Kevin Hayes notched 45 points last season

Kevin Hayes notched 45 points last season

Stealing Kevin Hayes from the Blackhawks last summer may prove to be a coup of nearly the same magnitude as the Ryan McDonagh trade back in 2009.

Hayes racked up 45 points as a rookie and showed improvement with almost every passing game in the second half of the year. He’s already a huge part of the Rangers’ present and future, but there’s some uncertainty over where he fits into the lineup entering the 2015-2016 season.

Hayes thrived as New York’s third-line center for most of last year, but he played primarily right wing at Boston College. On an individual level, the biggest knock on Hayes playing center is his ugly 36.3% faceoff win percentage. To many #fancystats gurus that’s a non-issue, but it’s still a factor the Rangers are likely to consider (although the Blueshirts have deployed Stepan as their primary pivot for several seasons now and he has never won more than 46% of his faceoffs in a single season). Hayes also struggled defensively in his freshman season.

Though he certainly has work to do to round out his game, Hayes demonstrated unbelievable creativity, vision and hands spearheading a quick-strike attack with Carl Hagelin and J.T. Miller that could be just a preview of what’s to come. Hayes is a rare talent capable of creating offense by himself and making players around him better that could be stifled on the wing.

On the flip side, when Hayes was inserted on the top line in place of Mats Zuccarello during the playoffs, he helped form a dominating trio alongside Brassard and Rick Nash that was nearly impossible to defend. It was a short-lived experiment, but the seeds were surely planted in Alain Vigneault’s mind then of a huge top trio that could possess and cycle the puck around the goal-line in the vein of Anaheim’s top trio. Playing on the wing also mitigates Hayes’ defensive and faceoff responsibilities.

In looking at the team’s depth chart, the late-summer addition of FA Jarret Stoll and potential promotion of Oscar Lindberg have muddied the waters down the middle. With Dominic Moore entrenched on the fourth line, it’s between Hayes, Stoll and Lindberg for one spot.

But while the Rangers have a logjam at center entering training camp, that will shift to the wings by this time next year and going forward, when Nash, Zuccarello, Chris Kreider and Pavel Buchnevich are likely to occupy top-six spots, with Miller, Emerson Etem and Jesper Fast all candidates to round out the top nine. Obviously Brassard and Stepan will still be around, but Stoll and Moore will not, so penciling Hayes in on the third line and Lindberg on the fourth makes a lot of sense.

If Hayes starts this year on the wing, he could bump Zuccarello from the top spot and reunite with Nash and Brassard. Or, he could join Stepan and Kreider on the second line and bump J.T. Miller down the lineup. Either move would likely make the Blueshirts more top-heavy, but also potentially more potent.

Ultimately, it’s likely that Vigneault will try out Hayes at both positions this season as he shuffles lines, but where his long-term home lies yet to be determined.

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