When Keith Yandle was a kid growing up in his Dorchester, Mass. neighborhood, he knew the Hayes family well.

Heck, who didn’t.

The Hayes’ were incredibly community conscious. When you have five children who are all active in sports or other pursuits, you don’t really have a choice.

But the Hayes’ cared about the other kids in their community just as much as they did their own.

“I have known Mr. Hayes for as long as I can remember,” Yandle said about Kevin Sr. “He was one of those guys that you would always see in the neighborhood. Just a great guy always taking care of you. Would see you and buy you lunch. A guy who always gave back to the community.”

Maybe he was buying Yandle lunch so he would go easy on his youngest son, Kevin Jr. during his hockey games.

Not that Yandle was playing against Kevin. No, Yandle is six years older. But, when Kevin was playing youth hockey in the Boston area, occasionally, he’d see Yandle working as his referee.

Their paths would continue to cross as their lives progressed in hockey. Both would reach the NHL. Then, in 2014, they would become teammate on the New York Rangers.

“Our friendship really took off when I went to New York and we have been the best of friends since,” Yandle said.

So maybe it was kismet that the two best friends from Boston are teammates again at this moment in time in Philadelphia.

Maybe this is exactly what they both needed – Yandle, 35, nearing the twilight of his career but pursuing the NHL iron man record, just 44 games away from becoming hockey’s Cal Ripken, Jr. And Kevin Hayes, 29, experiencing such a difficult stage of his life that was suddenly and unexpectedly filled with grief and pain, both of the emotional and physical variety.

Hayes lost his true best friend, his brother Jimmy, a little more than one month ago. Jimmy, 31, died in his home after a birthday party for one of his young sons.

It has been an excruciatingly painful end of the summer for the entire Hayes family, but especially Kevin, who spoke to the media for the first time Friday since his brother’s death.

“My brother was a special person,” Kevin Hayes said. “He touched a lot of lives. He really enjoyed life and enjoyed helping others. It sucks that he’s gone. It happened way too fast. I’ll never forget him, obviously.

“I’ve been dreading this conversation with you guys, but there are some people I truly would like to thank. The hockey world is an impressive community. It’s been crazy with the amount of people that have reached out to myself and my family. The amount of people who showed up to the services was incredible. Some people that were very close with my brother, who I didn’t even know that are in the hockey world, reached out and sent flowers to my family.”

kevin hayes

Photo Credit: Zack Hill/Philadelphia Flyers

Hayes then went on to list a bunch of names of hockey players and managers from around the league, who reached out to show some support of Hayes and his family. Included in that list, of course, was Yandle.

Yandle, whose family has decided to remain in their Florida home while he is playing in Philadelphia this season on a one-year contract, has become Kevin’s roommate in Hayes’ home in Philadelphia.

That was the plan, even before Jimmy’s passing, and it has turned out to be such a needed gift for Hayes during this time of grieving.

“Things happen for a reason,” Hayes said. “Obviously, I was pretty negative for a bit in the last month and then you realize what has turned out to be and who is here with me. I am living with Keith and he is probably my best friend in this whole entire world after my brother. The fact that he is living with me is special. I have some bad days and he is just an awesome dude. He really is. You guys will get to know him. He really just makes it a lot easier.”

In addition to Yandle, Hayes has a great support system with other Flyers who were close to both him and his brother.

“Cam Atkinson was my brothers’ roommate at school, so I have known Cam for a long time,” Hayes said.  “Brass (Derrick Brassard), I played with really early in my career. He used to come to Boston and be with me and my brother all the time. Reamer (James van Riemsdyk) played with my brother for a while. It is cool how things played out and I think it will make things a lot easier.”

Keeping Hayes’ spirits up is going to be their job. As if dealing with the loss of a brother wasn’t difficult enough, Hayes was coming off an abdominal injury that hampered him for about 70 percent of last season. He had surgery in May to repair it and was feeling great on the ice after rehabbing the injury until he felt a similar pain in the same spot on Monday.

He went for an MRI and it was determined a second surgery in relatively the same area was needed. Hayes will miss 6-8 weeks, which will knock him out of about 10 games this season.

“It sucks honestly,” Hayes said. “I had felt really good all summer and now I am out for a little bit of time. I think it is just unlucky.”

Injury-wise, yes. But affording him the time to be around teammates who care about him? There’s nothing unlucky about that.

Injured players usually rehab away from the team until they are able to get back to practice. But, in this instance, Hayes and coach Alain Vigneault had a conversation, and the coach is allowing Hayes to stay around the team as he goes through rehab – something that Hayes ultimately needs for peace of mind.

“I love the fact that he’s been at all of the video sessions, and that he wants to be here to help, especially with the new guys that are coming in, whether they’d be young players or veteran players from other teams,” said Vigneault, who has a close relationship with Hayes. “Kevin’s been with me for a while, so he knows what I’m particular about and what I’m non-negotiable about. He can share that with everyone, and it makes for the adjustment, the adaptation much easier.”

And when he’s away from the rink, there’s Yandle, his best friend, keeping an eye out for him.

“I think it is a good thing I am able to be here for him,” Yandle said. “He is there for me too, so it is one of those things. We both don’t like to be alone, so we are able to hangout every day. It will be good too, especially during the season to be able to sit down and watch games. I think it is going to be a lot of fun.”

Fun is important. Now, more so than ever. Hayes is the kind of player who likes to have fun and be the team’s social coordinator. He knows how to keep thing light in the locker room but at the same time, take the game seriously.

It’s important for him, Yandle, Vigneault and all his teammates, that he not lose that fun side of him during this difficult time.

Which makes Yandle a bit of an unsung hero for the 2021-22 Flyers before the games even start.

That’s because, he’s been doing his duty as a teammate, and best friend, already.

“The first couple weeks were just trying to learn the ways around the city,” Yandle said. “Kevin is the type of guy that if he likes a restaurant, he goes there pretty much every night. I had to mix it up a few times with him, to branch out.

“We watch a lot of TV, a lot of couch time and a lot of laughs. Obviously, it helped a lot having him and being able to meet guys on the team and go out to dinners. He is that guy that was able to bring me around to everyone else.”

And Yandle is that guy to make sure it stays that way.

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