New York Rangers: Three best trade destinations for Kevin Hayes

2. Vegas Golden Knights

There are rumors floating around that the Golden Knights are interested in Anaheim Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf. Vegas can be interested, and Ducks GM Bob Murray will listen, but it’s unlikely that deal happens. There are several reasons why.

First, unless he was totally floored, there is no way Anaheim wants to trade one of the faces on their franchise Mount Rushmore to a division rival. It would be a needle in the eye to see him show up at the Honda Center several times a season wearing a different colored jersey.

Second, after 2018-19, 33-year-old Getzlaf has two more seasons at $8.625M per, remaining on his contract. Finally, the Ducks captain has a full no-movement clause and he’s unlikely to waive it to go to the desert. At that point, Kevin Hayes looks like a heck of a consolation prize for Vegas.

Hayes is the number two center on the current TSN Trade Bait list. Vegas’ breakout star from last year, center, William “Wild Bill” Karlsson isn’t having the same success in 2018-19. The Rangers alternate captain would slot in nicely with the Golden Knights top six and would give a huge boost to their special teams.

Vegas has plenty of young up and comers as well as draft picks in their pipeline. The Rangers won’t get prized prospects Erik Brännström or Cody Glass, but someone like winger Alex Tuch could work, as well as the myriad of early round draft picks they possess. If New Jersey can get a second from Nashville for Brian Boyle then Hayes has to be worth something to VGK. That is if they want to advance past the conference finals this year.