Kevin Hayes disagrees with Tortorella, doesn't believe he should have been scratched on Saturday
Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella made a bold decision on Saturday to scratch the team's point leader, Kevin Hayes, for their game against the New York Rangers.
Tortorella's plan backfired as the Rangers went on to win the game, 6-3. The Flyers definitely could've used Hayes in the lineup as they went 0/4 on the powerplay.
Following practice on Monday, Hayes met with reporters and said that he doesn't believe he should have been made a healthy scratch, but ultimately it's up to the coach to make the best decisions for the team.
The 30-year-old has appeared in 31 games for the Flyers this season, recording 29 points (nine goals, 20 assists), 15 penalty minutes and is a minus-12. The Dorchester native has three years remaining on his contract following the 2022-23 season with a cap hit of $7,142,857.
Hayes will more than likely return to the lineup on Tuesday night when the Flyers host the Columbus Blue Jackets in a battle of the basement dwellers in the Metropolitan Division.
«I don't think I should have been benched, but he's the coach, I'm the player,» Kevin Hayes said about John Tortorella scratching him Saturday.— Giana Han (@giana_jade) December 19, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||