Penguins Not Expected To Re-Sign Kevin Hayes

The Penguins are not expected to offer pending unrestricted free agent forward Kevin Hayes a contract extension before July 1, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote last week.

Hayes, 34, arrived in Pittsburgh from St. Louis two summers ago in a cap-dump deal, with the Blues tossing in a second-round pick. That left the Pens taking on the final two years of the seven-year, $50MM anchor he landed from the Flyers in 2019 as a pending free agent. Philly was already on the hook for half his cap hit after retaining it in the trade that sent him to St. Louis in 2023.

Even for a reduced cap cost of $3.57MM, Hayes wasn’t providing great value. He was at least a semi-regular last season, offering some occasional secondary scoring and versatility as a bottom-six pivot, notching a 13-10–13 scoring line in 63 games.

Injuries became an increasing problem for Hayes this year, missing the first month of the season with an upper-body issue and missing a good chunk of March with one as well. In between them, though, he was still mostly a healthy scratch. He only suited up 28 times this year, with only seven of those coming after the Christmas break. Scoring four goals and eight points, his 0.29 points per game rate was the lowest of his 12 NHL seasons. His faceoff success took a nosedive, too, winning 40.3% of his draws after taking home a good 52.2% mark last year.

Hayes, once something of a trusted penalty-killer, has seen his defensive game decline for quite some time. That was the impetus for Philly shedding his contract three years ago. He still had 54 points in that final season as a Flyer, though, a mark he hasn’t come close to hitting since. With his impact as a scorer drying up, there’s little use for him left in any NHL lineup above a fourth-line role.

Beyond that, Pittsburgh has plenty of internal candidates looking to land bottom-six jobs (and even some press-box roles for a potential long-term depth candidate like Avery Hayes) in the fall. They’ve already moved to bring back fourth-line piece Connor Dewar and have restricted free agent Egor Chinakhov to re-sign as well, leaving them with 10 roster spots accounted for on one-way deals with entry-level players Benjamin Kindel and Rutger McGroarty being relative locks to take up two more. Tristan Broz, Ville Koivunen, and 2025 first-rounder Bill Zonnon will also be in the mix in camp.

Hayes’ limited showing this season was enough to help him clear the 800-game mark for his career. A first-rounder by the Blackhawks in 2010, he’s got a career 185-261–446 scoring line with the Rangers, Jets, Flyers, Blues, and Penguins. His positional versatility and experience might make him a fit somewhere for a league-minimum contract this summer, but a professional tryout or a deal overseas wouldn’t be surprising outcomes either.