Free Agent Kevin Hayes Lands In Surprise Destination
After 12 seasons in the NHL, Kevin Hayes 🇺🇸 is heading to the KHL! pic.twitter.com/mHBRHmICvC
— KHL (@khl_eng) August 25, 2026
Hayes was a depth forward last year for the Pittsburgh Penguins, playing in only 28 games. He recorded four goals and eight points. He didn't come close to living up to his seven-year, $50 million ($7.142M AAV) contract, which expired after last season.
Hayes joins KHL Finalists in first trip overseas
He'll join former NHLers Grigori Denisenko, Sasha Chmelevski, and Kirill Semyonov with Ak Bars Kazan, the finalists in last year's KHL championship series.
Hayes was a first-round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks (24th overall). But he spent the next four years at Boston College. In 2014, he signed as an NCAA free agent with the New York Rangers and played his first five years in the NHL there as a reliable secondary scorer in the Blueshirts' middle-six.
He topped the 20-goal mark twice in his career and even made the All-Star Game in 2022-23 with the Philadelphia Flyers. However, a brutal -22 rating that same season put him squarely in head coach John Tortorella's doghouse, and the Flyers thereafter shipped him to the St. Louis Blues.
He never quite regained his footing as a dependable secondary scorer after that, and had a couple of disappointing seasons with the Penguins. No free agent contract was coming for him this summer in the NHL.
Overall, in 805 career regular season games, Hayes posted 185 goals and 445 points.