Zizing 'Em Up: Gaudreau braces for 1st visit to Flames with Blue Jackets

NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger has been covering the NHL regularly since 1999. Each Sunday during the season, he will use his extensive network of hockey contacts to write his weekly notes column, "Zizing 'Em Up."

TORONTO -- Johnny Gaudreau said he expects to hear some jeers Jan. 23 when he plays at the Calgary Flames for the first time since leaving them to join the Columbus Blue Jackets in the offseason.
More importantly, he understands why.
"I won't take it personally. The Calgary Flames have a great passionate fan base, a great organization," the forward told NHL.com on Friday. "And I get it. Like any sports team, you don't want to see players leave.
"I'm a big Philadelphia Eagles fan. And if Jalen Hurts were to leave, I'd probably boo him too. I get it. Fans are passionate. It's nothing personal. It's part of sports.
"If I get cheers, that'll be awesome. And if I get booed -- and I'm sure I will -- that's OK too. It shows how supportive they are to their team. It's a great hockey city and I wouldn't expect anything else."
Selected by the Flames in the fourth round (No. 104) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Gaudreau had 609 points (210 goals, 399 assists) in 602 regular-season games, and 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 42 playoff games for them. On July 12, Flames general manager Brad Treliving announced Gaudreau would test free agency rather than re-sign with Calgary, which came to pass when the 29-year-old signed a seven-year, $68.25 million contract ($9.75 million average annual value) with Columbus the following day.
Gaudreau has maintained all along it was a difficult decision to leave, one he mulled over right up until the end. He said he wanted to be closer to his family in New Jersey, but some disbelieving fans felt he should have signed with the New Jersey Devils, who also had interest in him, if that was the case.
He faced his former team in Columbus on Dec. 9 and was held without a point in a 3-1 Blue Jackets victory.
This time it will be different. This time, eight days from now, he returns to the city he called his hockey home from 2014-22.
"It'll be tough on one hand," he said. "I mean, there are a lot of friends and neighbors I had away from the rink that you miss, so it'll be nice to get the chance to play in front of them.
"It was a special place and I'll keep saying it was a hard decision, even if some people don't believe me. I'll say this: It's going to be fun to play against some of my old teammates and have some old friends there to watch. It's going to be a cool experience, a fun experience, and I'm looking forward to it."
Though the injury-plagued Blue Jackets (13-27-2) are tied with the Anaheim Ducks for the second-fewest points (28) in the NHL entering Sunday, Gaudreau certainly has come as advertised. Through 42 games, he has a team-high 41 points (12 goals, 29 assists) and will represent the Blue Jackets at the 2023 Honda All-Star Weekend at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida, on Feb. 3-4.
It's off the ice where his life has changed the most over the past six months. Not only have he and wife Meredith embraced the community, they welcomed their first child, a girl named Noa, in October.
"Being a dad is amazing," he said. "When you leave the rink, you can't wait to get home to see her. She's at the age now where she has new and different movements and expressions every day. It's awesome.
"The city has been so great to us too. The entire experience has been so amazing on so many levels. We've been embraced and welcomed so much, whether at the rink or in the community. And we've had a revolving door at our home. There are always family, friends, neighbors coming in and out. The logistics of family coming to visit, it's just so much easier here.
"From a hockey standpoint it's been tough. You don't want to make excuses but from an injury standpoint, we've had more than our share. But the fans keep coming and it's been amazing. And for someone like me who's here for the long term, it's great to see some of the kids come up who wouldn't normally be here if not for all the injuries, and see just how promising the future is."
And while he ponders the new life he's embarked on in Columbus, his return to Calgary will spark memories of the past.
"Like I keep saying, it was tough to leave," he said. "But people shouldn't mistake that for me not embracing my time in Calgary.
"People there were great to me and I haven't forgotten."

