Gaudreaus on the Blue Jackets' minds ahead of the season opener at the Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The memory of Johnny Gaudreau will be front and center when the Columbus Blue Jackets take on the Minnesota Wild in both teams' season openers on 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 will always be hard. He is my best friend. This is something we were really looking forward to and it's something that's been taken away from us, so it's still difficult to navigate.” “

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

Monahan signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract (average annual value of $5.5 million) with the Blue Jackets on July 1 to play with Johnny after spending nine seasons together with the Flames. He will now be relied upon to fill the points gap left by his friend and teammate.

The opening night of the hockey season is full of emotions, and Thursday will be one of them somber as the NHL continues to mourn the loss of the Gaudreaus as players and, more importantly, as people.

“It’s a daily process,” Monahan said. “I mean, I don't really know how to deal with it. You just do it. I think it’s something I definitely think about all day long.”

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

“When I first got the job, I talked to (general manager) Don Waddell and said, 'I think it's important that I meet with one player, and that's Johnny Gaudreau, that he sees me and “Let's start our relationship.'” Evason said. “Not that I didn't want to start 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 and said, 'I'm going to have lunch.' He had just gotten off the ice with his dad, we had lunch… We ended up talking about the team for two, two and a half hours. It was a great honor to meet him and have that time in person, but in the two and a half At no point in hours of our conversation did he mention that he wanted to play with this guy, that this was how the power play was supposed to be. Everything he talked about the team, how he felt like this team could win and have success and he wanted to be a part of it, he's all in, he didn't care where he played or who he played with , he just wanted to play hockey and win Columbus.

“It was a fantastic honor. It was a great pleasure to have this opportunity.”

Wild coach John Hynes coached Johnny several times for the USA in 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 at the last World Cup, we flew to Newark and both had to go through security. We didn't have (Global Entry), so it's me, him and Meredith (Johnny's wife).” I wait for about an hour to get back into the country. A great child, a beautiful girl.

“Just grateful for the opportunity to coach him and get to know him. But you also understand the tragedy of the situation and are glad that I had the opportunity for him to influence my life too.”

Before the game at the Xcel Energy Center, there will be a pregame tribute for the Gaudreaus with both teams present on the ice. It won't be the last time the Blue Jackets participate in honoring the brothers.

“We've been talking to our group constantly and we'll continue to talk because every team is 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 of, 'Oh, we'll do another one.'” Of course, we honor their lives and what they did, not just as hockey players, but as people. And our boys have done a great job of remembering Johnny and preserving him, his spirit and his love for our game.

“We’ll take that into this first game and the entire season and of course move on.”