Four weeks and 14 games, or less. This is the final countdown for pending free agent Kevin Hayes, who by the trade deadline will either be working with a long-term contract extension in his back pocket or playing somewhere else.
Chances are the 26-year-old center will be somewhere else by the time the clock strikes 3 p.m. in New York on Feb. 25, but neither the Rangers nor Hayes have shut the door on the possibility of an extension. And while there have still been no negotiations between general manager Jeff Gorton and Hayes’ representative, Bob Murray, the parties have maintained regular contact and neither side believes that time is necessarily the enemy as it applies to hammering out a contract.