Kevin Hayes has finally drawn the full ire of his head coach after his dismal performance on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils.
The team’s leading point producer saw the pine during the third period of their 2-1 victory after only playing 9:47 in the first 40 minutes. John Tortorella has decided to scratch Hayes ahead of their tilt tonight against the New York Rangers and in typical fashion chose not to explain why.
Nevertheless, the decision seems rather straightforward as Hayes has had a rough stretch of games over the last few weeks in terms of turnovers – and turnovers that have turned into scoring chances or goals.
This isn’t the first time that Hayes has been benched either as both he and Travis Konecny had to sit during the third period of their October 23rd game against the San Jose Sharks. Hayes, as a whole, has had a rather successful season and is on track for career numbers as he sits second on the team in goals with 9 and tops in assists and points with 20 and 29 respectively. He and Konecny have been the pulse on offence all season as the Flyers have dealt with a myriad of injuries up front, but Tortorella hasn’t been shy on benching players that deserve it. We’ve seen the same tough love approach with Morgan Frost, Wade Allison, Tony DeAngelo, and Rasmus Ristolainen already and if there’s one thing that rung true all year is that Tortorella wants you to play his brand of hockey – which is a responsible 200 foot game – or else.
As good as Hayes has been this season, he has made the same errors over and over again and that’s not something you can continue doing with a head coach like Tortorella. Most of the time he’s on his game, extremely noticeable, and a huge factor on the offensive side of the puck but then he starts slowing down the pace of the game, looks to make a fancy pass instead of the obvious play, and will turn it over at an incessant rate – as we seen in several overtime sessions this year.
This season is a statement year for the Flyers and the coaching staff has made it known since day one that they don’t care who you are, what you’ve done in the past, where you were drafted, or what your contract looks like; if you don’t play responsibly, you will be sitting either on the bench or in the press box.
It’s definitely an interesting decision to make for an offensively challenged team like the Flyers, who currently sit 30th in the NHL in goals and pretty much bottom-five in every offensive statistic there is.
Scott Laughton replaced Hayes on the top line last game, playing alongside Travis Konecny and Noah Cates and he was on the ice for the eventual game-winning goal.
The Flyers also announced that Lukas Sedlak’s contract will be terminated as he has left the team for personal reasons, and in a subsequent move Kieffer Bellows will be returning into the lineup.
