Rumor: Kevin Hayes will not sign with the Flyers, has “mutual interest” with another team.

Hayes reportedly set to reject the Flyers.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Rumor: Kevin Hayes will not sign with the Flyers, has “mutual interest” with another team.
Kostas Lymperopoulos/CSM/Zuma

The Philadelphia Flyers took a significant gamble early on this offseason and if one National Hockey League reporter is to be believed, it now sounds like it is a risk that will not pay off for the Flyers and general manager Chuck Fletcher.

I am of course referring to the gamble that brought veteran forward Kevin Hayes to the Flyers organization, a trade that could realistically result in him never playing a single game under the Flyers' umbrella. In order to obtain the exclusive negotiating rights to Hayes Fletcher gave up a 5th round pick, not the biggest loss to be sure but a loss that may have netted the Flyers absolutely nothing.

A recent report from Boston Bruins beat writer Jimmy Murphy has claimed that Hayes in fact is very unlikely to ever sign with the Flyers due to the fact that he currently has what Murphy describes as "mutual interest" with another team. Citing a source that is close to Hayes Murphy is reporting that the native of Dorchester, Massachusetts may return home to play for the team he grew up playing for.

From Murphy:

The Boston Bruins pursued Kevin Hayes at the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 25, and the Bruins are set to woo the current Philadelphia Flyers center and Dorchester, MA native once again. The Bruins would like Hayes to come home and play for the team he grew up cheering. Friday, a source close to Hayes told Boston Hockey Now that there is “mutual interest” between the Bruins and Hayes.

That would of course be a massive move for the Bruins, but it is hard to imagine how Hayes could fit into the line up as is currently constructed. Murphy believes that the Bruins may look to trade 33 year old veteran center David Krejci at some point during this offseason and if that move were in fact to take place it would immediately open up an obvious slot for Hayes on the roster. That however would require two moves to happen and we have yet to see even one, so it is premature to jump to conclusions in this regard. 

That being said a return to Boston for Hayes does make a lot of sense on a personal level, and given how much success the Bruins have just had it makes sense from the perspective of a player who wants to compete for championships as well. 

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