Hayton poised to accept greater role with Sault Ste. Marie

Barrett Hayton was a complementary player with Sault Ste. Marie of the Ontario Hockey League this season. His former coach believes he's ready for a lead role next season.
Hayton (6-foot-1, 190 pounds), a center ranked No. 9 on NHL Central Scouting's final list of North American skaters for the 2018 NHL Draft, had 60 points (21 goals, 39 assists) in 63 games.

"Wouldn't surprise me if Barrett puts up upward of 100 points (next season)," said Drew Bannister, who coached Hayton for two seasons before he was hired to coach the St. Louis Blues' American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio on Tuesday. "From what I know of him and how much more he's going to get coming back and another year of development and a year older … I'm sure he's going to get close to 90-100 points."
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Hayton, who turns 18 on Saturday, said he's ready for that challenge.
"My goal is to be the very best player I can be," he said. "The role of being the guy relied on, that is something I strive to be in."
Bannister believes Hayton can make the kind of jump in 2018-19 that forward Morgan Frost made this season. Frost had 62 points (20 goals, 42 assists) in 67 games in 2016-17 and was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers with the No. 27 pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.
This season, Frost was second in the OHL with 112 points (42 goals, 70 assists) in 67 games.
Hayton believes he's capable of following Frost's development curve.
"I definitely feel like that's something, with the way the Sault is able to develop their players, definitely it'll take a lot of work this summer, but I feel like that's my goal, to take that step like he did," Hayton said. "That's my goal."
Hayton mostly was used mostly in a checking role but also earned significant time on the power play and penalty kill.
His big break at even strength came in late December when some of Sault Ste. Marie's top players left for the 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship. Hayton was shifted to the wing on the top line alongside Frost and had 10 points (four goals, six assists) in eight games.
"It was great," he said. "It was a very good time having to step up and be the go-to guy. That's always what I strive to be."
NHL scouts have been impressed by every role Hayton has played.

"He thinks the game well, he's a good complementary guy," said an amateur scout from a Western Conference team. "Looks like he can play with any type of player. Plays the game in any way he needs to be successful."
Hayton said he tries to pattern his game after Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews and Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron because of their two-way play and leadership abilities. But the person he's taken the most from during his development has been his father, Brian Hayton, a 12th round pick (No. 233) of the Los Angeles Kings in the 1986 NHL Draft and former coach of Kitchener in the OHL.
"You're always doing the right thing, lead by example, always be a guy that in key situations, really every situation, that a fellow teammate or peer can look to and see the right way of going about the situation," Hayton said.
Hayton also has been a leader in the classroom. He won the Bobby Smith Trophy this season, awarded to the top scholastic player in the OHL. He said his favorite subjects are math and biology, and believes excelling in the classroom has helped him excel on the ice.
"Taking classes and challenging yourself mentally just to keep thinking, I think it's huge alongside hockey," he said. "Not only for the future but also just to keep your mind sharp, keep your mind thinking and kind of have a little different aspect of your life going on."
Focusing on school has had the benefit of preventing him from worrying about what might happen at the draft.
"Wasn't really too big a focus on mine this year," he said. "The team success we were having, it was very easy to focus strictly on that."
Next for Hayton is working on his skating, including his first three-step quickness, and getting bigger and stronger. However, another NHL scout said he's impressed by what he's seen so far.
"He's just a really good hockey player," the scout said. "I can't say there's anything he does unbelievable, but he does everything really well. … He's just a good hockey player. You win with guys like that."