Rangers to sign Kevin Hayes

Well, it looks like the New York Rangers are the team that's going to land former Boston College forward Kevin Hayes.

Mike Halford, Pro Hockey Talk -- On Tuesday, various outlets (see here and here and here and here) reported that Hayes — the former Boston College standout taken 24th overall by Chicago at the ’10 draft — has agreed to sign with the New York Rangers, ending a long, drawn-out saga in the process.

Hayes had consistently balked at signing in Chicago despite the ‘Hawks drafting him out of high school four years ago, ahead of the likes of Evgeny Kuznetsov, Charlie Coyle and Emerson Etem. Instead, he completed a stellar career at BC, then simply allowed time to run out on his draft rights — on Aug. 15, the deadline for the ‘Hawks to sign Hayes passed, making him an unrestricted free agent in the process.

Hump Day Links

There's only 46 days until the University of North Dakota kicks off the 2014-15 season. Here's a few links of interest from the world of hockey.

Matt Greene Brings the Stanley Cup Back to Grand Forks - http://t.co/XKBF7MXZk7 #NHL pic.twitter.com/Vq8Ns9uDjE
— THW Hockey (@HockeyLinks) August 20, 2014

Report: It's 'not looking good' for Bruins on Kevin Hayes http://t.co/JrHlEKUBdz
— Ian McLaren (@iancmclaren) August 20, 2014

Not looking good for #bruins on Kevin Hayes. I'm being told Rangers and Avs appear to have inside track.
— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) August 20, 2014

Three concussion lawsuits filed by ex-NHL players consolidated, to be heard by federal judge in Minnesota. Details: http://t.co/8NdMpE1XHD
— Yahoo Sports NHL (@YahooSportsNHL) August 20, 2014

Did Doug Lidster Save The Canucks’ Season? http://t.co/sXodtikSJC #THW
— The Hockey Writers (@TheHockeyWriter) August 20, 2014

Checking In: Jake Guentzel: Forward Jake Guentzel returned to Pittsburgh for prospect developme... http://t.co/mVgJbBjUkc #NHL #Penguins
— NHL (@NHLLinks) August 20, 2014

Your Hobey Baker Memorial Award Winner, There's Probably no Question

Again, another great free image from Getty Images. From my post that I wrote at the Hockey Wilderness today.  This should put a lot of things into context for you.

The Big Red line of left wing David Hukalo (15g-24a—39pts), center Steve Reinprecht (26g-40a—66pts) and right wing Dany Heatley (28g-28a—56pts) lite up the college hockey world.

Just or comparison sake, the Boston College forward line of leftwing Johnny Gaudreau (32g-37a—69pts), center Bill Arnold (12g-36a—48pts, and rightwing Kevin Hayes (24g-32a—56pts) is the best line in college hockey this season.

The Big Red Line of the Wisconsin Badgers was a very good forward line, there's no disputing that, they scored 161 points combined during the 1999-00 season. Check this out, the line that Boston College forward Johnny Gaudreau is a member is on, has scored an eye popping 173 points this season. That's 12 points past the storied Wisconsin line. Also, that line has at least one more game left to play this season. You have to wonder what kind of damage they can do if they make the Frozen Four and play in the championship game. That's four more games. They could hit 180-200 points combined.  

Related articles

• Dany Heatley is Unhappy With his Playing Time (hockeywilderness.com)
• NCAA Hockey: Johnny Gaudreau Heir Apparent for the 2014 Hobey Baker (thehockeywriters.com)

