Rumor: Kevin Hayes will make his NHL season debut.

The highly anticipated season debut of Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes has arrived, or at least so it would seem.

We now know that the Flyers have activated Hayes off of long term injured reserve and, according to a report from Spittin Chiclets, Kevin is expected to make his regular season debut this evening when the Flyers face the Dallas Stars. 

Prior to the start of the season the Flyers announced that Kevin would miss significant time due to abdominal surgery, and a return today would put him right within the 6 to 8 week time frame that was originally reported for his recovery. In total Kevin will have missed 12 regular season games for the Flyers, games that the Flyers have a 7 - 3 - 2 record in during his absence.

The big story surrounding Kevin's return however isn't even his return from a serious surgical procedure, but rather his return following the tragic passing of his brother Jimmy Hayes. Jimmy, a former NHL player in his own right, died suddenly this year during the month of August, news that shocked the hockey world given that he was a young professional athlete in excellent health. We would learn later, thanks to the amazing courage of the Hayes family in coming forward, that Jimmy had died of an overdose linked to fentanyl, a deadly drug that has claimed thousands of lives across the United States of American during a horrible opioid crisis.

While it might be difficult for Kevin to return under such circumstances, I know full well that he will receive the support of both his fans, Jimmy's fans, and the support of his team as well when he does inevitably come back. In fact if Kevin does indeed make his season debut tonight, as I suspect he will, I am confident that he will receive an outpouring of love from a number of fan bases around the league, not only that of the Flyers.

Kevin is coming off a decent season in which he had 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points, and tonight he gets the chance to showcase he hasn't lost a step coming off of that offseason surgery.

Update: Hayes himself has now commented on the weight of the moment, and I can't help but feel sad.

"This is the first game of my NHL career where I won't be able to text my brother after," said Hayes.