Hayes in select company

Wing will be at NHL draft waiting for call

Jimmy Hayes has been building his hockey résumé for nearly 15 years, almost since his first skate as a 2-year-old, pushing a milk crate around the MDC rink in Charlestown.

"Pretty funny, but in those learn-to-skate sessions," Hayes recalled earlier this week, following a day of freshman orientation at Boston College, "I wouldn't even go out there unless my grandfather or one of my cousins went with me. But once I got going . . . I guess there wasn't any stopping me."

Hayes, now nearly 6 feet 5 inches and 210 pounds, is poised to make another giant career stride in Ottawa for the NHL's annual amateur draft this weekend. The towering forward from Dorchester is now an 18-year-old right winger, soon to begin his freshman year at Chestnut Hill, and imminently to learn which of the NHL's 30 teams will most covet his size, hands, and scoring pedigree that just a year ago had him projected as a first-round pick.

"Well, it only takes one team to fall in love," mused Hayes, whose stock these days has fallen to No. 63 among North American skaters, according to NHL's Central Scouting Bureau rankings. "If I go in the third round, well, I go in the third round. If you can play, you can play. I know there will be guys drafted ahead of me, and I'll think I'm better than them, and there will be guys drafted after me who are probably better than me. No matter what your number is, you have to show them you can play."

Hayes's fall has not been one from grace, but rather from the vagaries inherent in putting the puck in the net. He is a big kid with good hands, decent speed, and flashes of finesse around the net, as he proved in 2006-07 with the US National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., where he collected 23 goals and 45 points in 56 games. It was that Jimmy Hayes, then only 17, who had some scouts and draftniks pegging him as a potential first-rounder.

But the hype began to dissipate late last fall when Hayes, back for another year with the NTDP, stopped filling up the net with his customary regularity. His frustration built, his Central Scouting profile slipped, and his confidence waned.

"I'm a goal scorer, and I wasn't scoring the way I always had," said Hayes. "And I got to the point where I felt the best thing for me, and for my development, was to go somewhere else. Nothing against the national team. It's a great program with great coaches - Ron Rolston and John Hynes - but I was frustrated."

His scoring totals an anemic 2-6 -8 in 23 games with the US team, Hayes packed up in Ann Arbor at the start of February and signed with Lincoln, Neb., in the US Hockey League. After a slow start, said Lincoln coach Jim McGroarty, Hayes's confidence began to build and the points began to flow. In 29 games, regular season and playoffs included, he picked up eight goals and 24 points.

"I think some people are missing the boat on him," said McGroarty. "I'm telling you, in a very short time, he came into this league and figured out how to dominate games, offensively and physically. There aren't a lot of 6-foot-5 guys out there with his skill package and scoring ability. And he's just a great kid."

Rolston, the former BC assistant coach who was one of Hayes's coaches in Ann Arbor, said it was disapponting to see the big winger leave the US program, the timing leaving the Yanks with no chance to fill his roster spot. Players have left during the season for a variety of reasons, noted Rolston, and in Hayes's case, he didn't feel the few weeks in the USHL did much to spruce up his résumé for the draft.

"I don't think he moved a whole lot," said Rolston, speaking to Hayes's positioning in the draft. "All the tools are there with Jimmy, but for his size there are too many times he wants to play a smaller man's game - he needs to play with an edge on a more consistent basis. And that will be the gamble for the scouts . . . will that part of his game develop?"

"A character kid, with a good set of hands," added an NHL scout, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "For his size, no question, some impressive skills. But for 6-5, he tries to get away too often with skill and doesn't use his body. What you hope, if you're taking him, is that his brain and feet will catch up with his body, and he'll begin to think and move and hit a little bit. We see him as a really raw kid, and if you're patient enough, maybe something really good happens."

Which, in part, is what now brings Hayes to Boston College, where he is part of an impressive incoming freshman class that coach Jerry York will use to replenish his defending NCAA championship squad. No matter where Hayes is selected in the draft, he'll be suiting up for the Eagles this winter, and how fast he might track to the NHL will depend mightily on how his game develops under York's tutelage.

"He's a young man with a world of potential," said the ever-effervescent York. "I think as he learns to play the power type game, he could have a really bright future. We're thrilled he chose BC. We think his prospects are very, very bright."

The Eagles, as is the case with most top Division 1 programs, often struggle to keep top NHL prospects on campus for four years. If Hayes needs time to develop that consistent, aggressive, NHL-ready edge, he might play all four seasons at The Heights.

"My mind-set is, I'm here to play college hockey, and I'm really looking forward to it," said Hayes, who'll be joined in Ottawa by his entire family, parents (Kevin and Shelagh) and four siblings, including 16-year-old Kevin, who just wrapped up his freshman year as a left winger at Noble and Greenough, once his big brother's stomping grounds. "Whenever I am ready to play in the NHL, I'm sure all the [BC] coaches will tell me it's time to move on. And if that takes four years, it takes four years . . . no problem . . . time will tell."

For the moment, Hayes is only looking at his first-semester course load - which includes calculus, literary form, computers in management, and other brainteasers - and wondering where his ball will drop in the NHL roulette wheel. The first round will be tomorrow night, followed by Rounds 2-7 Saturday. Hayes will also be joined there by family adviser Bob Murray, the longtime player agent. Over the years, Murray has represented NHLers Keith Tkachuk and Tom Fitzgerald, who also happen to be Hayes's second cousins.

Come August, according to Rolston, Team USA will invite Hayes to Lake Placid, N.Y., where the Yanks hope he can make their squad that will play in the world junior championship over the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

While in Toronto for the recent NHL Combine, Hayes interviewed with 15 NHL teams. Three, including Florida, Toronto, and Tampa Bay, booked him for follow-up interviews over these next two days.

"A lot of the teams I interviewed with asked why I left the national program," said Hayes. "I know that's a big question, but like I say, it was about being frustrated and wanting an opportunity."

His biggest surprise, said Hayes, came during his interview with the Maple Leafs.

"One of their guys said, 'OK, tell me what you think of the war in Iraq,' " recalled Hayes. "And I was thinking like, 'Now that's a real curveball . . . what's that about?' I answered it. I think I did OK with it."

Well enough, at least, that the Leafs will give Hayes a second look. Right now, that's all he's asking.

Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com.