Blues trade Kevin Hayes to Penguins to begin Day 2 of 2024 NHL Draft

St. Louis also sends a 2025 second-round pick to Pittsburgh for future considerations, shedding $3,571,429 cap space remaining off Hayes' contract

The St. Louis Blues began the second round creating cap space by sending veteran center Kevin Hayes to the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with a 2025 second-round pick for future considerations.

Hayes, acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at the 2023 draft in Nashville for a sixth-round draft pick this year, had 29 points (13 goals, 16 assists) in 79 games in his lone season with the Blues, which was, needless to say, suboptimal, after the Flyers dumped the 32-year-old for a pick.

"This is just a situation where it wasn't working," Blues general manager Doug Armstrong said. "I made a decision a year ago that I thought it could work for three years, and as the year progressed, it didn't look like it was working for either side. But when you put it down on paper, it wasn't a shining moment for myself."

What this does is clear $3,571,429 in cap space for the next two years on the remaining contract Hayes carries, with the Flyers picking up the remaining 50 percent per the trade agreement with the Blues, and it gives St. Louis nearly $16.3 million in cap space for the upcoming season.

Now that will change in the immediate should all or someone of Zack Bolduc, Zach Dean, Matthew Kessel, Dalibor Dvorsky or someone else off the prospect/AHL roster makes the club.

"When I evaluated the year and where we are going forward, it didn't seem to be a proper fit for either side," Armstrong said. "I just felt, give him an opportunity and free up, not cap space as much as it is a real-dollar value. I felt for Kevin and us, it was the right thing to do."

With the addition of Alexandre Texier yesterday through a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Blues have a number of veteran centers at their disposal with Robert Thomas, Brayden Schenn -- who could move permanently to the wing, Texier and the injured Oskar Sundqvist (torn ACL) down the middle, although Sundqvist will not be ready to start the new season. There's the chance also that Dalibor Dvorsky will have every chance to make the NHL roster this season.

There will be more to this as we move along but the Blues could be setting themselves up for something when free agency begins on Monday. There's also a potential Pavel Buchnevich extension looming for the Blues to keep in mind in order to clear cap space, so many components to this trade in position.