 Hay played his finest NHL season in 1927–28, leading the team in goals and points, and was named to an unofficial all-star team by the league's managers.He played seven seasons in the Detroit organization, and retired one game into the 1933–34 season to take over as the coach of their minor league team, the Detroit Olympics, whom he spent three years with before leaving the game.He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958, and has been honoured by the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame.