Gaudreaus in Blue Jackets’ thoughts ahead of season opener at Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The memory of Johnny Gaudreau will be prominent when the Columbus Blue Jackets take the ice against the Minnesota Wild for each team’s season opener Thursday (8 p.m. ET; BSWIX, BSN).

"I live for Johnny," Blue Jackets forward Sean Monahan said. "... It's a new season. He should be here. It's always going to be tough. He's my best friend. That's something we were really looking forward to and it's something that got taken away so it's a tough one to still navigate."

Johnny and his brother, Matthew, died Aug. 29 when they were struck by a suspected drunk driver who has been charged with two counts of death by auto, while riding bicycles near their home in Salem County, New Jersey. Johnny, who played 11 NHL seasons with the Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames, was 31. Matthew, who played professionally for five seasons in the American Hockey League, ECHL and in Sweden, was 29.

Monahan signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract ($5.5 million average annual value) with the Blue Jackets on July 1 in order to play with Johnny, after they had spent nine seasons together with the Flames. Now, he will be relied on to fill the scoring void left by his friend and teammate.

Opening night of the hockey season is filled with emotions, and Thursday one of them will be somberness while the NHL continues to mourn the loss of the Gaudreaus as players, and more importantly as people.

"It's a day-by-day process," Monahan said. "I mean, I don't really know how I handle it. You just do. I think it's something that I definitely think about all day."

Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said he had the opportunity to spend more than two hours with Johnny not long after he was hired July 22.

"When I first got the job, I talked to [general manager] Don Waddell and I said, 'I think it’s important that I meet with one player, and that's Johnny Gaudreau, that he sees me and we get our relationship started,'" Evason said. "Not that I didn't want to build a relationship with every other player, but I thought it was important that I meet Johnny. He said, 'Absolutely. Book a flight.'

"So I booked a flight to Philadelphia, called him, said, 'I'm going to have lunch.' He had just got off the ice with his dad, came over, we had lunch. ... We ended up spending two, two and a half hours together talking about the team. And that's one thing I've taken away. It was quite an honor to meet him and have that time personally, but at no point in our conversation, in the two and half hours, did he mention wanting to play with this guy, wanting the power play to be this. All he talked about was the team, how he felt that this team could win and have success and he wanted to be part of it, he's all-in, didn't care where he played or who he played with. He just wanted to play hockey and win in Columbus.

"It was a fantastic honor. It was such a treat that I had that opportunity."

Wild coach John Hynes coached Johnny several times for the United States at international events, most recently at the 2024 IIHF World Championship in Prague.

"Everything they said about him is true," Hynes said. "He's a great, great kid. Even the last World Championship, we wound up flying into Newark and we both had to go through security. We didn't have [Global Entry] so me, him and Meredith [Johnny's wife] are in line waiting to get back into the country for about an hour. A great kid. Meredith, beautiful girl, beautiful person.

"Just thankful that you have the opportunity to coach him and get to know him. But you also understand the tragedy of the situation and glad I had the opportunity for him to influence my life as well."

There will be a pregame honor for the Gaudreaus before the game at Xcel Energy Center with both teams present on the ice. It won't be the last time the Blue Jackets are involved in honoring the brothers.

"We've talked to our group constantly, and we will continue to talk because every team's going to do something special for Johnny and Matthew, and we're going to embrace it," Evason said. "It's not going to be a case where, 'Oh, we're doing another one.' Of course we are. We're honoring their lives and what they did, not only as hockey people but as human beings. And our guys have done a fantastic job of remembering Johnny and keeping him with us, his spirit and his love of the game.

"We are taking that with us into this first game and throughout the entire season, and obviously moving on."