New York Rangers’ center Kevin Hayes had the breakout season that the team had been waiting for over his four year career.
Coming into the season, New York Rangers fans were hoping that head coach Alain Vigneault would deploy Kevin Hayes differently then he did in 2016-17. Hayes, an offense-first center, started just 40.7 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone and 59.3 percent of his shifts in the defensive end.
Well, Vigneault didn’t make any changes, so Hayes was thrust back into the same defensive center role yet again in 2017-18.
While his offensive zone starts saw a slight uptick (42.7), his defensive zone start percentage was still very high at 57.3 percent.
Hayes struggled to find any offensive consistency through the first four months of the season. Through January, the Dorchester, Massachusetts native tallied just 20 points (11 goals and nine assists) through 44 regular season games. Hayes, in his first full season as a top-six center, was inconsistent.
Things weren’t looking pretty for him. As the Rangers geared up to be sellers at the deadline, Hayes’ name was on the list of potential casualties.
And then, just like that, a switch flipped. Hayes broke out in a big way.
The 6-foot-5 center tallied 14 goals and 10 assists over his final 32 games and was one of the team’s few bright spots down the stretch.
Hayes finished the season off with a career high in goals (25) while posting his lowest career assist total (19). Hayes had his best shooting percentage (14.5 percent) since his rookie season and improved his face off winning percentage by 4.8 percent (it is now at 50.5 percent).
What worked? What didn’t?
For Hayes, consistency has always been an issue. It looks as if Hayes figured it out towards the end of the season when he went on his two-month point outburst. He averaged .75 points per game in his last 32.
Over an 82 game season, that’s an average of just over 61 points, which would be a career high.
Hayes learned how to use his size a lot better this season, shielding pucks and driving to the net at will. When he is doing this, he is one of the most difficult centers to cover.
This season showed a real coming of age for the 25-year-old. Once the deadline came and went, leaders like Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash were dealt, and who could forget the buyout of Dan Girardi and the trade of Derek Stepan in the offseason? The leadership core was gone and Hayes really stepped up and became a leader in the room.
Next: Who in the world is Michael Lindqvist?
Final Grade- B+
Hayes’ second half of the season showed everything that you want to see out of the young center. Goal scoring touch, playmaking ability, improvement in the face off dot, a progressing defensive game and leadership ability. While roster purge two is on the horizon this offseason, Hayes might have done enough to keep his Blueshirt when we come out on the other side.