How he got here: The legend of Johnny Hockey was born through a high-scoring junior and collegiate career and continued when he seemingly needed little time to acclimate to the NHL while becoming a star in Calgary. Gaudreau has scored wherever he’s been, including 78 goals and 175 points in 119 games at Boston College while winning the 2014 Hobey Baker Award. He went straight to Calgary, where he was a six-time All-Star in nine seasons and posted 609 points in 602 games while twice finishing fourth in the Hart Trophy voting. He then stunned the NHL world when he signed a seven-year contract with the Blue Jackets during the summer of 2022.
The 2023-24 season: Gaudreau’s point total was his lowest since he had 58 in 70 games with Calgary in 2019-20, but the main culprit was a slow start. Gaudreau had just two goals and seven points in his first 19 games, but he was much closer to a point-per-game player the rest of the way, posting 10 tallies and 53 points in the last 62 contests. He acknowledged after the season his first offseason as a dad might have played a part, and you could also point to the team's flagging power play and instability in the team’s lines, as he played extensive time with three different centers and five different opposite wings on the campaign. He was still one of the game's best distributors, though, placing 11th in the NHL in first assists per 60 minutes (1.12) among players with at least 500 minutes played at 5-on-5.
Top moment: Gaudreau had the overtime winner in one of the most exciting and dramatic games of the season in Nationwide Arena. With a full holiday crowd on hand Dec. 29, the Blue Jackets and Toronto went toe to toe for 60 minutes, going to overtime in a 5-5 game. Gaudreau finished things off in the extra frame, taking Damon Severson’s pass, going around goalie Ilya Samsonov and tucking the puck into the net to send the home fans home happy.
