With Columbus & Calgary up next on the schedule, LAK teammates of Johnny Gaudreau reflect on a “one of a kind” person

It’s almost a fitting tribute.

Over the next two games, the LA Kings will take on the Columbus Blue Jackets and Calgary Flames, the two professional teams of the late Johnny Gaudreau, who passed away tragically over the summer, alongside his brother Matthew.

“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about them,” said Kings forward Trevor Lewis, who played with Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary.

It was something that shook the hockey community.

It shook me deeply and I am sure it did for many others, especially those who played with him. For many, it still doesn’t feel real, as Lewis said it doesn’t always for him. For those who played with him, who knew him, it’s still a difficult subject to think about, much less talk about.

“It’s obviously not easy to talk about still, it would be nice to just see him on the ice, see him smile and chirp everybody,” said goaltender David Rittich, a teammate of Gaudreau’s in Calgary. “Unfortunately what happened, happened. Just great memories that I will remember forever.”

Rittich and Gaudreau were “stall-mates” in Calgary for four years, as he put it.

For Rittich’s entire career as a Flame, Gaudreau was there. Spanning parts of five seasons in total, the two were teammates. That time is not something that Rittich will ever forget.

“I was basically his stall-mate for four years and we spent a lot of time together,” Rittich said. “He was an unbelievable person. It was always so much fun to be around him. He called a lot of people donkeys and it was always hilarious. We don’t have to talk about him as a hockey player, we all know who he was and how he played, how great it was to play with him and it sucked to play against him. Just a lot of great memories and an awesome person. A great husband and an even better parent.”

Photo by Brandon Magnus/NHLI via Getty Images

As Rittich said, we all watched Johnny Hockey play and we were all captivated by his on-ice performances. I actually saw Matthew play more than most too, when he was with the ECHL’s Worcester Railers and I worked with a division rival, the Adirondack Thunder, back in the 2017-18 season. Matthew was undersized, like his brother, but he was a crafty playmaker. While he didn’t have the wow factor that Johnny brought, he was still a pain to play against.

Man, did Johnny have that wow factor, though.

“He was such a great person, on and off the ice, he was a fun guy to be around,” Lewis said. “You would kind of look at him getting dressed and think how is this guy so good at hockey? He was 160 pounds, just a little guy, and he puts on the gear and he has no fear. He was a great player and getting to know him and his family off the ice, they’re such great people. It still doesn’t feel real to me.”

That’s the thing when anyone who knew Johnny Gaudreau speaks about Johnny Gaudreau.

Anyone who acknowledges the player he was can’t go two sentences without speaking to the person he was. That, to me, is special.

“Obviously one of the most skilled players all-time for the [Columbus] franchise, and he was a special guy in the locker room,” defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, teammates with Gaudreau in Columbus, added. “Outside of the locker room, he was a great husband, great family. It’s just a tough time, it’s heartbreaking. When I found out, it was heartbreaking and not just for me, but for my family, for my wife, because we knew them pretty well.”

They were great people. Great people.

The players passing away was heartbreaking enough, but seeing the outpouring of tributes from their friends, family, loved ones and teammates, took it so far beyond that. To hear it first-hand from three Kings who were close with Gaudreau, as teammates, was that much harder.

This was a tragedy that was avoidable and its impacted so many lives going forward. Gavrikov admitted frustration being an emotion he had too, with how things happened. To lose two people, at that point in their lives……it was hard to find the words then and it remains hard to find the words now. It was appreciated that each of the three took the time to do so.

Photo by Ben Jackson/NHLI via Getty Images

With the Blue Jackets and Flames coming up on the schedule, it allows us all a bit of time to reflect, emotionally.

In Columbus, Gavrikov was a teammate of Johnny’s during the 2022-23 season, before he was traded to the Kings.

With the Blue Jackets in town for tomorrow’s game, there will certainly be emotions, as Gavrikov reflected on the person that Gaudreau was, the person he had the fortune to be around that season.

“A great person to be around, he was a funny guy to be around, he always had jokes,” he said. “He always brought those smiles, that energy, to the game. That always helped him a lot and it helped the team a lot.”

In Calgary, Gaudreau played with Rittich for several seasons and with Lewis during the 2021-22 season. With that game on the calendar on Monday, at the Saddledome, I imagine similar feelings will be there for Lewis and Rittich and they dress on the visiting side.

I did not have the fortune of knowing the Gaudreau brothers or their families. Just the pleasure of watching them from afar, admiring the way they played on the ice.

For Gavrikov, Lewis and Rittich, though, their relationships were different. They knew Johnny, the person. The husband, the son, the friend, the teammate.

“He was a one of a kind person,” Lewis added. “I got to know him and his wife pretty good away from the rink and I don’t even know how to put it into words. It’s just pretty sad.”

Rittich added that while he never had the chance to meet Johnny’s young children, he knows the type of family man that he was and the type of father he would have been.

“I know his wife, I know his parents and that family is so tight,” he added. “As his father and his mom were to him, you could expect he was going to be like that to his children.”

For those who might be interested in supporting the Gaudreau family, consider a donation to Matthew’s wife, Madeline, who is expecting their first child. That link is available HERE.

It was difficult for each of the players to find their words at times. And understandably so. Their time was appreciated, to speak on a special person, from a special family, whose place in the hockey community we can’t allow to be forgotten. A lot of times, we speak about players as if they are assets, pieces to a team puzzle, changing our tone, our opinions based on their work performance. It is far less frequent that we acknowledge that they are human beings. For Gavrikov, Lewis and Rittich, they lost a friend over the summer. Moments like this perhaps put that into greater perspective. Now, we can all do our part to ensure his legacy lives on, that of a great player, certainly, but more importantly, that of a great person, one who, as Lewis said, is missed every day.