Équipe: 2019-20 Flyers de Philadelphie

Date de création initiale: 23 avr. 2019

Publié: 24 avr. 2019

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Hayes' value is more about his fit in this lineup, rather than his individual skill. He enables the Flyers to trot out their most dominant top line, while getting TK and JVR a suitable two way player to solidify that 2nd line for depth scoring. Fletcher, Gordon and AV have all cited 2C as an immediate need for this team. They are signaling an intent to win now, and will not wait on a prospect to mature into the role. If you have to pay a little more cap than is ideal because it's UFA, fine. That's what all that cap savings is for anyway. The goaltending was a bigger headline as usual, but what the Flyers did last off-season at center, or actually didn't do, was just as fatal. Given Hayes' 4th line usage under Winnipeg, familiarity with coach AV, and Northeast background (Boston), he may well come to Philly at an attractive enough price.

Many have observed that a Raffl-Laughton-Hartman 4th line would enable the team to wear down opponents with 4 effective lines. Well, to do that requires the 3rd line wing to be filled. It may well be a prospect who takes the reins, but the Flyers won't count on it after getting burned with that strategy at 2C. No, they will want another option with experience and potential synergy.
Enter the much maligned Valeri Nichushkin. There's a lot to like about a power forward with great hands and everything to prove on the last year of an RFA deal, but there's also a lot to hate, like his 0 goals in 2018-2019 and the fallout with Lindy Ruff that resulted in a voluntary 2 year exodus to Russia.

Those are also the reasons why Nichushkin will come cheap to any taker. If you're Dallas, you gladly discharge nearly 3 mil of cap to ensure you can re-sign Zuccarello. If you're Philly, you take a chance at a mid round draft pick price on a player who could pot 20 goals or will crash out of the league with 0.

Why Nuke rather than a more veteran UFA? Well, longer term commitments and higher cap become problematic and Hayes will already be a significant spend. With Nuke, the system remains stocked as no prospects are lost and you get an intriguing option whose failures have been on a team that had virtually no depth scoring until it acquired Zuccarello. It's not as if Nuke failed on a team with any depth; it has been the opposite. He may be an effective complementary winger, as he was when paired with Seguin and/or Benn. With an aging Spezza, however, it didn't work. With a checking line role alongside Radek Faksa, it also didn't work. To be fair to Nuke, no one has scored well with those 2 centers, and with Faksa, Nuke was being asked to adopt a defense first mentality and did so. With Patrick and Lindblom, Nuke adds offensive elements to the line by driving the net on the rush and firing shots off of drop passes or down low tick tack toe plays. There are no doubt options that seem more like a sure thing, but always at a much higher price and not with the flexibility and motivation of a contract year pending RFA power forward.

What say you? Is Hayes the solution at 2C? Is a buy-low gamble on Nuke crazy like a madman or sly like a fox?