The Blue Jackets will never forget Johnny Gaudreau, and as they get ready to take the ice for training camp just weeks after the superstar’s passing, one of the ways they believe they can honor his memory best is through following in his footsteps.
Life certainly hasn’t been easy for the organization and team in the days since Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, were struck and killed riding their bicycles Aug. 29 in their native New Jersey. There have been tearful memorials, candlelight vigils, and plenty of difficult conversations between grieving teammates.
Now, the Blue Jackets must begin to factor hockey into the journey when they hit the ice for the first time tomorrow morning. When it comes to making that transition, the Blue Jackets said at Wednesday’s media day press conference that they can draw inspiration from the way Johnny Gaudreau lived his life.
“One of the questions we’ve asked ourselves is, what would John want us to do in certain situations,” alternate captain Zach Werenski said. “He’d want us to enjoy coming to the rink and enjoy being around our teammates and being together and enjoy this time.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of tough days that have happened, but we’re trying to take some positives out of it. How did John come to the rink? That was with joy and excitement. We’re trying to take how he lived and approach the game and use it in our locker room today as a group.”
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Indeed, the entire team is back in Columbus, and the normal unrolling of camp began in earnest today. There were medical tests in the morning, on-ice promotional videos to record, and the anticipation of a new season hangs in the air.
And perhaps most importantly, after all that has happened in the past few weeks, the team is fully together in one place. The Blue Jackets players made an effort to get back to Columbus to be with one another in the days after the passing of the Gaudreaus, and now that camp is starting, the necessity of flipping the page into hockey mode is at least made easier by being with one another.
“These past few weeks, I’m not going to lie, hockey is not really on your mind during a lot of that,” captain Boone Jenner said. “But being here all together, coming in on day one of camp, we’re excited to get things rolling here. What happened with John and Matt, it’s not something that’s going to go away or we’re magically going to stop thinking about it. It’s going to be with us.
“It’s just realizing that new reality for us as a group, as a team. It’s not like we’re trying to park it and, ‘OK, now it’s the season.’ Those emotions are going to be there for a long, long time. It is what it is where that’s the new reality for our team, for us with missing John. Just realizing that and helping one another out when there’s bad days or moments; there’s going to be a lot of them.
“We’re in it together and we’re here to help one another. With that said, we’re excited to get on the ice for good now that camp is open tomorrow.”
The Blue Jackets on Wednesday announced preliminary plans on honoring the Gaudreau brothers throughout preseason and into the regular season, including the wearing of helmet stickers and jersey patches in their honor as well as using the Oct. 15 home opener to celebrate their memory.
Inside the locker room, president of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell said the Blue Jackets have left Gaudreau’s stall in the locker room and will hang his jersey before and during every game, home and away.
“Johnny will be with us all year long,” Waddell said.
Even before the tragedy involving the Gaudreaus unfolded, the Blue Jackets were coming to camp amid a feeling of uncertainty, or at least transition, given the major changes in the team’s front office. Waddell is taking over for longtime general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, while head coach Dean Evason will be in his first season behind the bench after five seasons in Minnesota.
The 10th full-time coach in team history is excited to get going, telling media members he is bringing a clean slate to be able to evaluate his players with his own eyes when skating begins Thursday. Bolstered by a strong group of veterans and a growing cadre of young players, Evason will try to pilot the team out of last place in the Eastern Conference and snap a four-year playoff drought.
One area where he’s already impressed, though, is in the vibe he gets from the team’s locker room.
“For me, walking into that dressing room, it seems like it has an incredible atmosphere in there,” Evason said. “They're tight. They’re together. Obviously we haven't been in practice, but I've walked around the room and talked to everybody, and I’ve had several individual meetings with players, and there’s a closeness.
“Do we have to change (the culture)? No. Do we have to enhance it? Sure. I try to do that with any team that I’ve been involved with. ... But as far as changing something that has to be turned right around, I don’t think that has to happen here.”
The Blue Jackets will stage practices each of the next four days – including Sunday’s open scrimmage at the OhioHealth Ice Haus – before beginning exhibition games Monday at Buffalo. The first home exhibition contest will be next Wednesday vs. St. Louis, and the Blue Jackets will play eight preseason games through Oct. 4 to get ready for the NHL’s roster deadline day of Oct. 7.
“I always say, we don’t pick the team,” Waddell said. “The players pick the team with how they perform. Obviously, we know there’s a group of guys that are going to be here for sure, but we have some opportunities right now that are available. We’re here to win hockey games. I don’t care if a guy makes a dollar or $10 million dollars. We’re here to win hockey games and we’re going to keep the best players possible.”
Media Day Notes
- Waddell said the team got good news earlier this week when forward Justin Danforth was 100 cleared to return to stickhandling after offseason wrist surgery. He won’t be full-go at the start of camp but will work his way back into the mix.
- Also on the injury front, 2024 first-round pick Cayden Lindstrom and 2022 third-round choice Jordan Dumais will begin camp with an injury designation and not be full-go for drills.
- After the signing Sunday of forward James van Riemsdyk, Waddell noted he’ll continue to monitor the markets available to see if the Blue Jackets can add any more veterans that are the right fit, but that he was also happy with the group he has on hand. Evason’s (joking) request for Waddell on that front? “I asked Don for a 60-goal scorer and a 100-point guy.”
