FULL QUOTE: “For me with Hayes, I look at Columbus. And the reason I look at Columbus is, who are his friends? Some of his friends – he’s got a lot of friends – Kevin Hayes is a popular guy. Johnny Gaudreau and Rick Nash. To me, that’s potential draft (trade) to Columbus, or after the season with Columbus. I think that’s a possibility… I have heard Columbus, and Columbus is going to look for a center with more experience. There are people in that organization who think very highly of Kevin Hayes.”
[Source (18:00)](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4uFS9dPJwhuIlyDCSK9kWV?si=dUHXqFayQzC7ZmgxPmJqeQ)
by captainkepi
14 Comments
Yuck
We don’t need another middle-6 C. Our whole Center core right now is made up of middle-6 guys.
If we’re going by that logic then why didn’t Sasha Barkov sign here? He and patty are very good friends. Instead he chose to stay in South Florida. The whole go play where your friends are thing had been debunked so many times. Not to mention, we don’t need more middle/bottom 6 centers. Don’t forget next season we will have (reportedly) Tex back as well as likely other guys coming up.
Yeah. No thanks on Kevin Hayes right now. He would be a nice player on shorter term but honestly he just isn’t a great fit for us right now all things considered. We don’t need another middle six forward who can’t play defense all that well. If our wings played better defense maybe it would work but as is, it just doesn’t make sense. I’ll just pray that we can trade for Elias Lindholm instead. Not that I expect it, I just think with forwards we need to let the guys develop or swing big
JD and Jarmos interviews last night also indicated they really want to slot an experienced guy in the mix since we are “so young”. So sick of the narrative of being the youngest team.
Pass. Expensive middle 6 center.
I am not sure [Kevin Hayes](https://imgur.com/a/dStqpZ4) is a dramatic upgrade to [Jack Roslovic](https://imgur.com/a/qn8bs23). They both have poor defense, Hayes is marginally better at Faceoffs. Jack Roslovic is a much better puck carrier through the neutral zone. Jack is also right handed which opens up Patty’s one timer. Kevin Hayes is historically worse than his team in the CF% and Jack has been better than average on CBJ until this year.
If they are going for downstream effects there may be a wager. Johnny basically just carries Kevin Hayes or at least they play primarily together. Boone shifts down to play with Laine and Roslovic gets to hide his weaknesses and play to strengths on the wing. Roslovic and KJ compete for the puck carrier on that line. Boone isn’t ideally a center but he’s meshed so well with both Gaudreau and Voracek that we’d need to be getting a much better player to make up for his established fit. I do really like him as a partner with KJ where he can take faceoffs while KJ learns the other responsibilities of the center-ice position.
I saw mention of retained salary on Kevin Hayes, which makes it more palatable but I am not sure I get it. I sure hope we’d spend our LA 1st on something that fits our window a bit better.
Dream players: Gabe Vilardi/Martin Necas/Sam Reinhart/Nick Schmaltz/Elias Lindholm. Not all of these really play C but I think they’d be improvements over Roslovic and pair very well with Laine. I doubt any are easy to acquire, though.
You know who else has friends on our team? Connor Bedard.
Please no
Friedman also said jarmo wants to compete again next year which I just don’t think is honestly living in reality with where this eastern conference is at right now
I agree Hayes has no business being near our team. But we’re all forgetting that Chuck Fletcher is a weak excuse of a GM.
Jarmo could really make something happen here if he pulls it off at a nice price.
**With Bedard/Fantilli**
Gaudreau-Hayes-Marchenko
Johnson-Bedard/Fantilli-Laine
Jenner-Sillinger-Chinakhov
Voronkov-Kuraly-Texier
Danforth
Robinson
**Without an NHL ready Pick**
Gaudreau-Hayes-Marchenko
Johnson-Jenner-Laine
Texier-Sillinger-Chinakhov
Robinson-Kuraly-Voronkov
Danforth
Olivier
I don’t hate it. Contract would expire in 3 years which is good term. They want to be competitive now and I’m not sure there are a whole lot of other available centers that would be better options.
For me with Hayes, I look at a country club player that only cares about himself and having a good time.
Hard pass. I’ve never heard or seen anything good about this player or his work ethic. I’ve only ever read about issues arising out of being un-coachable, lazy, and selfish.
The antithesis of CBJ hockey.
Hayes had absolutely no chemistry with Laine in Winnipeg.