Retaining on Hayes and Atkinson would be a huge mistake.
BUT, if they were to do it they'd have to get wayyyy more back from Boston

Can't wait until they trade Strome to Boston in 3 seasons retaining half his contract.

These types of decisions are exactly why the Flyers remain stuck in Neutral.

…are you kidding?

no they wouldn't. Hayes is a very good 3C, lower level 2C and Atkinson is a 2nd line winger. A 1st, a number 4/5 dman and a middle 6 winger that wants to be traded is a good return. you might squeak out a 3rd, but that'd be it

I'd argue having the extra 8 million in cap space is more useful to the team than having Hayes and Atkinson take up roster spots from the younger guys coming up. It's not ideal, but paying a 3rd line center 7 million and a decent 2nd line winger nearly 6 million is a huge reason why this team is stuck in neutral

It could.... be more useful. Strome and Nichushkin are replacing Hayes and Atkinson in your scenario so they're now blocking the young players that are apparently not coming for their jobs. As you might be aware, the Flyers actually have no actual center in the system coming for Hayes' job. They currently do not even have a viable #2 NHL center. The Flyers are now in theory paying Strome essentially 9.142857 and they're Nichushkin $6.875 million. They also took in salary for Debrusk, who is subsequently traded for 2 seconds, Forbort an overpaid 3rd pair defenseman for the Flyers, and a 1st round pick. I see a lot of wasted cap space presently and in the future as Stome is essentially a reset button on the Hayes contract. Atkinson is a 30 goal 30 assist player. The Flyers are paying more for the right to lose him and have Nichushkin, why? Not to mention your pricing of JVR to be traded as a clean salary to Arizona with no retention is rather cheap. It'll cost the Flyers easily one of those 2nd round picks and that in and of itself pretty much negates the benefit of your trades. Making changes just to make changes is never a good idea.

You made a better 3rd D pair possibly but mostly just created a blocking path for Attard and York in my opinion and you also acquired more draft capital which is a good thing. The expense of that is a team that is effectively the same paying a lot more in salary cap space to maintain their current position.

I don't exactly see it as paying Strome 9 million and Nichushkin nearly 7, moreso keeping salary so you can go out and get those guys, but to each their own.

Forbort is more cap related on Boston's side than anything, I'd much rather Clifton but it makes more sense for the B's to part ways with Forbort in this scenario. Either way, Forbort is still a very good defensively, and might be overpaid by a few hundred thousand, but not an egregious amount

I don't think Strome is a reset on the Hayes contract, but I see why you do. Strome, at the very least, has a track record of being able to produce at a 2nd line level (something Hayes never had), and is at just as good as Hayes everywhere else, if not better. Atkinson is still a good asset, I just don't value him as an offensive creator whatsoever (which the current team severely lacks and Strome/Nichushkin help with that). Most of his assists seem to come off rebounds, very simple primary ones, or secondary. Nichushkin is a bit more dynamic on-ice and malleable throughout the lineup than Atkinson

York is on the 2nd pair, he is not getting blocked. Attard I get, I'm not that high on him but that is fair. One of Provorov or Ellis could be moved, or Sanheim in FA/deadline, making way for him and Zamula

This is a much better defensive team, and one that has much more depth up front (both in terms of talent and actual man power), so the team (theoretically) should perform better. The Metro is stupid strong, playoffs aren't likely regardless of what happens, but this imo sets the team up somewhat well for 23-24

Also: trading Hayes and Atkinson helps change the locker room, even though neither have been with the Flyers all that long. It would allow the younger guys to take charge behind the scenes with Couturier as the leader, which is a big part of the trade for me

If you're retaining that much on long-term contracts you have to get more back. Not saying Boston would do it. Just saying Philly would need more.