Former Bruin and Dorchester native Jimmy Hayes has died at the age of 31

Tragedy struck the world of hockey today.

Dorchester native, Boston College Champion forward, and former Bruin James Ryan “Jimmy” Hayes was found dead in his house in Milton, Massachusetts at the far too young age of 31.

Jimmy Hayes began his career as a Boston College Eagle, playing 117 games and finishing his time there with 81 points, a Hockey East championship in 2009, and climbed the ladder to become NCAA Champions in 2010.

Photo by Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

From there, Jimmy began a journeyman career in the NHL; the Leafs traded him to the Blackhawks, who then brought him to the Panthers...where then, in 2015, he became a Boston Bruin as part of a trade, bringing him back home.

With the Bruins, he had a respectable 2015-16 season, notching 29 points in 75 games, including his first ever hat trick against the Ottawa Senators:

However, he struggled mightily in 2016-17, and as a result moved on to join the New Jersey Devils, where he again had a reasonably strong season, before moving his play to the AHL. His final professional totals in the NHL amounted to 109 points. Since then, he had moved on to podcasting, starting the Missin Curfew show with former NHLers Shane O’Brien and Scottie Upshall, by all accounts having a great time, from the sounds of it.

As Patrice Bergeron’s statement on his passing reflects, Hayes was the kind of person that anyone, let alone any team in the sport, would want to have around. And he brought that at pretty much every opportunity he could, being a staple of Bruins off-season and in-season charity and community events in his short time with the team.

To say that it is a tragedy that a loving father of two young boys and husband left this earth at such a shockingly young age is a massive understatement. Hayes was taken from us far, far, far too soon and the hockey world is a slightly colder place for it.

Stanley Cup of Chowder’s sincerest condolences go out to his wife, his children, and the extended Hayes family.

Rest in Peace.