Report: Flyers, Kevin Hayes Nearing 7-Year, $50 Million Deal

By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 

It's been a busy few hours for Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher.

Fletcher's first big move of the offseason was acquiring the rights to free-agent forward Kevin Hayes from the Winnipeg Jets on June 3. That gave Fletcher about three weeks of exclusive negotiating rights.

With less than a week before the open negotiation period opens to free agents, the Flyers are nearing a deal with Hayes. According to a report from TSN's Bob McKenzie, the deal will be for seven years and worth $50 million, an average annual value of $7.14 million.

Hayes, 27, scored 19 goals and had 55 points last season between the New York Rangers and the Jets. Hayes spent the first four seasons of his NHL career with the New York Rangers. In 2017-18, Hayes scored a career-high 25 goals and had 44 points.

Hayes started his career playing for current Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault. 

The Hayes contract is the third major move made by Fletcher in the last week. He traded defenseman Radko Gudas for defenseman Matt Niskanen on Friday and acquired defenseman Justin Braun on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier in the week, Fletcher had noted that discussions with Hayes were going well and that things were positive. It appears now that a deal is nearing completion to get the team's new second-line center in place.