Barrett Hayton's impact goes far beyond stat sheet
When Utah Hockey Club GM Bill Armstrong gave André Tourigny his first head coaching position in the NHL in 2021, one of the selling points was Tourigny’s ability to develop relationships with young players while also developing their games. Hockey Canada was so impressed with Tourigny’s coaching style that, earlier that same year, it made him its first full-time coach in almost two decades.
One of the key tenets of Tourigny’s approach is to teach young players how to honestly evaluate their own games. Sometimes, that means taking them down a peg. More often, it means teaching them to learn from, yet move past mistakes for which they might beat themselves up – mistakes that might hinder their focus in a game or their progress as players.
Tourigny took that approach with center Barrett Hayton and it is paying dividends.
It would have been easy for Hayton to beat himself up after a 3-2 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Hayton’s clearing pass (he had space to skate the puck out of the zone) was intercepted in the neutral zone and led to Columbus’ game-tying goal midway through the third period. Hayton’s turnover in overtime led to a 2-on-0 the other way and Zach Werenski’s game-winning goal.
“It’s too bad that he fumbled the puck in that situation but that will happen again,” Tourigny said matter-of-factly. “It’s just the nature of the beast, but I think he played a solid game. He made a great play to Schmaltzy (Nick Schmaltz) for the first goal. He played on the PK. He played on the power play. He played a lot of minutes. He was good.”
Tourigny doesn’t want Hayton to forget that moment in overtime. It’s part of his learning process, but hockey is a game of mistakes. More often than not, Hayton has come out on the positive side of the ledger.
For proof, Tourigny sat down at his computer and opened some internal data to shed light on Hayton’s impact on the team. The focus: the advanced stat of expected goals for percentage, a metric that compares the number of goals a team or player scores to the number of goals they allow. Hayton had one line with which he had played 16 minutes before the past two games against St. Louis and Philadelphia. His expected goals for percentage with that line was 48 percent. Another line with which he had played 59 minutes this season was 49 percent.
The rest of the line combinations offered a far different picture.
“When he plays with Schmaltzy and Kells (Clayton Keller), his expected goals is 58 percent. When he plays with [Josh] Doan and [Matias] Maccelli, it’s 75 percent. When he plays with [Alex Kerfoot] and [Lawson Crouse], it’s 60 percent. When he plays with Kerfoot and Doan he’s at 70 percent,” Tourigny said.
“Whoever you put him with, that’s the story. And if I pick any other player on our team, and I mean anybody, there is nobody who’s close to that when we are talking about impact.”
Hayton has carried the weight of being the 2018 No. 5 overall pick for his entire career — a weight that increased through a series of injuries that slowed his development. He may never put up the point totals that some analysts and fans expect from that draft slot, but maturity has taught Hayton not to worry about external expectations.
He knows that there are impactful areas of his game that don’t always show up in the box score. So do his teammates and coaches.
“I’m proud of some of the areas I’ve taken a step on this year and I like the trajectory of my game,” he said. “I’m happy with my 200-foot game. I’ve taken a step in facilitating and making plays, building more speed through the neutral zone, zone entries, being able to defend fast and spend time in the O-zone.
“I’ve taken a step in my faceoffs, too (55.3 winning percentage), and I think in my play around the net in terms of just more of the skill set of it and learning what it takes to be successful there.”
All of those skills that Hayton mentioned are critical to his game. The latter skill is the one that may get the most attention because Hayton spends a lot of time around opponents’ nets, creating space for his linemates, setting screens, getting deflections, corralling rebounds and taking a beating from defensemen.
It’s a hard job, but one that elicits gratitude from his teammates and coaches. It’s also a skill set for which Hayton has gained a greater appreciation and understanding.
“Coming from juniors and even growing up, it just wasn’t really an area of my game that I spent a lot of time on because I was never in those spots,” he said. “To be honest, even the last few years before this year, it was something I just kind of learned on the fly. I didn’t really know what made guys good there. I just kind of went off instinct.
“But I always take a lot of pride in the offseason in dissecting my game and trying to learn how I can kind of take another step and be more efficient in the places I spend time. I didn’t really know any of the skills for net-front — timing or just different body positions and sealing guys out to give yourself access to more rebounds or tip opportunities, and even just plays on the back wall off rims. So that process of me working on my game and breaking my game down remained the same, but I definitely zoned in on the skill set around the net and behind it.”
Hayton is on his best offensive roll of the season. He had five goals and 11 points in 14 January games — a month in which he was named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week for the week ending Jan. 26. He also had a pair of assists in Utah’s critical 3-2 overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, including a hustle play to get Mikhail Sergachev the puck on Utah’s first goal.
For the season, Hayton has 12 goals and 29 points, putting him on pace for a career high in points, and within range of his first 20-goal season (he had 19 in 2022-23).
Tourigny hasn’t seen much change in Hayton’s game that might explain his recent offensive output, but Hayton believes a more deliberate approach is paying off.
“The one thing that I like in my game is I am attacking more; I feel like I am taking control more,” he said. “That’s when I’m at my best is when I have that attack mindset. That was something that I did well in the month of January, and I’m looking to continue that moving forward.”
Hayton knows there will be dips in his offensive production, however. It’s a reality in a game where luck plays a greater role than most observers acknowledge. Now 24, and in his fourth season as a full-time NHL player, Hayton has a healthy perspective on what productivity actually means.
“I’ve always taken so much pride in having a huge impact on games and being able to control games and take over games,” he said. “I remember talking with my dad and we’d always be like, ‘Every shift, you want to have an impact and make something happen and be a huge part of your team winning.’
“But when you get to the higher levels and the NHL, that’s not really how it works. Even the best players in the league are not going to dominate every shift or make something happen. Some shifts, you just have to manage the game and make the smart plays and trust the process that in a 60-minute game, you’re going to get some opportunities and you’ll be in situations where you can have an impact. You’ve got to take advantage of those opportunities when you get them, but you also have to be able to evaluate your game better than just goals and assists.”
In that respect, Hayton has chosen one of the best role models the game has ever produced.
“I remember going back and watching some of [former Boston Bruins center] Patrice Bergeron’s games,” Hayton said. “You’d watch games where he had two goals and two assists, but I think the thing about him that made him so great was just every shift, he’s doing the right thing. It’s not necessarily flashy or something that is going to stand out and be like, ‘Oh, that was a hell of a play,’ but it actually was.
“It all adds up, and eventually it compiles and creates O-zone play and getting chances from there. Making the right plays every shift is definitely a big part of success.”
