Colin Wilson makes a difficult confession following the death of Jimmy Hayes.

The story surrounding the tragic passing of former National Hockey League player Jimmy Hayes has had a profound impact on the hockey community as a whole. His death came as a complete and utter shock to most and perhaps more importantly it has helped shine a light on some of the very real problems that professional hockey players, and professional athletes in general, can encounter during their careers.

Perhaps no one was more affected by his passing however than those who can relate to the situation that Hayes was in, one where he was fighting a constant battle against addiction. On Monday morning former NHL player Colin Wilson revealed that he is not so different from Hayes.

"The truth is, I was an addict," admitted Wilson in The Players Tribune.

The former first round pick of the Nashville Predators revealed that he felt the need to come clean about his own demons after seeing Jimmy's wife and father come forward to share the details surrounding Jimmy's passing. The motivation behind that revelation was to help others who might find themselves in a similar situation to the one Jimmy was in, and it would appear as though their bravery has inspired Wilson to do the same.

"I texted his dad and his wife, Kristen, the morning that article came out, and I let them know how powerful it was — how brave they were to share what they did. I’ve known Jimmy since I was 16, and he was a great, great person. Everyone cared about him so much. I can’t speak highly enough of the Hayes family. They are all great people.  And I know they want to help, just like I do. Because we’re in the middle of a massive opioid and mental health crisis. Those two things are inherently connected. And I believe the first step toward change is honesty and vulnerability."

Wilson details how his drug use began as something very common, the regular use of Ambien to help him sleep at night. At 20 years old Wilson says the pill became a crutch in his life, leaving him in a place mentally where he could not sleep without it. Things got so bad in fact that Wilson believed his career depended on the pill.

That would eventually lead to harder drug use for Wilson, something that he says was prevalent wherever he went. Wilson admits that not many are willing to broach this subject, but goes on to say that he feels it must be talked about.

"Look, if I’m going to do this…. This is where I need to be honest.

I feel like people don’t want to have this conversation.

But, man — to me?

This is the conversation.

When I used to go out, it felt like there was cocaine everywhere.

It seemed like when I was out for the night in NYC or L.A. or Vegas, somebody always had cocaine."

The use of cocaine was not a regular thing for Wilson at first, with the former NHL player saying he would only use it very few times a year, but that eventually progressed into something significantly worse. Wilson became so addicted to the feeling he would get from being high that he would use other drugs to avoid the inevitable comedown from cocaine. Things got so bad at one point for Wilson that he feared at times he would not wake up the next morning, even going so far as to write a note in his journal one night in case he did not wake up.

"I just ... I was just an addict. I was in the NHL. I was scoring goals. Playing in a Cup final. Living a dream. But I was an addict. And I didn’t even know I had a problem. I only party every couple weeks, I’d tell myself. I’d go weeks without doing anything, then I’d start back up and I’d get afraid of who I’d become when it got dark — when my mind needed peace. It was a slow process. It was insidious. But at some point I crossed this invisible line where I couldn’t find the off switch anymore. I couldn’t curb the feeling of wanting to be high."

The scariest part of that story by far is that Wilson admits he has no memory of writing in his journal whatsoever, and unsurprisingly it now pains him to think of the state of mind he must have been in that moment.

Wilson isn't writing his story today in search of pity for himself or for any other addict, but rather because he wants to shine a light on an ever growing problem in our society and in our sport. Wilson knows full well that there may be players going through a similar situation right now, and there may very well be players who will go through it again in the future. He is speaking out today in the hope that those players won't be ostracized by their communities and will have an easier time having these hard conversations in the future.

It's an incredibly brave gesture on the part of Wilson, who no longer plays in the NHL and who by no means was obligated to put himself out there like this, one that I'm sure his friend Jimmy Hayes would be very proud of.