“I talked to a lot of people about this. College is the best time of your life. A lot of people that go one and done, 10 years down the road say they regret it. After I made my initial statement of saying I was going to stay, I met Kevin Hayes before I went to Men’s Worlds, and he told me right away, he goes, ‘Dude, if I was in your position, I would stay here as long as you can.’ That kind of went a long way.”
Hayes spent four years in the NCAA with BC before becoming a coveted college free agent, signing with the New York Rangers. In doing so, he spurned the Chicago Blackhawks who had drafted him in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
The former NHL All-Star
was in the news last season when it was suggested that he was the reason Boston College’s Cutter Gauthier refused to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers and ended up being traded to the Anaheim Ducks. Hayes refutes that claim and Leonard, unlike Gauthier, doesn’t sound like he has any intention of playing for any other NHL team than the one that drafted him.
“It’s a winning culture here, and that’s obviously what you want to be a part of,” Leonard said. “You saw the other day with free agency. They’re looking for top-end guys that can help win championships, and that’s what I’m here to try to do at some point.
