Columbus Blue Jackets to start first season bonding with new center over loss of Gaudreau
Dean Evason wasn’t a fan of the way the Blue Jackets’ locker room was situated when he took over as head coach earlier this summer.
Goalies and defensemen dressed in one cluster near the back. Forwards dressed in two other clusters on opposite sides. There were obvious divisions, too, among veterans, young guys and players of similar nationalities. So Evason told Don Waddell, the Jackets' new president of hockey operations/GM, that he wanted to shake things up. Young players were moved next to veterans, forwards moved next to defensemen and goalies, and photos above each stall would no longer be action shots of just the player who dressed there ― a subtle shift toward a more team-first culture.
That was before Johnny Gaudreau and his younger brother, Matthew, were killed Aug. 29 while bicycling in New Jersey. In one heartbreaking instant, the Blue Jackets grew closer than ever, including newcomer Sean Monahan, who signed a five-year contract July 1 in large part to link up again with Gaudreau, his former teammate and close friend with the Calgary Flames.
Monahan now finds himself on a new team, in a new city without Gaudreau, who was supposed to be his neighbor just a few houses away in the Columbus area. Now Gaudreau will be Monahan’s “neighbor” inside the locker room in the form of a No. 13 jersey the Jackets will carry with them all season — home and road.
“I’m actually still sitting beside Johnny,” Monahan said Wednesday. “It’s pretty special. I get to have that memory every day, so I’ve got that on one side and then (Kirill) Marchenko on the other side, and I’m just starting to get to know him.”
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Monahan now has the best locker location in the room. He’s flanked by memories of Gaudreau on one side and hockey’s "Danny Rojas" on the other. Rojas is a "Ted Lasso" character once used by Blue Jackets forward Kent Johnson to describe the ever-smiling Marchenko.
“I’ve skated with him now a few times, and he’s a funny guy,” Monahan said. “I’m sure that I’m going to get to know a lot about him here soon.”
He’s already learned a lot about the Blue Jackets, who share a bond with their new veteran center that none of them wanted or could have predicted. They’ve been forced to grieve together for three weeks and now will use hockey together to heal. The Blue Jackets take the ice, officially, for training camp Thursday under a new coach in Evason and Waddell as the new head of hockey ops.
A little more than a week ago, they shed tears together and shared hugs with other NHL players at an emotional funeral in Pennsylvania. The Jackets also began asking each other something that will stick with them all season and likely much longer.
Blue Jackets: Johnny Gaudreau is gone? A sad farewell to a hockey star who was a genuine family man
“We golfed one day with the majority of the guys, which was nice just being out there together,” defenseman Zach Werenski said. “We shared some videos and pictures of John, and just good memories we’ve had, and one of the questions we’ve asked ourselves is, ‘What would John want us to do in certain situations?’ He’d want us to enjoy coming to the rink and being around our teammates, being together and enjoying this time.”
It’s won't be easy. In fact, it’s probably the farthest thing from ‘easy’ anybody could imagine. Playing hockey less than two weeks after saying goodbye to a beloved teammate, friend and his brother may feel a bit trivial at first blush, but it can also be comforting.
"I mean, to say we know exactly what to do, I don’t think that’s fair," captain Boone Jenner said. "I don’t think there’s a playbook out there for the situation that has happened, and that’s OK. We’re going to learn and lean on each other as we go, whatever that may look like. Just staying true to ourselves and really helping one another out is going to uncover that and pull (us) through it."
They’re determined to honor Gaudreau’s memory, draw strength from it and lean on their bond — none more than Monahan, who wore a black T-shirt on Wednesday bearing an action shot of Gaudreau in a Blue Jackets uniform over a red No. 13.
“He’s been arguably my best friend and a teammate for many years, and someone that ... we’re going to miss a lot as a team and, personally, I’m going to miss him,” he said. “I’ll miss him the rest of my life. There’s a lot of weight on our shoulders right now. There’s a huge loss, a special person who’s not here and it’s on my mind every day, every second. We want to put our best foot forward and put our best effort out there for Johnny.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets open camp sharing painful bond with Sean Monahan
