- Kevin Hayes announced his retirement Monday after 12 NHL seasons
- The 34-year-old played five games in the KHL before walking away
- Read below for Hayes’ statement and what Pittsburgh said about him
Kevin Hayes is done.
The 34-year-old forward announced his retirement Monday, closing out a career that ran 805 NHL games across five franchises and ended with a five-game cameo in Russia. The KHL released his statement, and Hayes pointed straight at his body.
“I have decided to end my hockey career. I can no longer play at the level I am capable of because my body does not allow me to perform at my best. And I cannot accept not being in top form.”
Here is the announcement from the league:
The end came quickly. Hayes signed a one-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan in late August after free agency came and went without an NHL offer. He dressed five times for Kazan and never got on the scoresheet.
Chicago took him 24th overall in 2010 and never signed him. He went back to Boston College instead, won a national title in 2012, and hit the open market in 2014 as the most wanted college free agent on the board. The Rangers won that race.
New York got the best of him. Hayes finished seventh in Calder voting as a rookie and piled up 216 points in 361 games over four and a half seasons on Broadway.
His final line reads 185 goals and 261 assists for 446 points in 805 regular season games with the Rangers, Jets, Flyers, Blues and Penguins, plus 26 points in 56 playoff games. The career high was 54 points with Philadelphia in 2022-23, right in the middle of the seven-year, $50 million contract he signed there in 2019.
He was a Bill Masterton Trophy finalist in 2021-22, the season after his brother Jimmy died in August 2021. Jimmy played 334 NHL games of his own.
Philadelphia gave him the Gene Hart Memorial Award in 2019-20, and the league picked him for the All-Star Game in 2023.
Kris Letang was asked about his former teammate Monday.
“He was an amazing person, obviously an amazing teammate. A guy that everybody kind of wants to hang around. He loves talking. Loved to be in the dressing room and just the stories after stories.”
Penguins coach Dan Muse had him for one year in Pittsburgh and talked about what that was like.
“What an incredible career, what an incredible person, too. There are certain people that will always stand out in your mind when you are a coach, and he is definitely going to be one that I remember throughout the rest of my career.”
Hayes walks away with a national championship, a Masterton nomination and 446 NHL points. Not a bad haul for a kid Chicago let walk out the door.
