We now know the preliminary plans on how the Columbus Blue Jackets will honor the lives of Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau. This is just the beginning of what’s to come.
At the start of Media Day on Wednesday, the Blue Jackets announced that they will be honoring the Gaudreau’s on both their helmets and their jerseys throughout the season. They also announced some of the events surrounding their opening week of regular-season home games.
Preseason
During the preseason, the Blue Jackets will wear a special sticker on their helmets. The sticker is blue with gray trim and will feature GAUDREAU on it. There will also be two doves between the numbers 13 and 21, the numbers that Johnny and Matthew wore throughout their careers.
The Blue Jackets will then hold a moment of silence before their first preseason home game on Wednesday Sept 25 against the St. Louis Blues in remembrance of the brothers. The cumulative total raised with the 50/50’s from all four preseason games running through until the second intermission of the home opener on Tuesday October 15 will go to the John and Matthew Gaudreau Foundation.
Regular Season
Once the regular season begins, the Blue Jackets will wear a number 13 patch on their jerseys. This will start on October 10 against the Minnesota Wild and continue throughout the regular season.
The Blue Jackets usually hold their Party at the Plaza and Blue Carpet arrivals on opening night. Those activities are now scheduled to take place for the second home game Thursday October 12 against the Buffalo Sabres.
On opening night, the Blue Jackets will celebrate the memory of Gaudreau brothers. Additional details surrounding this will be announced by the team at a later date.
Gaudreau Will Be With Them Always
It was obvious the emotions present at the media availability. Players Boone Jenner, Zach Werenski and Sean Monahan all spoke about starting camp with Gaudreau at the forefront of their minds.
GM Don Waddell announced on Wednesday that the team has taken steps to make sure the Gaudreau’s are with them all season. First, they are keeping a stall in the locker room for Johnny. Monahan admitted that his stall will be next to Johnny’s.
Johnny’s jersey will also be hung every game. He will also travel with the team. “Johnny would want us to go play hockey and Meredith said it at the funeral,” Waddell said. “Johnny would want you guys to play hockey. So we’re going to honor them. Our first home regular season game is going to be a tribute to them and I think the players are going to respond very well to it.”
Coach Dean Evason spoke for the first time to the media since the tragedy. One of the first questions they pondered along with the leadership was “what would Johnny want us to do?”
“And they said, we probably want to go watch football and have a couple beers,” Evason said. “And so that’s what I’m going to try to and the coaching staff’s going to try to emphasize to our group is that his stall is still here. Tell stories, remember, laugh with our videos we put together for camp. Our initial videos were like do we take Johnny out of all the clips? And said, absolutely not. Johnny’s going to teach. We’re going to (show) good and bad. If he didn’t back check, we will show it. So he’s going to be with us. He’s going to be a presence in our locker room at home and on the road.”