Tortorella doesn’t care or put too much into one aspect of your game. Responsibility and accountability are important for every team but none more than the Flyers right now – a team that is trying to figure out who they are on the fly.
It doesn’t look good between player and head coach and in most cases, the latter beats out the former. Peter Laviolette got his way against Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, Craig Berube got his way against Vincent Lecavalier and Scott Hartnell, Dave Hakstol got his way with the overload of veteran players on his roster, and Alain Vigneault got his way against Jakub Voracek, Shayne Gostisbehere, Nolan Patrick, and Phil Myers.
Tortorella is trying to put his stamp on the team, and you can see that on a game-in-game-out basis, and unfortunately if things continue going down this route, we might see another fracture between star player and head coach.
