Zachary Hayes (born April 24, 1999) is a Canadian professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the la ...

for the

Laval Rocket The Laval Rocket (french: Rocket de Laval) are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League (AHL) as an affiliate of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Montreal Canadiens. Based in Laval, Quebec, Canada, the Rocket play th ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL). Originally undrafted by teams in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL), Hayes has previously played for the

Vegas Golden Knights The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expan ...

Early life

Hayes was born on April 24, 1999, in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta, the oldest of four children. He played several sports as a child, including

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

, but was the most passionate about

. Hayes spent his

minor ice hockey Minor hockey is an umbrella term for amateur ice hockey which is played below the junior age level. Players are classified by age, with each age group playing in its own league. The rules, especially as it relates to body contact, vary from cla ...

career with the Calgary Northstars of the

Alberta Midget Hockey League The Alberta Elite Hockey League or AEHL (formerly the Alberta Midget Hockey League) is the provincial U18 "AAA" ice hockey league for Alberta, Canada. The league consists of 17 teams split into the North and South Divisions. League champions go ...

(AMHL). He played in 27 games for the Northstars during the 2015–16 season, recording one goal and 10

points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

in the process.

Playing career

Junior

The Prince Albert Raiders of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WHL) selected Hayes in the ninth round, 184th overall, of the WHL Bantam Draft. Hayes' parents wanted him to explore other options, and he played two games for the Canmore Eagles of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) before signing a contract with the Raiders. After recording 29 points in his first 144 WHL games, he was named an

alternate captain In ice hockey, the captain is the player designated by a team as the only person authorized to speak with the game officials regarding rule interpretations when the captain is on the ice. At most levels of play each team must designate one captai ...

for the Raiders' 2018–19 season. That season, Prince Albert won the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the first time in 34 years, advancing to the

2019 Memorial Cup The 2019 Memorial Cup (branded as the 2019 Memorial Cup presented by Kia for sponsorship reasons) was a four-team, round-robin format tournament held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia from May 17–26, 2019. It was the 101st Mem ...

as WHL champions prior to being eliminated in round-robin play by the Guelph Storm. Named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Raiders for the 2019–20 season, he set career highs with seven goals and 16 assists in 60 games, as well as a team-leading +37

plus–minus Plus−minus (+/−, ±, plus/minus) is a sports statistic used to measure a player's impact on the game, represented by the difference between their team's total scoring versus their opponent's when the player is in the game. In ice h ...

. Collectively, Hayes finished his junior hockey career with 15 goals and 79 points in 272 games.

Professional

On April 6, 2020, the

of the

(NHL) signed Hayes to a one-year contract with their

(AHL) affiliate, the

Henderson Silver Knights The Henderson Silver Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in Henderson, Nevada, that began play in the 2020–21 American Hockey League (AHL) season. The team plays its home games at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada. The tea ...

. On March 30, 2021, the Golden Knights signed him to a three-year,

entry-level contract A two-way contract is a professional sports contract that stipulates that an athlete's salary is dependent upon the league in which the athlete is assigned to play. This is opposed to a one-way contract that would pay the same salary regardless of ...

that would take effect for the

2021–22 NHL season The 2021–22 NHL season was the 105th season of operation (104th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league expanded to 32 teams with the addition of the Seattle Kraken. The league had an October-to-April regular season sche ...

. Hayes was promoted to Vegas on March 21, 2022, making his NHL debut for the Golden Knights' 3–0

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

loss to the

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

. In the following

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Hayes was re-assigned to begin the campaign with the Silver Knights in the AHL. After registering 1 assist through 14 games, Hayes was traded by the Golden Knights to the

Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...

in exchange for future considerations on November 30, 2022. He was assigned directly to Hurricanes AHL affiliate, the

Chicago Wolves The Chicago Wolves are a professional ice hockey team playing in the American Hockey League and are the top minor-league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League. The Wolves play home games at the Allstate Arena in the C ...

. In reporting to the Wolves, Hayes made 14 further appearances in collecting 3 points before he was traded for the second time within the season, dealt from the Hurricanes to the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

in exchange for

Jack Dugan Jonathan "Jack" Dugan (born March 24, 1998) is an American professional ice hockey winger who is currently playing for the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL. He went to High School in Rochester, New York at McQuaid Jesuit High School. His brother, ...

on March 10, 2023.. As the conclusion of his contract with the Devils, Hayes opted to embark on a career abroad by agreeing to a one-year contract with Finnish-based,

Vaasan Sport Sport, known by its full name as ''Hockey Team Vaasan Sport OY'', is a Finnish ice hockey team playing in Liiga, and is based at Vaasa Arena (capacity 4448) in Vaasa. The team was established in 1939 as IF Sport (Idrottsföreningen Sport). Hist ...

of the

Liiga The SM-liiga (marketed as just Liiga from 2013 on), (Finnish for ''League'') colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. It is one of the six founding leagu ...

, on September 19, 2023. He would ultimately return to North America after just a single season overseas, signing a one-year AHL contract with the

, the top affiliate of the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

, on July 22, 2024.

Career statistics

Awards and honours

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayes, Zack Living people 1999 births Ice hockey people from Calgary Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canmore Eagles players Chicago Wolves players Henderson Silver Knights players Prince Albert Raiders players Undrafted National Hockey League players Utica Comets players Vaasan Sport players Vegas Golden Knights players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States