Hayes said being back around his teammates has been helpful in the grieving process. He has been living with defenseman Keith Yandle, a teammate for two seasons with the New York Rangers who signed a one-year contract with the Flyers on July 28.
"He's probably my best friend in the entire world after my brother, and the fact that he's living with me is special," Hayes said. "We obviously thought I'd have some bad days and he's an awesome dude. ... He just makes it a lot easier. Then Cam Atkinson was my brother's roommate at school, I've known Cam a long time. 'Brass' (Derick Brassard), I played with him early in my career [with the Rangers]. He used to come to Boston, be with me and my brother all the time. 'Reemer' (James van Riemsdyk) played with my brother for a while. ... People are saying that I got all my friends here, but it's cool how things played out and I think it will make everything a lot easier."
Yandle, who at 35 years old is six years older than Kevin Hayes, said his relationship with the Hayes family goes back to his childhood, and he remembered being a referee for Kevin's youth hockey games.
"It's obviously a good thing that I'm able to be here for him," Yandle said. "He's a guy that he's there for me. It's one of those things where we're both guys that we don't like to be alone. We're able to hang out every day."
Hayes had surgery Tuesday to repair a lower-body injury and is expected to need 6-8 weeks to recover. He said the injury is similar to the one he had surgery to repair in May.
"About two weeks ago I felt something, just an everyday injury that hockey players deal with," he said. "Took a couple of days off, went on the ice, very short. ... Went home to see my family, came back on Monday, felt amazing, was the best I felt in two weeks. Then I went for a breakaway and something happened where it all kind of came apart. No one's at fault. I don't think it was avoidable; I think it was inevitable it was going to happen from two or three weeks ago when something happened.
"I'm not sure exactly what happened. It [stinks], it felt really good all summer and now I'm out for a little bit of time. Just unlucky."
He'll be doing his rehabilitation work in the Philadelphia area.
"I asked AV if I could try to be around the team as much as I can and do my rehab when they're on the ice," he said. "So when they're finishing, I'm finishing, and when they're in the gym I can kind of be hanging out. It does make it a lot easier."
Vigneault said he welcomes having Hayes around the players as much as possible.
"He wants to be here to help, especially the new guys that are coming in, whether they be young players or veteran players from other teams," Vigneault said. "Kevin has been with me for a while so he knows what I'm particular about, what I'm non-negotiable about, so he can share that with everyone, and it makes for the adjustment and the adaptation that much easier."