NCAA Hockey: National Scoring Race

Points Per Game: GP G- A- P P/GM
  1 Johnny Gaudreau (CGY)      Boston College    JR F       33   29-34-63    1.91
  2 Greg Carey                 St. Lawrence      SR F       32   15-36-51    1.59
  3 Kevin Hayes (CHI)          Boston College    SR F       33   22-29-51    1.55
  4 Ryan Dzingel (OTT)         Ohio State        JR F       28   17-21-38    1.36
  5 Austin Czarnik             Miami             JR F       29   11-28-39    1.34
  6 Brett Gensler              Bentley           SR F       32   17-26-43    1.34
  7 Bill Arnold (CGY)          Boston College    SR F       33   12-32-44    1.33
  8 Kevin Roy (ANA)            Northeastern      SO F       32   17-25-42    1.31
  9 Devin Shore (DAL)          Maine             SO F       30   13-26-39    1.30
10 Riley Barber (WSH)         Miami             SO F       30   18-20-38    1.27
    Josh Archibald (PIT)       Nebraska Omaha    JR F       30   26-12-38    1.27
    Ryan Haggerty              Rensselaer        JR F       30   24-14-38    1.27
13 Mark Naclerio              Brown             SO F       27   16-18-34    1.26
14 Chris McCarthy             Vermont           SR F       31   16-23-39    1.26
15 Matthew Zay                Mercyhurst        JR F       32   16-24-40    1.25
    Jesse Root                 Yale              SR F       24   12-18-30    1.25
17 Kevin Goumas               New Hampshire     SR F       33   13-27-40    1.21
18 Cole Gunner                Air Force         JR F       34   14-27-41    1.21
19 Matt Leitner               Minnesota State   JR F       30    9-27-36    1.20
20 Nick Lappin                Brown             SO F       26   12-19-31    1.19

(video) 2014 Beanpot Highlights

The Boston College Eagles win the Beanpot yet again. The Eagles are smoking hot right now unbeaten in 15 games (14-0-1), that's the longest in the nation, that's their fifth Beanpot in a row. Also, the Eagles forward Johnny Gaudrea (25g-33a—50pts), is smoking hot right now, and in the last six games has scored (5g-6a—11pts).

How would you like to be a goaltender? The forward line of (1) Johnny Gaudreau (25g-33a—58pts) – (4) Bill Arnold (11g-31a—42pts) – (2) Kevin Hayes (21g-27a—48pts) is by far the best line in college hockey right now.

Game one of the Ice Breaker; B.C. 5 - MSU 2 Final.

Michigan State Lines

10 Tanner Sorenson - 11 Brett Perlini 8 - Chris Forfar
9 Daulton Leveille - 21 Anthony Hayes (A) - 4 Trevor Nill (A)
16- Dean Chelios - 22 Lee Reimer - 86 Greg Wolfe
18 Kevin Walrod 24- Justin Hoomian - 25 Brent Darnell

Defense Pairings

44 Torey Kurg (C) - Brock Shelgren
17 Matt Crandell - 7 Tim Buttery
42 Jake Chelios - 23 Matt Grassi

Goalies

29 Drew Palmisano
37 Will Yanakeff

The Two Chelios boys are sons of former Badger and NHL player Chris Chelios.

Boston College lines

9 Barry Almeida (A) - 12 Kevin Hayes - 22 Paul Carey (A)
19 Chris Kreider - 24 Bill Arnold - Destry Straight
13 Johnny Gaudreau - 11 Pat Mullane - 21 Steven Whitney
28 Tommy Atkinson - 23 Patrick Brown - 10 Danny Linell

Defense Pairings 

4 Tommy Cross (C) - Patch Alber
2 Brian Dumoulin - 8 Edwin Shea
7 Issac MacLeod - 6 Patrick Wey

Goalies

35 Parker Milner
30 Chris Venti
1 Brian Billett

Period one 

No Scoring.

Period two

BC	1 - 1	Patrick Brown	, Tommy Cross	04:17	EV
MSU	1 - 1	Perlini, Brett,	Chelios, Jake, Leveille, Daultan	10:32	SH
BC	1 - 2	Patch Alber,	Chris Kreider, Bill Arnold	19:05	EV

Period three 

MSU  - Trevor Nill    Unassisted                                        10:53 EV

 BC  - Chris Kreider,   Destry Straight                                11:43 EV

 BC  - Steven Whitney, Pat Mullane                                   16:27 EV

  BC  - Paul Carey, Unassisted                                             18:59 EV