What is Kevin Hayes’ ceiling?

Kevin Hayes gets better and better with every game

There haven’t been too many 6-5 22-year-old rookie centers in NHL history, so it’s a little difficult to project the player Kevin Hayes might turn into. He seems to be getting better and better with each game and has turned into a solid third-line center in no time.

Hayes wasn’t all that impressive in the preseason. Prospect pundits had been gushing over Hayes all summer, but he was totally overshadowed by the performances of J.T. Miller and Anthony Duclair in camp. Then, Hayes suffered a shoulder injury and missed the final exhibition game, as well as the first three regular season games.

At the time, Miller seemed like a lock to stick in New York for the duration, and coach Alain Vigneault seemed enthusiastic about the Marty St. Louis center experiment. Hayes was an afterthought, or so it briefly seemed.

But Vigneault was quick to re-insert Hayes into the lineup when his shoulder healed and the difference between the player Hayes was then and the player he is now is remarkable. The coaching staff deserves a lot of credit for helping Hayes blossom so rapidly, but clearly they’re grooming a pretty unique talent.

Hayes has tremendous poise with the puck, and though he’s not yet a defensive wiz, he’s working very hard on that aspect of his game and has already demonstrated a gift for skating the puck to safety. Like the giant he replaced in New York’s lineup, Hayes doesn’t use his size to smash opponents through the boards. But unlike Brian Boyle, Hayes has great hands and vision and is gaining confidence in the offensive zone.

Hayes isn’t without his flaws – his possession numbers are nothing to write home about, he’s still a slow decision maker, and he’s atrocious on faceoffs – but by and large, Hayes has been a stabilizing presence in the lineup.

It was just a month ago that I wrote about how big a problem replacing Brad Richards had become. Now? Derek Stepan, Derrick Brassard, Hayes and Dominic Moore seem like a pretty formidable group down the middle. And considering how much Hayes has already improved, it’s fun to imagine how much better he’ll make them in just a few more months.