Jump to content
  • Join us — it's free!

    We are the premiere internet community for New York Rangers news and fan discussion. Don't wait — join the forum today!

IGNORED

Rangers, Hayes Nearing One-Year Deal


Phil

Recommended Posts

Barring an unforeseen development, the Rangers and Kevin Hayes appear are on their way to a one-year contract that will usher the 26-year-old center to unrestricted free agency a year from now ? after he is dealt at the deadline for a presumed late first-round draft pick, that is.

 

Slap Shots has learned there has been little traction in talks between the parties regarding a long-term agreement aimed at keeping Hayes on Broadway as one of the rebuild linchpins. The improper Bostonian, scheduled for a salary arbitration hearing on Thursday, is believed seeking deal between $5.5 million and $6 million per for five or six years. General manager Jeff Gorton doesn?t seem inclined to make that type of commitment to him.

 

Hayes? ask is line with what he could expect to receive on the 2019 open market. Adam Henrique, two years older and with a r?sum? featuring an additional 200 games of NHL experience, recently signed a five-year extension with Anaheim worth $5.85 million per that kicks in next season. Though the two centers have produced similar overall numbers, Hayes has been slightly more productive at five-on-five (.19/.18 GPG, .26/.19 APG, .45/.37 PPG).

 

Hayes has all the leverage in these talks. He either gets paid on a long-term deal here or someplace else in another 12 months. Though the Rangers have a history of signing bridge contracts to forwards who file for arbitration, none who have come before (including Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller and Hayes, himself) were one year away from unrestricted free agency. So this is a first.

 

https://nypost.com/2018/07/28/rangers-stance-on-kevin-hayes-contract-complicates-rebuild/

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess their thinking is that Hayes simply doesnt fit into their long term plans in terms of opening up the middle for Chytil/Andersson.

 

Sort of, yeah. I mean, mentioned here is that they essentially tested the market on he and Zibanejad to alleviate a growing logjam up the middle. So, it stands to reason they're not going to tie up the next five-to-six years between Zibanejad and a Hayes with the kids on the way. They need room to grow. Fastest way to stunt that is to build two steel beams over their heads. Even if those beams are both good players.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sort of, yeah. I mean, mentioned here is that they essentially tested the market on he and Zibanejad to alleviate a growing logjam up the middle. So, it stands to reason they're not going to tie up the next five-to-six years between Zibanejad and a Hayes with the kids on the way. They need room to grow. Fastest way to stunt that is to build two steel beams over their heads. Even if those beams are both good players.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

 

Just makes me question why he hasnt been traded already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love this...the Rangers have fallen into the trap of forever signing 2-3 line centers and paying them borderline 1 line money. This is the right move and I think deep down even Hayes knows it. He's a 3rd or 4th line center, and a really good one...but he's not a 5M player.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this will be a mistake. He's quickly developing into one of the best 2-way centers in the game. He's the exact type of guy that you find on a cup winning team.

 

Dont agree with that at all. If it were true the Rangers would be long term keeping him or he would have been traded for a shit ton.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this will be a mistake. He's quickly developing into one of the best 2-way centers in the game. He's the exact type of guy that you find on a cup winning team.

 

He's not even in the same stratosphere as the best 2-way centers in the game.

He's a good player, will be a good piece for someone needing depth at center as they're making a final push.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bergeron

Barkov

Kopitar

Matthews

 

There's a good amount of players between those guys and Hayes as well. Doesn't mean Hayes isn't a good player. But he's nowhere near the best.

These guys aren't used like Kevin Hayes, even if they are good two-way players. Zone starts are a good way to measure how a player is used, and Hayes isn't even in the same ballpark as these guys, except for Barkov. He's also not used on the PP.

 

Bergeron - 59.4% OZS, 21 PPP, 2:58 PP TOI

Barkov - 40.4% OZS, 17, 3:23

Kopitar - 48.1% OZS, 27, 2:53

Matthews - 50.8% OZS, 13, 2:09

 

Hayes - 42.7% OZS, 6, 1:07

 

You can pretty much count on one hand the number of guys who are deployed like Hayes and still have any measure of production. Mikko Koivu, for example, had a OZS of only 42.5%, but had just 30 even strength points. Hayes had 34, played 6 fewer games and played about 1:00 per game less overall. That's the same even strength production as Ryan O'reilly.

 

So, tl;dr, Hayes isn't one of the top two-way centers in the league. But, of the guys who get his usage and lack of PP time, he definitely is. The list of centers with a heavy d-zone deployment and 30+ points at even strength is really short, and he's on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they should bite the bullet and sign him to a five year deal. A player of his quality will only get more expensive. The law of averages dictates that we will not get two blue chip centers in Chytl and Anderson. We might not even get one. The law of averages also does not favor a long unconcussed and otherwise healthy tenure for Zib. If we give him a one year deal and trade him at the deadline, the late first rounder we get in return will have about a one in five chance of becoming a player of Hayes' quality, and that will be in about four years. Given that Hayes is of little use for two thirds of a season on a rebuilding team, it would be better if they must trade him to do it now, when they'd get something more than the late first rounder. Letting Hayes go is a recipe for Buffaloication: a disease characterized by the stockpiling of picks that rarely amount to much. Garth Snow is now in long term therapy for this condition.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sort of, yeah. I mean, mentioned here is that they essentially tested the market on he and Zibanejad to alleviate a growing logjam up the middle. So, it stands to reason they're not going to tie up the next five-to-six years between Zibanejad and a Hayes with the kids on the way. They need room to grow. Fastest way to stunt that is to build two steel beams over their heads. Even if those beams are both good players.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Blueshirts Brotherhood mobile app powered by Tapatalk

 

See I do not get this mindset at all from a managing assets perspective. If the Brooks article acknowledges that his ask is what he would get on the open market, why not sign him to that, and flip him for an asset when you have Chytil, Anderson, and/or someone else ready to replace him? If they sign Hayes to a 1 year deal, and he has a monster season, he will likely get more than what he is negotiating on the open market, actually making his contract undervalued vs. the current ask. Sort of them same thing as when they played this game with Stepan, and then had to give him that awful 6.5 million deal. It's not like cap space is going to be an issue for the next several seasons.

 

As for stunting the growth of Chytil and Anderson, you can't tell me anything in their combined 16 games of NHL experience has either ready to take on a 2nd line role without a safety net place. The whole thing just seems completely illogical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just my opinion Hayes to me comes across as a guy that takes his foot off the gas once he signs a long term deal. Maybe it's just the look on his face that makes me think that. I've questioned his effort at times during his time here and no I'm not blaming AV for that.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think they should bite the bullet and sign him to a five year deal. A player of his quality will only get more expensive. The law of averages dictates that we will not get two blue chip centers in Chytl and Anderson. We might not even get one. The law of averages also does not favor a long unconcussed and otherwise healthy tenure for Zib. If we give him a one year deal and trade him at the deadline, the late first rounder we get in return will have about a one in five chance of becoming a player of Hayes' quality, and that will be in about four years. Given that Hayes is of little use for two thirds of a season on a rebuilding team, it would be better if they must trade him to do it now, when they'd get something more than the late first rounder. Letting Hayes go is a recipe for Buffaloication: a disease characterized by the stockpiling of picks that rarely amount to much. Garth Snow is now in long term therapy for this condition.
Hayes isn't playing the same role as Zib or Chytil.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isnt that a reason to keep Hayes, at least short-term?

 

It's neither here nor the Z and Chytil as unrelated to conversation of Hayes. Maybe Lias, but doesn't matter. Jury is out with time to decide there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.



×
×
  • Create New...