“Bear Man” Hayden Grapples With Viral Video Fame 

Kraken forward John Hayden has taken on some of the toughest customers NHL opponents send his way.

But one potential foe this past summer made Hayden freeze up: A 600-pound grizzly bear charging at him and team mascot Buoy as he fly-fished while on a Kraken outreach trip in the Alaskan wilderness. The July moment barely lasted a second or two in Katmai National Park, but was enough for Hayden to realize his limits in a frightening way.

“The worst case went through my mind,” he said.

Fortunately, the bear reversed course just as suddenly as it charged. But during one of the more bizarre ensuing summers of his lifetime, his moment of powerlessness was immortalized online in a viral video unlike any other in Kraken history.

And Hayden was left answering endless bear questions, including deep into Kraken training camp, where he was still vying for a fourth-line job the final week before Thursday night’s season opener.

Still, Hayden insists he’d return to Alaska in a heartbeat. He cherished his time there, especially the work he and his sister, Catherine, two years younger, got to do on ice with local youth hockey players.

“It reminded me of the time my sister and I were growing up back in Colorado and we got to go to all of these University of Denver hockey camps and lacrosse camps,” Hayden said. “We’d be around college athletes, pro athletes. So, now it’s us out on the ice together with the kids.”

Doing such work and fulfilling a Make-A-Wish Foundation request with 3-year-old Anchorage resident Caleb Seidl, who is battling leukemia, was the reason Hayden committed to the annual Kraken Hockey Week trip in the first place. He’d even go fishing again in the same river where he and Buoy first caught the bear’s attention.

“They’re coming out of hibernation looking for salmon, so it’s up to us to be respectful,” Hayden said. “It’s like being in their kitchen.”

A kitchen where the bear seemed to be contemplating Hayden or Buoy for a snack.

Millions worldwide have since seen video of the pair scrambling back inside their boat.

“The part they don’t show in the video is the guide, who was really poised,” Hayden said. “He told it, ‘Bear, go away!’ and the bear stood down immediately. But again, the two seconds of that little run–whatever that was–was frightening. It was frightening for me.”

To that point, he’d been more fearful for his sister, who had a September wedding upcoming. She’d been with other Kraken staffers on a nearby riverbank, watching Hayden fishing with Buoy, when a different bear initially appeared and wandered near their group.

They’d begun quietly retreating towards the woods when another bear emerged and focused on Buoy and Hayden, who had a salmon caught on his line that was splashing in the water.

“We were OK and felt safe the whole time,” Hayden’s sister said. “The charging part -- where the bear charged at John and Buoy -- that was like ‘Oh my gosh, are we going to die? Is this real? What’s happening?’”

Fortunately, the bear didn’t take things further. Hayden even kept the fish on his line and hauled it in for a summer record sockeye catch for the area -- beating out a salmon his sister had previously caught.

The siblings quickly put the encounter past them and focused on the rest of the trip.

“I don’t know the last time we got to spend one-on-one time like that together,” his sister said. “So, it was really fun. We loved it.”

But then, the video went out soon after. Phone calls suddenly came in from all over, including nationwide media. Even friends Hayden’s sister had made overseas while attending high school in England began texting to say a photo of a guy looking a lot like her brother had made the Daily Mail newspaper in London.

“John is quite private and not really into social media much,” she said. “I’d describe him as the perfect middle child. My oldest brother, Will and I, we’re very outspoken and opinionated in our family’s house, and John is just steady, even-keeled, and even-tempered.”

In other words, not exactly a budding YouTube star.

“We call him ‘Bear Man’ now,” she said.

Hayden now chuckles about it as he pursues his latest training camp shot at extending an NHL dream.

Even if he doesn’t make it to opening night, Hayden’s depth could be called upon throughout an NHL season where the schedule has been condensed into fewer months due to the Winter Olympic Games in February.

He’s been a leader and steadying presence for AHL Coachella Valley, with the Kraken becoming his longest tenured organization now entering a fourth season. Part of Hayden’s measured, steadying persona is also why he is among the least likely to have an online viral moment.

His entire professional career, spanning nine years and 451 games – 269 in the NHL with five teams – has seen the onetime Yale University captain avoid running his mouth while letting his fists do any on-ice talking needed.

But now, thanks to the bear video’s global reach, Hayden is arguably the most recognized Kraken player on the planet.

“I mean, it really blew up right when that video was posted,” Hayden said. “I got a lot of texts. People were asking me whether it was AI. I still get asked if it was AI.”

Not more than two minutes after Hayden made those comments, Kraken prospect Berkly Catton, overhearing him recap the bear story, quipped from across the locker room: “Oh man, when I saw that video, I thought it was fake!”

Hayden shook his head and cocked a thumb Catton’s way.

“You see, I told you,” he said. “It’s been that way all summer.”

Hayden trains in the offseason with a group of pro athletes near his Greenwich, Conn. home, including Denver Broncos defensive end Zach Allen.

“Some of the guys we train with were giving me a hard time about it,” Hayden said of the video. “They were telling me ‘He’s in the news for signing a $100 million deal and you’re in the news for getting chased by a bear.’”

There were also jokes about Buoy getting most of the media attention and of Hayden being reduced to a supporting actor afterthought. After all, the sight of a team mascot wandering the wilderness is quite unusual, and even Hayden concedes some likelihood that the bear’s reaction was perhaps caused by seeing a fictional sea troll for the first time.

“I’m sure the bear was very interested in whatever was going on there,” Hayden said.

Hayden clearly would prefer to be remembered for his hockey rather than as “Bear Man” video entertainment. But he’s come to appreciate his spotlight moment.

“I love it,” he said. “I kind of like to stay off the grid a little bit. But it’s all good. Mostly because it ended well.”