Johnny Gaudreau was not your average athlete

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There was no denying the speed, the hands, the quick changes of direction. Johnny Gaudreau could not be missed on the hockey field, listed at 5-foot-9 but one of the most intimidating forces in the NHL.

When you’re on the open ice, anything can happen. Even worse for the detractors is what Gaudreau has redefined open it was, what could happen. He was at his best finding creases no one saw, taking the puck to places no one would imagine – before putting shots into the back of the net.

“Johnny Hockey” they called this dimwit from South Jersey, who played with joy built on chance.

ESPN’s John Buccigross aptly compared him to Allen Iverson, a man whose apparent weakness — his size — turned into an advantage: an impossibility, a glorious impossibility.

Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and his brother, Matthew, 29, an ECHL player, were killed Thursday night when an alleged drunken driver hit them while they were riding their bikes in Oldmans Township, New Jersey. They were in town for their sister Katie’s wedding. They were supposed to be caretakers.

Johnny Gaudreau is survived by his wife, Meredith, and his two young children, daughter Noa and son Johnny.

The tragedy – in its senselessness and pain – is almost too much to describe.

Their father, Guy, was a former player and long-time coach who

introduced his boys to the sport at an early age, focusing on the basics of balance and speed and swimming before anything else. Johnny was surprisingly quick – he consistently excelled in skill contests during his seven NHL All-Star games.

Gaudreau scored 243 regular season goals and recorded 500 assists across 11 NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets. He previously won the national championship and the Hobey Baker Award at Boston College.

Statistics don’t explain his impact on the league, or the thrills he gave fans when he pulled or otherwise slid into the building. He was whipping smartly on the ice. He was a one-of-a-kind, soul-crushing talent.

“Johnny played the game with great enthusiasm,” the Blue Jackets said in a statement. “[It] it was heard by all who saw him on the ice.”

That Gaudreau was once a Blue Jacket was a microcosm of his career — an unexpected, last-second sag that left the NHL stunned and against the grain of what almost every free sports betting decision ever made.

It seemed like it was also a window into his life – it was a decision based on what he and Meredith thought would be best for their future children rather than money or fame or interests. personal.

In the summer of 2022, Gaudreau, coming off a 40-goal season in Calgary, hit the open market and was the most coveted prospect in the NHL.

In the half-century history of professional free agents, these moves have almost always been based on A) money, B) opportunity to play for a rival, C) return to childhood home/family or D) size market / climate.

Calgary offered Gaudreau a lot of money to stay. Gaudreau’s home, the New Jersey Devils, and the nearby New York Islanders, also donated a Brinks Truck, hoping that the opportunity to come “home” would push their offerings into overdrive. Stanley Cup contenders, big-market teams or Sun Belt teams were all possibilities if he showed interest.

He was the No. 1 guy.

In Jersey, it sounded like the same thing, the return of the Prodigious Son. A liquor store in Jersey City even kicked in a little extra, offering him free drinks for life if he signed with the Devils.

Outside of Ohio, Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen also offered an offer. However, it was just routine.

The price was $15 million less than Calgary, and Columbus wasn’t Gaudreau’s hometown, a big market or one with beaches and a marina. After all, the Blue Jackets’ history has been pedestrian. They won just one playoff series and were outscored locally by the Ohio State Athletics.

This is where free agents often leave.

“We are contacting the people at the top of our list but [tend to] hear again that, ‘Yes, you are one of the groups …,” Kekäläinen said about the way in which the free movement often (doesn’t) work well.

Just like that, Gaudreau said he was signing with Columbus. The move isn’t surprising to the NHL as a whole. It even surprised Columbus.

Kekäläinen’s response: “Like, ‘Are you serious about this?’”

It was him. Although Gaudreau knew he had to explain himself.

“The first question is obvious,” Gaudreau was asked at his introductory news conference. “Why?”

For Johnny Hockey, for the product of a close-knit family, for a man of

priorities, for someone who on the ice was always looking for an unexpected path to a successful future and was willing to step into it with courage, the reason was and simple.

Meredith was pregnant with their first child. Money would always be plentiful and Gaudreau was not thinking of what was best for himself, but what was best for their soon-to-be-grown family.

He had been to Columbus on road trips and traveled through the busy city and passed through the suburbs of the West which are developing rapidly and very interestingly.

This is where a child should grow up, he thought. This is where his children should grow up. This was home, even if it wasn’t his old home.

“Talking to my family, talking to Meredith, it was the right move for us,” Gaudreau said. “That’s all I can tell you guys.”

Most hockey people didn’t understand, but Johnny Gaudreau didn’t need to say; he had just said it all, about who he was and what he was, sadly, leaving behind.