#

THE WRIGHT STUFF

Shane Wright could not wipe the smile off his face.
After all the unwarranted speculation suggesting he'd be upset when the Seattle Kraken sent him back to the Ontario Hockey League last week, here he was Thursday morning, grinning ear to ear while standing beside former NHL player Marc Savard, his coach with the Windsor, as he prepared to make his Spitfires debut that night.
"[Savard] definitely was one of the reasons I chose to come here," Wright told NHL.com.
Plenty of teams were interested when Kingston, the only OHL team Wright had ever played for, dating to 2019, put him on the trading block. The center had a no-trade clause and selected Windsor, which acquired him from Kingston in a trade Monday with a conditional 14th-round pick in the 2025 OHL draft for a lucrative package of two players and seven draft picks.
Savard had 706 points (207 goals, 499 assists) in 807 NHL games with the New York Rangers, Flames, Atlanta Thrashers and Boston Bruins from 1997-2011, and was a member of the Bruins' 2011 Stanley Cup championship team in the final season of a career cut short by concussion issues. He was hired as coach of Windsor in 2021 and guided his team to the OHL Championship Series last season, when it lost to Hamilton in seven games.
When Wright looks at Savard, he sees a teacher who appreciated the creative aspects of the game as a player and continues that line of thinking as a coach.
How exactly does Savard plan on helping Wright's development?
"Well, one of the things I told him was it's OK if he cheats a bit out there," Savard said. "And no, I'm not talking about school."
Savard is referring to Wright's offensive game. According to Savard, most young forwards need to work on the defensive side of the game. Goal-scoring, after all, is a heck of a lot more fun than backchecking.
Wright is an exception, a player who is known for being responsible in his own end and playing a 200-foot game. As such, Savard is encouraging him to take risks offensively and step on the gas pedal when opportunities present themselves.
"The biggest thing is, I wanted our guys to have fun first and foremost when they come to the rink," Savard said. "We're here to have fun and I want Shane to be happy and have fun. And I also told Shane I want him when he gets over the red line to go on the offense. I'm not going to make him have any panic in his game at all. I want him to make plays. I want him to find that offensive player he's had within himself for years. That's what he does best. Because when all is said and done, and when Shane is done being a Windsor Spitfire, I want him to go to the NHL and be creative and put up big numbers at that level too.
"We're leading the league in goals, and one of the reasons for that is that I let my players play. Yeah, I want them to be responsible defensively, but I also want them to push the envelope offensively. If they screw up, they screw up. It happens in this sport. They know it when it happens. You don't need to skate over to the bench when something like that happens and have the coach start screaming at you.
"I was with the Bruins when Phil Kessel and Tyler Seguin came into the League as high draft picks. They were skilled forwards, but it was their defensive games that were the concern. That's not the case with Shane. He's already responsible defensively."
For Wright, embracing Savard's philosophy is easy. So is the fact that he actually has stability in a six-month span that has featured very little of it.
Wright was projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft but was passed over by the Montreal Canadiens (forward Juraj Slafkovsky), New Jersey Devils (defenseman Simon Nemec) and Arizona Coyotes (forward Logan Cooley), which left him available for the Kraken at No. 4.
The center had one assist in Seattle's first seven games this season and was a regular healthy scratch before being sent on a conditioning stint Nov. 20 to Coachella Valley of the American Hockey League, where he scored four goals in five games. He returned to the Kraken and scored his first NHL goal Dec. 6 against the Canadiens.
Seattle then loaned him to Canada for the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship. He was named captain and had seven points (four goals, three assists) in seven games to help his country win the gold medal.
On Jan. 6, one day after celebrating his 19th birthday by scoring in Canada's 3-2 overtime win against Czechia in the title game, he was reassigned to Kingston. Three days later, he was traded to Windsor.
On Thursday, standing in front of a wall at WFCU Centre in Windsor that lists the members of the Spitfires' Memorial Cup-winning teams of 2009, 2010 and 2017, Wright said he was looking forward to the months ahead.
"It's nice to know I'm going to be in one place for a while," he said. "This is this is where I am going to be for the rest of the year. This is my team. This is the city I'm going to be living in. This is the situation you're going to be in for the rest of the year and I want to make sure I enjoy every second of this.
"This is obviously a great opportunity. You come to a really talented team with a really good coaching staff who really develops NHL players, and it's just really exciting for me being here.
"I just want to help them to win a championship. That's the ultimate goal."
Hours later, Wright had a goal and an assist in a 7-4 victory against Saginaw.
A great start to the next chapter of his career.

#

QUOTE/UNQUOTE: PART 1

"I don't pay a lot of attention to that type of stuff, but my buddies and family are quick to let me know when my name is in trade rumors like they have been. The bottom line is: The better we play and the more in contention we are, the less possibility of that happening it would seem to be." -- Nashville Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm on various reports that he might be traded

#

QUOTE/UNQUOTE: PART 2

"As long as I don't miss the team bus, why wouldn't I talk?" -- Predators goalie Juuse Saros, with a chuckle, about speaking to the media during morning skates on days he is starting, something that is done by very few NHL goalies

#

THE SUNDAY LIST

Intriguing questions that come up as we look to the second half of the season.
1. Can Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid continue on a pace that would see him have the best offensive season in the NHL in almost three decades?
Let's hope so. McDavid, who turned 26 on Friday, has 37 goals in 45 games and was on pace to score 67 this season, shattering his NHL career high of 44, set last season in 80 games. It would also be the highest goal total in an NHL season since Mario Lemieux scored 69 in 70 games for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1995-96. Who doesn't want to see that from the world's best player?
2. Can the Bruins keep this up?
For those of us who thought the Bruins (33-5-4) would take a step back this season, we no longer doubt anything that this team can accomplish. Their 3-0 loss to the Kraken on Thursday was their first regulation loss in 23 home games this season. They bounced back with a thrilling 4-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at home Saturday.
3. Are the Kraken for real?
The second-year expansion team (26-12-4) has eight straight wins, a franchise record. They just swept a seven-game road trip against the Oilers, Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks, with the Kraken outscoring the opposition 37-15 in that span. Consider us convinced.