At 6-foot-5, Hayes can be a physical presence in a checking-line role, a complementary wing in a top-six role and a power-play presence because of his shot. He also has the size to play in the corners and the skill to set up in the slot.
Hayes, whose older brother Jimmy also made the NHL, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks with the No. 24 pick in the 2010 NHL Draft but attended Boston College. He played a secondary role during his first three years with the Eagles, scoring 17 goals and 67 points and helping them win a national championship in 2012. Staying for his senior year, however, turned out to be a great decision.
At 6-foot-5, Hayes can be a physical presence in a checking-line role, a complementary wing in a top-six role and a power-play presence because of his shot. He also has the size to play in the corners and the skill to set up in the slot.
Hayes, whose older brother Jimmy also made the NHL, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks with the No. 24 pick in the 2010 NHL Draft but attended Boston College. He played a secondary role during his first three years with the Eagles, scoring 17 goals and 67 points and helping them win a national championship in 2012. Staying for his senior year, however, turned out to be a great decision.
Hayes teamed with Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold to create one of the most formidable lines in the NCAA. He finished the season with 27 goals and 65 points, nearly equal to his point total from his first three seasons combined, and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award given to the top player in college hockey. He also was a NCAA East First Team All-American as well as a First Team All-Hockey East selection. He helped Boston College reach the Frozen Four, where the Eagles lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Union College.
After the season, Hayes did not sign with Chicago. He became a free agent and signed with the New York Rangers on Aug. 20, 2014.
Hayes made the Rangers out of training camp and played his first NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 12, 2014. He scored his first NHL goal seven days later against the San Jose Sharks.
Hayes finished the season with 54 points (17 goals, 28 assists), led NHL rookies in primary assists (25) and was fifth in rookie scoring. He scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal on April 22, 2015, in overtime of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, becoming the first rookie in Rangers history to score a playoff overtime goal on the road.
Hayes, who finished seventh in voting for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the top rookie in the NHL, followed with a 14-goal, 36-point season in 2015-16. He signed a two-year contract extension July 22, 2016 and followed that with NHL career highs in points (49 in 2016-17) and goals (25 in 2017-18).
The Rangers re-signed Hayes to a one-year contract, and he was on the way to his best offensive season in the NHL with 42 points in 51 games when New York traded him to the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 25, 2019.
NOTES & TRANSACTIONS
- Hockey East First All-Star Team (2014)
- NCAA East First All-American Team (2014)
- Signed as a a free agent by NY Rangers, August 20, 2014.
- Traded to Winnipeg by NY Rangers for Brendan Lemieux, Winnipeg's 1st-round pick in 2019 NHL Draft (conditional) and a conditional pick in 2022, February 25, 2019.
- Traded to Philadelphia by Winnipeg for Philadelphia's 5th-round pick in 2019 NHL Draft, June 3, 2019.
