Winnipeg Adds Hayes

		2019 Season				July 1, 2019
To Winnipeg	Pos	GP	Goals	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Kevin Hayes	F	51	14	42	$5.2m	0	UFA
----
To New York	Pos	GP	G/W	Points	Cap	Years	Cap
Brendan Lemieux	F	44	9	11	$839k	0	RFA
2019 1st Round Draft Pick
Conditional 2019 4th Round Draft Pick

The Winnipeg Jets were thought to be after some of the bigger fish in the trade market, but the prices were too high, even though they were dangling their 1st round pick for this summer.  That isn't to say they didn't deal it, sending the pick, along with a roster player in Brendan Lemieux, plus a conditional pick to the Rangers for unrestricted free agent-to-be Kevin Hayes.

As you can see in the numbers above, the 26-year old centre has been having a good 2019 season, to date, with the Rangers and will join a Jets team that has been sputtering in their offense of late and are in need of a spark, especially needing help down the middle.  Hayes appears to be that guy and should slot in in the 2nd line centre role really easily.

The Rangers get a roster player that will help grind through to the end of the season, when the team can really start planning more around its rebuild, including how they may use their newly-acquired 1st round pick, wherever it may land.  If the Jets have their way, it will be the 31st pick in the round.

The Jets' 2nd line wingers may include guys like Patrik Laine and/or Nikolaj Ehlers, so Hayes is going to find himself in a very quick, transitional setup with some strong scoring talents around him.  That has to be some real gains for Wilton, but they won't be over the top.  You've got to consider, Hayes has been putting up some decent numbers already and he'll probably need a period of adjustment too, but if he can dial it in within the next six weeks, Wilton, starting play tonight, is 52 points out of the money.