Also in retrospect we can not discount the influence the Hayes tribe had in all this. Jimmy felt the Blackhawks never gave him a fair shot and he was buried in Rockford (AHL) but that was one tough roster to crack a few years ago. His brother was drafted by Chicago but he used the same loophole that Vesey did.
Yep it seems the Hayes brothers may have sank Hawks bid
They also were behind that free Morin nonsense during 2014 playoffs. For those that don't remember Morin was healthy scratch as Hawks were playing that year (Lost in heartbreaking game 7 OT to Kings in WCF)
Some Hawk fans wanted him in but he never won over Q with his play (Especially defensive effort) so he sat. The Hayes brothers were tweeting "Free Morin" thru playoffs along with Brandon Pirri (Recently traded out of Chicago after requesting trade) and it became a distraction especially with Kevin Hayes already indicating he was going FA route
It lead to some fans/media bashing Q and then when Hayes didn't sign it lead to even more scorn from Q
Naturally Hawks won cup the next season behind Q's wonderful leadership while Jimmy Hayes was healthy scratch on and off in Florida and Jeremy Morin asked for trade out of Chicago and flopped when given chance to be NHL regular in Columbus (Then amusing enough was traded back to Hawks in Saad deal)
Hayes family came off as entitled brats to be honest. Jimmy lost out to Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw for open wing positions and when it became clear he wasn't going to be a regular for Hawks they sent him and Dylan Olsen (Another disappointing prospect who couldn't nail down a regular spot on Hawks) for Kris Versteeg at half cost (2.2M). It was good trade for Hawks despite Versteeg's warts in end and Bowman traded Hayes and Olsen to organization that would allow them to play.
I really was happy at 2010 draft when Hawks selected Kevin Hayes and traded for Jimmy Hayes. But in hindsight I wish Hawks had avoided the Hayes family
Maybe its not fair to Hayes family but everything about there time in Chicago organization left bad feelings on Chicago side as well. To be told by Kevin he was going to sign only for him to turn around and not sign especially after his ESPN interview did not sit well. The "free morin" circus on top of things
At end of day Q will play kids who put in an honest effort defensively. Jimmy , Morin and Pirri all didn't show at times a desire to put in an honest effort and that is why they found themselves in Q's doghouse
You don't have to play D well but just hustle and look like you want to play D is what Q asks. Its what got Shaw/Saad/TT in Q's good graces and even when they struggled at times as rookies or young NHL players they still played. Q especially liked TT's effort defensively (Which sucks because now TT is gone)