Former NHLer Dustin Penner uses Jimmy Hayes' death to push conspiratorial agenda
The passing of former NHLer Jimmy Hayes and the young age of 31 has dominated hockey headlines this week. Hayes went from playing in the AHL/NHL in 2019 to passing away this week. Police and his family have not said how he died, although authorities have indicated there were no suspicious circumstances involved and that his death was "sudden." While tributes have poured in for Hayes from all over the hockey and sports world, one former NHLer has decided to use the unfortunate timing of the death to push a theory that has not been proven, nor does anyone know if it even applies in this specific case.
Dustin Penner - who went from being a highly sought after talent in the NHL, to retired, to conspiracy theorist in the span of about a decade - Tweeted a short video on Hayes' death recently. It provided the straight facts, his age, occupation and that there's no cause of death. The video was Tweeted without comment. Penner, who has gone into these types of muddy waters before, responded to his own Tweet with the phrase "rest in peace", and four photos containing headlines with snippets of stories. The first was a headline marking Hayes' passing. The second, a headline saying "13-year-old dies in sleep after receiving Pfizer COVID vaccine; CDC investigating." The third was from a story last week regarding the NHL and its new policy that any league staff who have contact with anyone involved in Hockey Operations with any team, that includes being in contact with players, must be or get fully vaccinated. That was followed by the fourth, which was essentially the same story as the second photo, but from a different source.
Why Penner would choose to send this out, and leave it there despite multiple requests to delete it, is a mystery. Regardless of one's beliefs on vaccines, there's been no word on why or how Hayes died or whether he was even vaccinated. The NHL has not yet said whether it will require players to be fully vaccinated for the upcoming season. However, even if the league had taken that stance, Hayes hadn't played in the NHL for two years. Besides all that, even if we knew Hayes had one or both doses of vaccine, there still wouldn't be anything from anyone in any type of position to do so that has tied being vaccinated to his death. For Penner to do that in this incident is classless, tasteless, and disgusting. It's void of any kind of respect for Hayes, his wife and children, and the rest of his family and friends. Just because you have the freedom to make baseless implications doesn't mean you should.
Penner has gotten farther out in left field with his views and opinions as the years have gone by. He's made things very clear on where he stands by using his social media accounts to spout all sorts of dubious claims. A quick look through his Twitter timeline will give you a good idea. He is very active. Most things are easy to ignore. However, this feels like a line has been crossed. Penner would be wise to delete this and apologize to Hayes' family and friends.
|
YESTERDAY
JUNE 4, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brett Howden | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mark Jankowski | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||