Former Rangers forward Kevin Hayes, the two-way center who spent four-plus years on Broadway at the start of his career, retired after just five games in the KHL, he announced in a statement posted by the league Monday.
“I have decided to end my hockey career,” Hayes, 34, said in the statement. “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.”
After logging 28 games in Pittsburgh last year, Hayes inked a deal with AK Bars Kazan in August. Less than a month later, he retired without recording a point in his five games.
He skated 13:10 during the team’s most recent game on Sept. 18, and AK Bars Kazan’s next game was set for Monday night.
Hayes was an All-Star in the 2022-23 season with the Flyers, and he had stints with the Jets, Flyers, Blues and Penguins after the Blueshirts sent him to Winnipeg in 2019.
Throughout the early stages of his career, though, Hayes carved out a key role with the Rangers after originally getting drafted by the Blackhawks — No. 24 overall in 2010 — but signing his entry-level deal with the Blueshirts instead.
Hayes collected 87 goals and 216 points across 361 regular-season games with the Rangers, along with another two goals and 10 points in 34 playoff games.
He delivered plenty of vintage moments, too. As a rookie, his overtime winner in Game 4 of his first postseason series gave the Rangers a 3-1 series lead over the Penguins.
In the next round, his game-tying goal on the power play in the second period of Game 7 paved the way for Derek Stepan’s heroics against the Capitals.
But Hayes, a former Boston College star, was ultimately sent to the Jets at the deadline in 2019 in exchange for a first-round pick, Brendan Lemieux and a conditional fourth-round pick that never amounted to anything — since the Jets didn’t win the Stanley Cup that year.
Hayes went on to skate in 861 total games across his NHL career, finishing with 193 goals and 470 points.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
