Hayes scores with family ties
VANCOUVER − Rangers rookie center Kevin Hayes scored his fourth goal of the season Monday night off a turnover by his former Boston College teammate, Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin.
Next Tuesday night in Calgary, Hayes will go head-to-head with his former BC linemate, Flames rookie and New Jersey’s own Johnny Gaudreau, who beat out Hayes for last year’s Hobey Baker Award as the most outstanding player in Division I hockey.
On New Year’s Eve in Florida, Hayes, 22, will take on his own brother, Panthers forward Jimmy Hayes, 25. Admit it: This kid knows everybody. Part of it is owed to Hayes’ playing for coach Jerry York at Boston College, where Kevin and Jimmy overlapped for one year and also was teammates with Rangers forward Chris Kreider. But Kevin’s family hockey history goes much deeper.
He is cousins on his mom’s side with two retired, Massachusetts-born, 1,000-plusgame NHL veterans: U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, and Islanders 1986 first-round pick and current Penguins assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve known a lot about the game,” Hayes said before flying on Thursday to Vancouver, where the Rangers will practice Friday and face the Canucks Saturday night. “Having family ties to the NHL for a lot of years, it definitely helps you learn.”
Hayes’ “swagger,” as linemate Carl Hagelin calls it, is one of his defining traits, and it appears to have grown out of his myriad connections and comfort within the league. Though his father, also named Kevin, “never put on a pair of skates in his life,” young Kevin had plenty of role models in the sport.
“We’re a small family, but a real close family,” Fitzgerald — whose son, Boston College forward Ryan Fitzgerald, played with Hayes last season — told the Daily News in a phone interview Thursday. “Kevin’s a real good story because it took him four years to develop into the player that people projected him to be (as Chicago’s 2010 first-round draft pick). He’s got an A-plus personality, too. He can go in a room and talk to anybody and not feel bashful. Great character.”
Hayes would have spent only three years at BC, but a freak quadriceps injury during his junior season required four emergency surgeries and led to his return for a senior season. This summer, though, when Hayes failed to sign with Chicago and hit free agency, Fitzgerald and the Penguins had interest.
Kevin had a family member recruiting him, just like he said Tkachuk had tried to nudge him toward Boston University out of high school. But he opted for a two-year deal with the Rangers.
“It looks like he picked the right place, for sure,” Fitzgerald said of Hayes, who has appeared in 23 of 26 games, solidifying himself as the team’s third-line center.
“Tommy was pretty bummed I didn’t go to Pittsburgh,” said Hayes, who rooted for Tkachuk’s Coyotes and Blues teams growing up. “But he still calls all the time. Anytime we play Pittsburgh, he’ll call me and we’ll talk for 20 minutes about what I did well.”
What Hayes has done well lately is pick up a point in each of his last four games, including two goals. That has drawn him within two of Jimmy’s total of six goals for the season. Their sisters, Justine, 23, Eileen, 26, and Jen, 27, enjoy egging them on in the first NHL season of a friendly scoring competition between brothers.
Hayes has struggled on faceoffs, as most young centers do, winning only 63 of 199 draws (31.7%). But he wins a ton of battles, creates takeaways, and has earned the invaluable opportunity, as Fitzgerald calls it, to develop while playing NHL games.
“His personality is a plus and it allows him to really pull out the talent that he has,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s not afraid to make a play, or try something new.”