Prior to being drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2018 NHL Draft, Barrett Hayton was compared to Patrice Bergeron.
Patrice Bergeron, one of the best defensive forwards the game of hockey has ever seen, announced his retirement yesterday.
The 38-year-old center played a total of 19 seasons in the NHL all for the Boston Bruins where he had 427 goals, 613 assists and 1,040 points. He is a Stanley Cup champion, six-time Seleke Trophy winner and three-time All-Star.
It's hard to ever live up to what Bergeron was able to accomplish in his career but many players have been compared to him. That includes Arizona Coyotes center Barrett Hayton.
“Hayton can play and contribute in all situations,” TSN’s Craig Button said prior to Hayton being drafted. “He reminds me of Boston Bruins star Patrice Bergeron in the sense of being complete, strong and able to produce whatever play is necessary to win. Like Bergeron, there’s not a lot of flash to his game, but winning teams will always value players with Hayton’s skills.”
Hayton was drafted by the Coyotes with the fifth overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. During the 2021-22 season, Hayton showed some flashes of what he could accomplish playing 60 games for the Coyotes but still seemed he had some work to do.
It was this past year where the 22-year-old center truly broke out tallying 19 goals, 24 assists and 43 points in 82 games. Just like Bergeron, Hayton played a strong two-way game taking a role as a top-six center and carved out minutes on the penalty kill.
Going into next season, Hayton has the opportunity to be the Coyotes top center despite his young age which shows his maturity and trust the team has in him.
While Hayton was compared to Bergeron prior to being drafted, it's hard to emulate Bergeron’s game as it is just so complex.
Whether or not Hayton plays a similar role to Bergeron in the future, he is developing into a promising center in the NHL that hockey fans in the Valley should be excited for.