Recent performance by this Penguins prospect could soon come with reward

The Pittsburgh Penguins are only 5 games into the young NHL season, but with the season being young still, that does not mean that a conversation about lineup decisions cannot be had. For the Penguins, they have made it known for a while now that they are in a rebuild and want to go younger.

Hockey fans and Penguins fans know that they have been building their prospect pool slowly but surely for the past year or two and it is looking somewhat nice. And one name in this prospect pool, nearly made the Penguins NHL roster out of 2025 training camp, and might be called up sooner rather than later.

This guy's name is Avery Hayes. He has been showing up and showing out for the Penguins AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. Every time Wilkes-Barre plays a game, his name seems to come up and he seems to stand out and fans are always like, "wow, why have the Penguins not called him up yet?'

Well, the Penguins just seem to have a logjam at the forward spot so not all of the young guys that the Penguins brought to training camp with them, could make the team. But if Hayes keeps doing his thing in Wilkes-Barre, he might force their hand and get a recall and be put in the lineup way sooner than expected.

In Friday's victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack, Hayes ripped home a power-play goal to give the Penguins a 3-0 lead in the game. One of the major strengths for Hayes has always been his speed/tenacity and his shot. He is always one that is going to go to the dirty areas and make something happen and he has a really nice shot when he decides to utilize it.

Last season for Wilkes-Barre, he was tending to get on the scoresheet way more often than not. He was deserving of a call-up last season and 5 games in, already deserves that. For the Penguins, if they can find a way to ship off some veterans that are not apart of the future plans, Hayes should have no problem getting that call-up and being a mainstay in the NHL lineup.