Penguins Sign Forward Avery Hayes to a Two-Year Entry-Level Contract

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Avery Hayes to a two-year entry-level contract, it was announced today by President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Kyle Dubas.

The contract will begin in the 2025-26 season and run through the ‘26-27 campaign.

Hayes, 22, has spent the 2024-25 season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. Through 44 games, the 5-foot-10, 184-pound forward has set career highs in all major statistics, with 17 goals, 18 assists, 35 points, and a plus-17. He currently ranks fourth on the team in goals, fifth in points, and second in plus/minus. Hayes has spent his first two professional seasons with WBS recording 23 goals, 21 assists and 44 points in 73 games.

Prior to the AHL, the Westland, Michigan native spent parts of four seasons from 2018-23 in the Ontario Hockey League with Hamilton Bulldogs and Peterborough Petes. In 237 career OHL games, Hayes recorded 106 goals, 97 assists and 203 points. Additionally, in 42 career OHL playoff games, he has posted 26 goals, 28 assists and 54 points. Hayes’s OHL tenure also included back-to-back OHL Championships with the Bulldogs (2022) and the Petes (2023). These championships led to Memorial Cup appearances each year, where he recorded six goals, two assists, and eight points in a total of 10 games.

Hayes has also represented his country at the 2019 Under-18 Hlinka Gretzky Cup where he posted one goal and one assist in four games.

Hayes, who went undrafted, originally signed an AHL contract with WBS prior to the 2023-24 season.