Penguins Take Physical Soo Greyhound Winger in 4th Round

A running theme of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2025 draft was physicality.

After some big bodies in the first round and earlier on Day 2, Penguins general manager Kyle Dubas looked to his hometown for a heavy body on the right wing, selecting Soo Greyhound Travis Hayes with their fourth-round pick (105th overall).

And he’s Penguins prospect Avery Hayes’s brother.

Hayes is one of the youngest players in the draft and is just 17 years old, and won’t turn 18 until Sept. 3. He doesn’t have great size (5-foot-11, 174 pounds) as some of the earlier picks, but scouts report he’s strong on his skates and dogged on the puck both on the forecheck and backcheck.

Elite Prospects notes that a big part of his game is driving the net with determination and creating turnovers with puck pressure.

Last season, Hayes netted 21 goals with 51 points in 65 games, but had four points (3-1-4) in five playoff games. Hayes was also the fourth American taken among the first eight picks of the Penguins draft.

The team began the draft with 11 picks over seven rounds, but trades delivered several more. Through four rounds, the Penguins had already made eight picks with five more to go. Dubas’s maneuvering earned the team a third first pick on Friday, and two more in the mid-rounds on Saturday. Hayes was a member of Team USA at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, notching two assists in five games.

The Ann Arbor native came through the prestigious Detroit area travel teams, including Compuware.