Now with the Blues, Kevin Hayes is glad to square off against the Flyers: ‘I loved my time here’

Kevin Hayes thinks he’ll hear some boos on Monday night. He’ll be surprised if the Flyers faithful don’t. It is the Philly way, after all.

The former Flyers forward returns to the Wells Fargo Center after being shipped last June to the St. Louis Blues for a sixth-round pick in this year’s draft.

“Just the loyalty of the fans, how crazy the fan base is here,” Hayes said when asked what he has missed. “Good and bad, honestly. They let you know when you’re not playing well, and they’re super loyal when things are going good. I spent my first five or six years as a visiting player coming here and it was always an easy answer [when asked] what was the worst or best fan base and it was Philly. And then I got to be part of it for four years and I’m thankful for it. I loved my time here.”

Across 253 games in orange and black, Hayes potted 157 points (63 goals, 94 assists). Last season, he registered a career-best 54 points in 81 games and was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.

But, as he said in January 2023 — before the season was even over — it was “a weird year.” Although the trade didn’t happen till the summer, the writing was on the wall.

Coach John Tortorella moved the veteran center to the wing in late November in favor of then-rookie Noah Cates; he scratched Hayes against his former team, the New York Rangers, on Dec. 17; and then his ice time dramatically decreased from 18 minutes, 50 seconds to 16:47 per night. It impacted Hayes’ totals, as 45 of his points last season came in the first 50 games before the marquee NHL event; three goals and nine points came after.

“I think the media and the fans kind of built this story around me and Torts not liking each other and bad blood, but there wasn’t really any bad blood,” Hayes said. “He was honest on what he felt, and I was honest on what I felt. Away from the rink, we chatted, he would check in on my family. That’s what happens in this business. There’s no bad blood, there’s no hard feelings.

“I enjoyed every second I was here. Last year was a crazy year, going to the All-Star Game and then kind of had a horrible finish to the season, personally. They were kind of going in a different direction and I think everyone kind of knew that the trade was going to happen.”

The Flyers’ direction was younger as the “New Era of Orange” was kick-started. There has been a lot of talk this season from the bench boss about how the team’s locker room vibes have changed for the better. But the loss of Hayes, now 31, also left a hole as the Massachusetts native was a mentor to a number of the team’s rising stars, including Joel Farabee.

“I got to see him a little bit last night,” said Farabee, who was among several players who broke bread with Hayes on Sunday. “He’s such a good dude. And a really good teammate, and one of my favorite guys I ever played with. So to see him doing well over there [in St. Louis], it’s great. And, you know, I think the fans in Philly will be excited to see him again.”

Hayes does check the box scores to see how his former buddies are doing, noting how well Farabee — “one of my closest buddies on the team” — is performing along with Travis Konecny, Owen Tippett, and Morgan Frost, who “is coming around.”

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“I built friendships that I’ll have for the rest of my life here,” added Hayes, noting one of his favorite and most cherished memories was when Oskar Lindblom was told in front of the team that he was going to play against the New York Islanders in the 2020 bubble. Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, in December 2019 and two months after completing chemotherapy he returned to the Flyers lineup for 5-4 double-overtime win in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series against the New York Islanders.

This season with St. Louis, Hayes has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists), and although his numbers aren’t eye-popping, he has brought a positive mood to his new squad.

“He’s a great guy in the locker room, I think everyone knows that,” Blues forward Robert Thomas said. “High-spirited, funny, and just been a tremendous addition to our locker room.”

Despite a hard few seasons in Philadelphia that included the pain of two surgeries, an infection, and the grief of suddenly losing his older brother, former NHL player Jimmy Hayes, Kevin Hayes feels it has all shaped him to be a better person and he tries to bring good energy every day.

“I get that from my brother, especially after he passed. I try to be that positive, happy person all the time,” Hayes said. “I think it helps any room. This room, I’ve tried to make sure everyone’s having a good time and feeling that they’re being their best selves, on and off the ice. I think in order to be successful as an individual in this league, you need to have kind of clear thoughts and feel good about yourself. I try to do that as much as I can.

“I wish I was playing a little bit better on the ice, but off the ice, it’s always been the same for me.”

On Monday he got a chance to see several employees he knew during his tenure, including the Zamboni drivers and the security guards. The Flyers and Blues met in January — a 4-2 Flyers win — and Hayes thinks facing off against his former teammates once already takes some of the emotion out of it. But he is looking forward to a special matchup nonetheless.

“It’ll be a fun night,” he said. “Obviously I was here the last four years. First time back, I’m excited. At the end of the day, it’s just another game. We need the two points bad now, I think they do, too. So it should be a good match.”

Staff writer Lochlahn March contributed to this article.