Yeah Hayden Pike is sometimes a bad friend but so is Shane Hollander. Neither of them are winning friend of the year awards (headcanon whatever you want but Shane is canonically a bit of an asshole ESPECIALLY to his friends #justiceforRose). Crucially I don't think this necessarily means they are bad for each other. Neither Hayden nor Shane actually WANT a close best friend, they just want someone consistent and predictable whose company they don't outright despise, and they fill that space for each other. It's why there's so much friction when Shane starts acting 'out of the ordinary' because he is acting outside their unspoken agreement of appropriate Best Friend Behaviour. Keep in mind that Shane is incredibly self centered and Hayden is the series everyman hockey player who provides contrast to the 'heroes' (HEAVY on the quotes there, none of the MCs from game changers are actually the heroes of the series except maybe Harrris). Yeah Hayden has the slightest bit of character development and 'grows' over the series but even before this happens and they're at their lowest his and Shane's friendship is still as solid as its ever been because they're not actually that close and neither of them want to be. You can't really fix a friendship that's too surface level to break, especially when neither party is all that invested in the first place. Shane and Hayden are #terriblebesties in that they're awful to each other but neither of them actually care because they're not actually besties and they don't want to be. The reason that friendship works is because they're kind of not friends at all, but to them each other's company is better than anyone elses, because anyone else would expect things out of a friendship that neither of them are willing to provide. Neither of them want the work of a real friendship. Hayden just wants someone to talk with in the locker room who can babysit once in a blue moon, and Shane wants someone who can keep up with him on the ice and won't ask questions about his personal life. Neither of them are actually interested in the other and they're not supposed to need emotional support: that's not what this is. The fact this notfriendship has both of them labelling the other their 'best friend' just shows how terrible these guys are at making friends and how little they actually want them. But again, I don't think they're bad for each other. How could they be? They're on the same page and they're both getting (for the most part) what they want out of this dynamic: company without investment, companionship without demands. No one else deserves to be subjected to the notfriendship of two guys who don't want friends, but crucially don't KNOW that they don't want friends. In my opinion, they suit each other perfectly.
In other words, Shane and Hayden are a match made in hell by the devil himself, but their dynamic is still the healthiest outcome for both of them (and everyone around them). They're the friendship equivalent of the worst people you know taking each other off the dating market. At least with ShaneHayden friendship no one else is getting hurt, and they don't know/care about each other well enough to truly wound each other either.
