After Arizona Coyotes center Barrett Hayton showed glimpses of talent at the end of last campaign, can the former first round pick continue where he left off and have a breakout season?
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Starting in junior hockey with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League in Canada, things weren’t looking promising for Hayton.
27 points in 63 games for the Greyhounds in the 2016-17 season wasn’t eye-popping from Hayton, but the next two seasons, he showed promise.
In his second season, Hayton had 21 goals and 31 assists for 60 points in 63 games which was a drastic difference from the first junior year.
Then, with the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, the Coyotes selected Hayton and opinions arose.
This is because two picks later, current Vancouver Canucks star defenseman and captain Quinn Hughes was selected seventh overall.
Imagine losing your picks because you violated the combine testing rules to draft Barret Hayton over Quinn Hughes https://t.co/9F89WCi1rB
— Turtle (@_Twurtle) August 26, 2020
Despite the criticism, Hayton returned to the Greyhounds in 2018-19 and lit up the OHL after netting 26 goals and 40 points in 39 games.
After an impressive year of juniors, he began playing for the Coyotes and hasn’t had the same level of production in the NHL, to this point.
When looking at Hayton’s stats, he has 32 goals and 42 assists for 74 points in 176 games in his career.
Last season for Hughes, however, he had 69 assists alone and 76 points in 78 games.
For his career, Hughes has 241 points in 283 games and is regarded as one of the best offensive-defensemen in the league.
Even though Arizona picked Hayton higher than some people thought they should of, the potential is still there.
New Line, More Production
The past few seasons saw Hayton playing on the third or fourth line and the production was minimal.
Then something clicked.
As last season progressed and no playoffs in-sight, Coyotes Head Coach André Tourigny decided to change the lines up.
In doing so, he placed Hayton on the first line between star Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz and they instantly found chemistry.
He almost doubled his goal totals from the season before as he potted 19 goals last season, compared to only 10 in 2021-22.
Keller had his best season ever after having 86 points in 82 games.
And Schmaltz was one goal off having the exact same stats as last season. 36 assists in 63 games. Difference was 23 goals two years ago and 22 last year.
While 43 points in 82 points may not seem spectacular, in only April, having 17 points in 16 games from Hayton showed that he was finding a rhythm.
In the preseason NHL Global Series down in Australia, the trio was back together and Hayton had two goals in two games.
🚨A power play goal from Barrett Hayton midway through the first gives the #YotesForever a 1-0 lead over #GoKingsGo in the second game of the #NHLGlobalSeries 🚨
🎧Listen LIVE on SiriusXM! https://t.co/C81TUUvLIP
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) September 24, 2023
All the stats are pointing towards a breakout season incoming from Hayton as he looks like he has found the line-mates that can help him become a crucial player for the Coyotes this season.
In his first 33 games last season, Barrett Hayton had only 1 goal and 5 points.
In his last 49 games, he put up 18 goals and 38 points.
That's an 82-game pace of 30 goals and 63 points.Can't wait to see him put up 60+ points this year. pic.twitter.com/qe3Nevin6V
— Fired Up Fantasy Hockey (@FiredUpFantasy) September 19, 2023
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Alec Cipollini is a journalist covering the Arizona Coyotes and Phoenix Rising for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his new X account @CipolliniBCS
