Joining Gaudreau in the ownership group were Luukko, Tampa Bay Lightning forward and Dubuque teammate Zemgus Girgensons and Seattle Kraken coach Dan Bylsma.
"Once he became an NHL star, he wanted to do something special and give back to create opportunities for the next generation of hockey players, and he did so by purchasing a stake in the Dubuque Fighting Saints," Luukko said. "Johnny and Matty were special guys who had a love for each other and a love for the game of hockey. As we honor their memory and their significant impact on the game, we will forever remember Johnny's contributions to the Fighting Saints, as no one will ever wear the No. 8 again as a Fighting Saint."
Luukko also had a personal connection to Dubuque and the Gaudreau family. His son, Nick Luukko, grew up playing with and against Johnny Gaudreau from the time they were 10 years old in the Philadelphia area, and they were teammates on that 2019-20 Dubuque team. Nick later went on to coach Matthew Gaudreau with Reading of the ECHL in 2019-20.
"He was baby faced and smaller than everybody else," Nick Luukko said of Johnny. "I think especially early on, people didn't really take him serious because of the way he looked. And then you get on the ice and he'd dangle everybody and score four or five points a game."
Nick said their teammates in Dubuque had a similar reaction when Johnny arrived for training camp in 2010.
"There's this kid there who's undersized, he's wearing a cage, his skates aren't tied all the way tight enough, he's got the floppy laces," Nick said. "I knew he was a good player, but other guys were like, 'Who is this guy?' And then he goes on the ice, dangles everyone and puts up a bunch of points, and then within the first month of the season, it's, 'Oh this kid can play.'"
Luukko said one memory that stands out came during the Clark Cup celebration on the ice.
"When we won the Clark Cup, it's a big trophy, and he went to raise it over his head, and he almost flew backwards and dropped the thing," Nick said. "The guys had had to hold him up."
Nick, now an assistant coach with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, said Matthew Gaudreau was similar to his brother.
"I didn't really know Matty that well before I was able to work with him and coach him in Reading, but very similar to Johnny," he said. "Just lit up the room. Buys loved being around him. Bit of a prankster as well. Kind of had that quiet personality, but guys flocked to him, and guys really respected him, and he was a hell of a player and carried us that year, put up a bunch of points in Reading [40 points in 38 games], and was a big part of our success."
The USHL also will introduce the Gaudreau Award, which will have each USHL team nominate a player that embodies the qualities of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau -- excellence in hockey, spirit of the game, and care and responsibility -- as decided by teammates, coaches and general managers.
"When we were assembling the team that first year, we looked for players with a high hockey IQ and compete-level who came from good families," said St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who was a first-season coach with Dubuque in 2010-11. "Johnny was the epitome of those qualities. He was a uniquely gifted player who came from an equally special family. It's only fitting that the Fighting Saints retire his number as no other player could be his equal."
