Penguins Recall Avery Hayes

The Penguins have recalled forward Avery Hayes from the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, per a team announcement Monday morning.

Hayes, 23, sees his second recall in the past four days. After being sent back to the minors on March 18, he was summoned for a game against the Senators on March 26 but did not dress. He was returned to WBS on Saturday and played in the Baby Pens’ game that night against the Laval Rocket, making him eligible to come back up today.

Pittsburgh’s continued roster shuffling comes as they manage injuries to the two cornerstones of their forward group, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Crosby has missed one game with a lower-body injury, while Malkin has missed three with an upper-body injury. Both were full participants in practice Sunday, though, and Crosby traveled with the team for their one-game road wing to visit the Islanders tonight.

That means Malkin will remain out tonight, but Crosby’s status – as well as the availabilities of Noel Acciari and Bryan Rust, who were absent from yesterday’s practice for maintenance but still traveled – is up in the air. In case all three can’t go, Hayes’ presence gives the Penguins enough healthy extras to still ice 12 forwards tonight.

An undrafted free agent, Hayes has rocketed up Pittsburgh’s pipeline with some spectacular minor-league showings over the past couple of years. Never has the 5’10” winger been more dominant than this season, tossing up a 22-13–35 scoring line in 39 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading them in goals despite playing in only 60% of their games.

However, he hasn’t been able to convert that production into meaningful NHL minutes across multiple recalls this season. In 11 outings, the Michigan native has scored twice with no assists and a -6 rating. Both of those goals came in his big-league debut against the Sabres back on Feb. 5, so it’s been several games now of Hayes not being able to generate chances. On his 10-game pointless streak, he’s averaged 11:40 of ice time per game with 28 shot attempts (13 on goal).

Hayes still has another season left on his entry-level contract and three seasons or 49 NHL games left before he loses his waiver exemption, so the Pens aren’t at risk of losing him as an intriguing recall option anytime soon.