06/25/23 11:10 am: Di Marco has added to Friedman’s report that Krug is planning on staying put in St. Louis. He tweeted that Hayes could be the lone player headed to St. Louis in a re-worked trade, in a deal similar to the Ryan Johansen trade from yesterday.
Di Marco said that the Flyers “expect a lot back if this is the case,” meaning what once looked to be a larger deal with major pieces changing hands and potentially netting the Flyers another first-round pick could now be a more straightforward transaction.
06/25/23 9:30 am: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported that Krug “is leaning towards not waiving his no-trade clause.” Since Krug has a full no-trade clause on his contract, he not only has the right to veto any deal that would land him in Philadelphia, but any trade in general.
Based on Friedman’s report, it seems Krug is leaning towards using his no-trade rights to guarantee an outcome where he remains in St. Louis. It’s a development that has the potential to markedly change the complexion of this Hayes trade, or maybe even cause the deal to fall apart completely.
06/24/23 9:05 pm: The main writer for the St. Louis Blues on The Athletic, Jeremy Rutherford, released some definitive details on the trade. Although nothing is set in stone as of right now, in his article in The Athletic, he confirms that both Hayes and Sanheim will be headed to St. Louis, while Torey Krug and one of the Blues’ first-round picks in this year’s draft will head to Philadelphia. However, because of the no-trade clause in his contract, Krug will not be wearing a Flyers sweater next season. This would be the major hurdle in the trade, as the Flyers’ are looking for a third team to facilitate another trade for Krug.
06/24/23 6:52 pm: TVA’s Renaud Lavoie adds Marco Scandella is not the Blues party holding up the deal – he does not have full trade protection, and the Flyers are not on his no-trade list.
06/24/23 6:19 pm: Multiple reports suggest a Blues player has not waived a no-trade or no-move clause, holding up the trade going through. Rutherford reports this player is NOT Colton Parayko or Nick Leddy. The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor reports that Flyers defender Travis Sanheim could be heading to St. Louis along with Hayes, but the moving parts in the deal are far from finalized.
06/24/23 4:10 pm: The Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues are finalizing a trade revolving around center Kevin Hayes, according to reports from The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford and The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco.
Both DiMarco’s and Rutherford’s reports indicate this is set to be quite a complex trade with multiple moving parts. The Flyers were reportedly looking to add a third first-round selection in this year’s draft, while the Blues were looking to trade one of their two first-round picks later in the draft (25th or 29th overall).
Hayes was one of many Flyers involved in rampant trade speculation in recent weeks, although he’d mostly been connected to the Columbus Blue Jackets going back to last year. Those talks, which continued into this offseason, reportedly fell off last week.
Now 31 years old, Hayes was still among the Flyers’ highest-scoring players during a tough year offensively for the team. His 18 goals, 36 assists, and 54 points were actually his best point-producing pace since signing a seven-year, $50MM contract with Philadelphia in free agency in 2019. Those 36 assists led the team, and his 54 points were good enough for second on the team behind Travis Konecny, who was the only point-per-game Flyer this season.
Hayes still has three years remaining on that contract, which pays him $7.143MM per season. It’s a very steep cap hit for a player with defensive deficiencies who’s only a safe bet for 45-60 points in a full season, which would lead to questions about salary retention. The Blues have some steep contracts paid out to their defenseman, though, which could soften the blow if they’re able to move one of them to the Flyers in this deal – which is poised to include multiple NHL roster players in both directions.
This page will be updated as details of the return are reported.
The rebuilding Blues want Hayes? Okay then…..
They’re actually retooling, they should be rebuilding
Too many old defensemen for a retool. Move a few of them and rebuild that part of roster first.
He’s a RW
The Blues are not rebuilding, Armstrong simply said that the Blues are going to get younger and faster.
Hayes does not make you younger or faster.
I agree, I was repeating what Armstrong said last season after trading several Blues players during the season. He basically said we aren’t rebuilding, We want to get younger and faster.
Gotta ask…why the name Paiement? Not alot of folks probably recognize his name. Always liked his style of play. 26 goals and 101 PIM as a rookie in 74 with the Scouts…Love it!!!
Must be a third team involved. Wonder who it is…
Really only makes sense for the Blues if one of Leddy or Krug are going the other way, but that doesn’t make sense for Philly
Ugghh not a Hayes fan, unless we’re talking Willie Mays… hoping the Blues know they’re doing Flyers a favour and are paid accordingly…
so it’s Saad holding up the deal
No, but it is saad that Krug is.
Thank you Krug. Please don’t let this awful trade happen for the Blues.
These no-trade and no-movement contracts are killers for the team that signs these guys. I hate when the Rangers sign players that way. Always bites them in the butt.
Please Mr. Armstrong…DO NOT make this deal!!! Send Krug to Detroit for Perron 1 for 1 instead.
Why the hell would Detroit do that?!?
They wouldn’t, as you know
Because the Wings could use Krug as a power play specialist from the point. They need help in that area. He’s also a hometown boy and in my opinion Krug would benefit in a move to Detroit. Perron is revered in St Louis. Wings have the cap space for Krug. DP57 is now 35 and it would be a fitting gesture to let him finish his career where it started. I’d even include the rights to Logan Brown. Kinda letting sentiment get in the way here but one can always dream.
They’re not moving Perron for a power play specialist, though. The goal is to get better as a hockey team and that doesn’t move the needle. It could happen as a part of a larger deal, but DET would need more here. I get where you’re coming from with the history of Perron in STL, but he chose to sign with Detroit and may not have an interest in going back to STL as they didn’t really make much of a real effort to keep him.
Why would KRUG do that? If he wanted to play in Detroit, he could’ve signed with them in the first place.
This is why GMs who give out full NTCs are shooting themselves in the foot.
I’m with you, I don’t blame him. The only reason would be if he believes that Detroit is closer to competing than St Louis is. He likely didn’t expect for STL to have a selloff during his time there
Detroit IS closer to competing than St Louis is. But I agree with you, admiral: I can’t see why Detroit would prefer Krug to Perron at this point. Even at his age, Perron’s still playing quality hockey, while Krug just had the worst season of his career, makes nearly $2 MM more than Perron does, and is no spring chicken himself.
I know, Gmm8811, I know: we all want to unload the underperforming high-salary guys we don’t want for the overachieving low salary guys we do. Me, I’d be real happy, for instance, if the Bruins dealt Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbert and Mike Reilly for Moritz Seider, Matty Beniers and Dawson Mercer respectively, but I’d better not hold my breath.
Also, Perron is an excellent PP player so even if DET looked at bringing in Krug to help with that it would be a neutral move at best
Believe me I know if they are trying to move Krug it would be difficult. I’m a huge opponent of NMC’s but it’s part of the business. Heck, I’d add Perunovich to make the deal lol
No trade should be made anywhere unless krug is involved. His signing was the beginning of the demise.
If by his signing you mean losing #27 then yes.
#27 held St Louis hostage and wanted to go to Vegas. Armstrong pivoted to Krug upon realizing that he was being used as a pawn. It wasn’t a good decision, but he didn’t choose Krug over Pietrangelo
Fair enough.
Torey Krug is one smart veteran to realize he’d have an awful time with Tortorella.