Medical examiner: Fentanyl contributed to former Bruins player Jimmy Hayes’s death

BOSTON — The wife of former Boston Bruins player Jimmy Hayes has revealed Hayes died with fentanyl and cocaine in his system, according to a report in The Boston Globe.

Kristen Hayes spoke with the Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy on Sunday about her husband’s death.

Jimmy Hayes, a Dorchester native, died on August 23. He was a popular former winger on the Bruins from 2015-207, and played previously for Boston College, winning an NCAA championship with the Eagles.

Kirsten told Shaughnessy, “I was completely shocked. I was so certain that it had nothing to do with drugs. I really thought it was a heart attack or anything that wasn’t that [drugs] . . . It didn’t make any sense, so it was hard. I was hoping to get a different phone call when they called. I was hoping to get some clarity and I was shocked to hear that it was that . . . He never showed any signs of a struggle at home.’’

The Globe reports Kirsten Hayes learned of the cause of her husband’s death Friday, when she got a toxicology report from the Massachusetts state medical examiner.

Later on Sunday. the Medical Examiner’s Office released a statement with a determination on the “cause and manner in the case of Mr. James Hayes.”

The cause was listed as “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl and cocaine.”

The manner of death was listed as “accidental.”

Jimmy Hayes’s father also spoke with the Globe. Kevin Hayes told Dan Shaughnessy that he’s well aware of what addiction can do, discussing his own problems with addiction.

“About maybe 16 or 17 months ago, I saw a little change in Jimmy’s behavior and I went to him and I said ‘I think there might be a problem here with pills. He had had an injury for a while and I think he started taking the painkillers and they get you,” said Kevin Hayes.

Kevin Hayes told Shaughnessy that his son “...called him about three weeks later and said, ‘Dad, I’m hooked on these pills. I got injured and I started taking them and I never got off.’ And I said, ‘well, let’s get you some help.’ He went to a place up in Haverhill. So he gets help and everything was on the path to recovery I thought. But this [expletive] is so powerful.’’

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