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Bruins place Jimmy Hayes on waivers with purpose of buyout |
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Ty Anderson
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The hometown party that never truly began is over for Bruins winger and Dorchester native Jimmy Hayes, who has been placed on waivers with the purpose of a buyout.
Acquired from the Panthers in 2015 in exchange for Reilly Smith (and the remaining years of the Marc Savard contract), Hayes has been a straight-up disaster with the Bruins, recording 15 goals and 34 points in 133 games over two seasons with the B’s. Hayes undoubtedly hit rock bottom for the Bruins this past season, too, with just two goals and three assists in 58 games played (Vernon Fiddler and Chris Thorburn were the only NHL forwards to have played in as games and record fewer points).
The 27-year-old Hayes, who has 51 goals and 100 points in 301 NHL games between three different teams, would have carried a $2.3 million cap hit in the final year of his contract, and will now count against the cap for $566,667 this upcoming season and $866,667 against the cap in 2018.
This now gives the B’s, who are still paying off the remaining years of Dennis Seidenberg’s buyout, $2.73M in dead money on the books this year and $2.033M in 2018-19.
The decision to ditch Hayes also means that the Tyler Seguin trade branch from 2009’s Phil Kessel deal is officially dead. In a deal that originally featured four pieces sent to the Bruins (Loui Eriksson, Reilly Smith, Matt Fraser, and Joe Morrow), the decision to not issue a qualifying offer to Joe Morrow and Hayes (acquired from the Panthers in exchange for Smith) leaves the Bruins with nobody from that deal. Seguin, meanwhile, is one of three players to play in at least 300 games and average over a point-per-game over the last four seasons, with 306 points in 305 games with the Stars. Great stuff.
In the immediate future, however, it does add $1.733 million in cap space to the B's summertime plans, which are headlined by re-signing restricted free agent David Pastrnak.
Barring another move, the Bruins will begin free agency with $14.4 million in cap space.