It’s a real blow to the gut. Learning when you wake up in the morning that Johnny Gaudreau died with his brother Matthew in a bicycle accident is simply incomprehensible. And this incomprehension and shock is felt by everyone in the NHL, without exception.
Johnny Gaudreau was unique on and off the ice. We all know his talent. He had dream hands and peripheral vision worthy of the great players in NHL history. But what I remember most about him is his simplicity.
What people didn’t know was the kind of person he was off the ice. When you saw him at NHL events or at a game he was playing in that night, the last thing he wanted to project was that he was different from the person in front of him. Despite the fame and the millions, he was still the same person, very humble in the way he answered questions, the way he carried himself and the way he dressed. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone. The only place he was completely different was on the ice. That’s where he wanted to be electrifying, where he wanted to be recognized as one of the best players of his generation.
A FAMILY MAN
I also remember watching Johnny Gaudreau consumed by the possibility of leaving the Flames, as he wanted to be closer to his family in New Jersey. His father Guy had a heart attack in 2018 and that incident was a major milestone. It was clear that when Johnny became an unrestricted free agent in 2022, he was going to leave Calgary.
Johnny’s father, Guy Gaudreau, had a significant influence on his son. Guy was born in Vermont, near the Quebec border, in Memphremagog in the Eastern Townships. Hockey was the family’s passion (Guy played college hockey in Norwich), and he did everything he could to help his sons succeed in the sport. However, despite their success, the Gaudreau family wanted their children to keep both feet on the ground.
I remember in February 2016, then-Flames head coach Bob Hartley sidelined Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan for a game after they showed up late to practice the night before. During a trip organized by the Flames with the players’ fathers a few days later, Guy Gaudreau told members of the media who questioned him that he was disappointed in his son’s attitude and that he completely understood Bob Hartley’s decision, while noting that he had had a long discussion with Johnny.
Needless to say, this is the last time the fourth pick in the 2011 draft will behave this way.
But to prove to you how good a person Johnny Gaudreau was, the last thing he would have wanted to do is blame his coach. As proof, Bob Hartley organizes a hockey camp every summer in York, Pennsylvania, where he invites the players he had under his command. Johnny Gaudreau went there three times to meet the youngsters who dreamed of one day reaching the NHL.
