Philadelphia Flyers: Watching Kevin Hayes’ best plays will make you a fan
You’ve gotta admit, Kevin Hayes makes the Philadelphia Flyers more fun to watch.
Kevin Hayes is a bit of a polarizing figure among fans of the Philadelphia Flyers.
On one hand, he’s being paid like the 20th best center in the NHL after inking a massive seven-year, $50 million contract with the club in 2019 and rewarded the team for their financial trust with 41 points in 69 games with a -16 +/-.
For context, Hayes had more points (42) in 2018-19 in just his pre-trade tenure with the New York Rangers than he had in 18 more games spread over a full season with the Flyers.
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Then again, Hayes’ ability to impact the game from both ends of the ice as a second-line center behind captain Claude Giroux is a big reason why the Flyers had more points and wins in 2019-20 than their 2018-19 campaign despite playing 13 fewer games.
Need proof? Look no further than the NHL playoffs, where Hayes scored 13 points in 16 games and finished off the run with a +7 +/-.
Well, thanks to our friends over at the NHL – and since we got such positive feedback for this sort of content last time – fans of the Flyers, Rangers, and even Winnipeg Jets can reminisce on just how effective Hayes is at scoring when his team needs him most with a ‘top-5 goals of 2019-20’ video.
If you’re a die-hard Hayes hater, this may not be enough to transform you into a fan, but for fans somewhere between a three and seven on the ‘Kevin Hayes as a Philadelphia Flyer fan-o-meter’, this might be enough to fully convert you into a believer.
My goodness, did you see number four? He got a secondary assist and a goal on a very cool back-handed tip-in on the very same play. Then again, going 160-plus feet for a shootout-esque goal in front of ‘Wonder Woman Gritty‘ is pretty darn hard to beat.
Is Hayes a bit of a streaky shooter? Most definitely, as even in New York, Hayes wasn’t the poster boy for a consistent shot, but even his staunchest opponents have to concede that he’s a crafty playmaker capable of making legitimately jaw-dropping shots and blink-and-you-missed-it passes.
Could the team have used Hayes’ money on a better fitting piece? Sure, they still don’t have an elite scoring forward and could use some help in their top-four defensemen after the continued headscratcher that is Shayne Gostisbehere‘s development – if you want to call it that – but it’s hard to argue that Hayes, who finished out the season second in goals and eighth in assists is the Flyers’ biggest problem. Heck, if anything, one could argue that Hayes is one of those players who actually excel coming off the bench, as he exclusively scored goals on the second line during the team’s final 10 games of the playoffs.
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So what do you say? Has rewatching Kevin Hayes’ best and brightest moments of the 2019-20 season made you a believer? Or does watching his tape simply make you miss spending your fall watching the Philadelphia Flyers? Either way, let’s hope we see Hayes, Giroux, and the rest of the Flyers back on the ice sooner rather than later.