SvoNotes: Johnny Father settling into new role away from the ice

SvoNotes is a weekly column by BlueJackets.com reporter Jeff Svoboda.
Johnny Gaudreau has been called a lot of things in his life.
His family just calls him John, but he's known as Johnny Hockey to a large portion of the sporting world.
But now, there's a new title for Gaudreau -- he's Noa's father.

Gaudreau's wife Meredith gave birth to their first child, a daughter, in early October, right as the new Blue Jackets star was beginning to settle in in Columbus. Since then, there's been the inevitable transition into fatherhood, with all its joys and pitfalls (for example, yes, Johnny Hockey is changing diapers).
But with the holidays approaching, there are no complaints from Gaudreau, who has a constant stream of family heading to Ohio from South Jersey, recently got to introduce Noa to a few his former Calgary teammates, and even took her on the ice Saturday for a skate at the organization's annual Christmas party.
"It's really good," he said of his initial thoughts on fatherhood. "It's a lot of fun so far. You know, it's fun coming home from the rink and being able to spend time with her. Obviously we haven't been on the road too much. Going on the road here, I'm going to miss her, but it makes it better coming home."
Things might be a little different in the second half of the season -- last night's game in Florida was just the eighth true road game of the season for the Jackets two months into the campaign -- and other than the team's trip to Finland for a week, the Blue Jackets have largely been in Columbus for the opening months of the season.
That's meant Gaudreau has had plenty of time with Noa, and Johnny agrees that fatherhood has changed him for the better. That's not a huge surprise considering how much family means in the Gaudreau household. It's one of the reasons he chose Columbus, as he and Meredith saw a great place to raise a family, plus one that is a lot closer to their roots in South Jersey.
So far, that's exactly how things have played out.
"Honestly it's kind of like an open door to our house," he said. "I never know who is walking in, who is walking out. My dad just gets in the car and starts driving up and the next thing you know he's an hour away from Columbus. It's been awesome. It's something that I envisioned before I signed here is getting the opportunities a lot more and seeing my wife's family a lot more. And it's been great."
It was a hectic early first few weeks in Columbus for Gaudreau, who came to Columbus to move into their home in mid-September. Training camp began shortly thereafter, and Noa was born during the preseason.
It hasn't seemed to matter on the ice -- Gaudreau's 31 points lead the Jackets so far, and he has 22 points in the last 16 games -- but the transition period to a new city appears to be just about over.
"It's been getting easier and easier," Gaudreau said. "Those first few months were pretty hectic before she was born. But we finally got settled in the house. There was a lot of help, from whether it was guys' wives on the team, my parents, her parents, my sisters, her sisters, my brother. Just so many people came out to help those first few weeks, whether it was just helping with the baby or things around the house. It made the transition a lot easier."
Gaudreau said he's doing fine when it comes to sleep, and it helps that Meredith, a former NICU nurse, has been a "rock star" to this point. While the Blue Jackets are still looking to hit their groove on the ice, Gaudreau said everything has come together away from it.
"It's exactly what I expected, exactly what I had hoped," he said of Columbus. "It reminds me of our hometowns back at home. A little neighborhood, 15-20 minutes from the city. I lived in a little neighborhood, she lived in a little neighborhood. We grew up like that.
"It's awesome. It brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. I have a big backyard for the dog and everything, so it's been awesome."

KJ Making Moves

Does Kent Johnson have eyes in the back of his head, or does it just seem that way?
It seemed like a fair question after Sunday night's game vs. Los Angeles in which his sublime, no-look pass led to Kirill Marchenko's first career NHL goal.
Marchenko was quick to give credit to Johnson for the pass that led to his open-net tally, and even the Russian forward admitted he wasn't even sure if Johnson knew he was there for the easy finish.

"Maybe yes, maybe not," Marchenko said after the game.
So, which was it? I decided to ask Johnson, and it turns out it was a … look pass?
"I saw him, or at least his stick," Johnson said of his backhanded dish to Marchenko for the slam dunk. "I think when I made the pass, I saw his blade out of the corner of my eye, so it wasn't like just guessing completely."
As it turns out, there's a lot that goes into some of the dazzling passes Johnson makes that no one sees coming. Johnson does see them, even if he doesn't see all of them, so to speak.
First of all, it starts with a knowledge of where everyone is on the ice, which Johnson accomplishes by scans of the ice when he doesn't have the puck, or early in the process of his puck possession. From there, he's played enough hockey to understand how players on the ice are generally supposed to move, so he can do the math on where a player was when he scanned and where he should be now for the pass even if he hasn't actually seen him for a second or two.
"Some of them are actually no-look, and more like, 'I saw them two seconds ago and I think they're going to that spot,'" Johnson said. "I do make some I'd say that are completely no-look. But that one, I saw (Marchenko) at the end there."
Later in the game, Johnson made a similarly impressive feed to Tim Berni, as the CBJ forward was pinned along the wall by a Kings defender but somehow slipped a pass through the defender to the onrushing Berni. The pass was just a smidge behind Berni so what could have been a scoring chance went for naught, but Johnson said that was an example of a play where he went a little more with trust.
"That one would be more of a no-look," Johnson said. "I saw him a second or two before I passed it. Honestly, I didn't put it on his tape, but I'm happy to get it in an area for him."
High-level skill has always been part of Johnson's game, which is why he was chosen fifth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2020 draft. He's one of the top-scoring rookies in the league this year, and he's figuring out when and how to best use his gifts at the highest level, acknowledging you can't just be giving the puck away with speculative passes.
That's why it comes back to the basics like getting his scans in and knowing the game.
"It's just being aware all the time of where everyone is and try to scan the whole rink the whole game," he said. "It's something I work on in practice, too."

Berni Settles In

Unless you're a dedicated follower of Blue Jackets prospects, you might not have known too much about Tim Berni when he was recalled to the squad to make his NHL debut last week in Pittsburgh.
A sixth-round pick of the Jackets in the 2018 draft, Berni has a solid pedigree. He was a multiple time member of Switzerland's World Juniors squad, played professionally for his home country for four years then came over to North America a year ago to play for AHL Cleveland.
Still, sixth-round defensemen who play a solid rather than a flashy game don't engender a ton of hype, but Berni has been nothing but solid since arriving with the Blue Jackets.
"He looks confident, he looks poised," head coach Brad Larsen said. "When you go over the tape and watch him, there's subtle plays when the pressure is coming. He doesn't just throw it. He's willing to take the hit, he spins off checks, he's real competitive. When we talked to (head coach Trent Vogelhuber) in Cleveland, he was spot on with how he's been playing there, and it's translated real well here."
Poise seems to be the name of the game for Berni, who is yet to get on the score sheet with the Blue Jackets. He's never been a high point scorer, notching just 26 in 146 games in Switzerland's top level and posting three goals and 15 points with Cleveland a season ago.
That kind of game also might make it harder for a young player to catch an eye, but Berni came into this season knowing if he just stuck with it, he might get a chance. It has taken a long run of injuries at the NHL level, but Berni has shown that he was ready when the opportunity arose.
"I think obviously there's small things I have to improve -- winning battles, being strong on pucks sometimes -- but overall I'm happy with my game," he said. "I try to trust my abilities. The boys make it easy on me, too."
Berni also had quite the opportunity to debut last Tuesday in Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old was slotted in the Columbus starting lineup, which meant he'd be lining up against Sidney Crosby for the first shift of his NHL career.
"Probably before the game, it was a welcome to the NHL moment," he said. "Being in the opening faceoff against Crosby, being in the starting six in that game, that was pretty cool. Once the puck drops and you play your first pass, it's just hockey from then on. But that was a fun debut."