Blackhawks think Hayes could be special

The Blackhawks would like to think they got a player in the first round of Friday's NHL draft who has the potential to be something special.

The Hawks surprised some by selecting Massachusetts high school player Kevin Hayes with the 24th pick acquired from Atlanta in this week's trade involving Dustin Byfuglien.

It turned out Hayes was the only player taken by the Hawks on Friday with general manager Stan Bowman trading his 30th pick to the New York Islanders for the 35th and 58th choices in today's second round.

The Hawks now will have five picks in the second round when the draft resumes today at Staples Center.

"We might keep all five or use them as assets," Bowman said. "We can go a couple different ways. We might just keep all five."

The 18-year-old Hayes is a left wing out of Noble-Greenough High School in Massachusetts.

"It's been a dream to go to Chicago," said Hayes, who will attend Boston College in the fall. "They just won the Stanley Cup. It's unbelievable."

The International Scouting Service ranked Hayes the 39th best player in the draft. The Hockey News had him at 44, but he was a solid 26th in the NHL Central Scouting rankings.

"He's a really talented kid with size," Bowman said. "He's 6-3 now and not finished growing.

"He can make plays, he can skate - he's got everything you're looking for in today's game."

Two forwards ranked in the top 20, Medicine Hat's Emerson Etem and Russian Evgeny Kuznetsov, still were available when the Hawks took Hayes at 24.

Kuznetsov went 26th to Washington while Etem, a California native, was taken by Anaheim at 29.

But Hayes was the guy the Hawks wanted.

"We didn't know he would be there, but we were certainly hoping he would be," Bowman said.

Hayes' older brother Jimmy was drafted by Toronto last June in the second round. The brothers will be teammates at Boston College.

Hayes had 25 goals and 69 points in 29 games last season in his New England prep league that some scouts thought was not enough of a challenge for him.

"The criticism was he didn't play against good competition, but that's not his fault," Bowman said. "I saw him play last summer in a tournament in Slovakia against good competition and he played very well."

Noble-Greenough High School head coach Brian Day thinks Hayes is a special player.

"He has an unbelievable skill set that's apparent when you watch him play," Day said. "But he also has great hockey IQ. He understands the pace of a hockey game as well as anyone I've seen. He does things I've never seen before, all those subtle things. He knows where everybody around him is at all times."

Bowman saw a chance to get two picks for one in his decision to send the 30th selection in the first round to the Islanders.

"At that point we had a list of five or six guys that were all about the same ability," Bowman said. "So we figure why not move five spots, we'll probably get one of them and have the extra pick."

Barring trades, the Hawks will make 11 picks today in rounds two through seven.