Boston Bruins: Is Kevin Hayes on their free agency radar?
If we’re to believe recent reports, Winnipeg Jets center Kevin Hayes may be a name on the Boston Bruins’ radar, come free agency.
A recent Sportsnet article listing the top twelve unrestricted free agents lists the Boston Bruins as a team that may be in for Kevin Hayes, however I question where the actual fit would be.
Until recently, I’d have willingly gone along with the idea, but since the deadline acquisition of Charlie Coyle, who along with fellow deadline pick-up, Marcus Johansson, has excelled since the post-season got underway.
Charlie Coyle fits the role of third line center perfectly, giving the Boston Bruins added depth down the middle at a really reasonable price. Patrice Bergeron obviously has a tight hold on the first line role and David Krejci is very much comfortable on the second line. That really only leaves the fourth line as an option and even there, Sean Kuraly really doesn’t deserve to be ousted.
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Kevin Hayes is coming off a career-high 54 points and obviously that sort of point production isn’t to be overlooked, but given he was on a ‘prove yourself’ one-year deal worth $5.175 million this season, you have to assume the cap hit he expects will be similar if not more and with term.
Perhaps the only chip he has that may interest the Boston Bruins is that he is effective both on the power play and on the penalty kill. That versatility on special teams isn’t something to shrug at.
Common sense suggests the Sportsnet report is merely matching players to teams that might fit them and that there’s no real truth to the idea. Surely, Boston Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney wouldn’t be foolish enough to sign another center at a quite considerable cost!
If the Boston Bruins are to improve any area of their team this free agency, surely the focus has to be the defense or the wings.
Kevin Hayes would is a player that falls squarely in the ‘nice to have’ bucket provided you have two things; money to spend on a center that’ll expect to get paid and room in the line-up to slot the player in. Realistically, we’re looking at a Boston Bruins side that lack much of either this summer.
I don’t expect that the Boston Bruins will be wholly silent this free agency, but this bold of a move isn’t going to be something they’ll aim for.
Sean Kuraly has become a real game-changer. dark. Next
They’ve just made the Eastern Conference final with the current roster and that same current roster core has been good for strong Atlantic Division finishes the past few years; why fix what isn’t broken?