Matthew Tkachuk making sure former teammate Johnny Gaudreau’s ‘memory will go on forever’
Most of Matthew Tkachuk’s summer was filled with celebration, excitement and euphoria after helping the Florida Panthers win their first Stanley Cup.
It was also filled with immense grief as he spent the past few weeks mourning the death of his friend and former teammate Johnny Gaudreau.
Gaudreau, 31, and his brother Matthew, 29, were killed on Aug. 29 when they were run over by a drunk driver while riding bicycles in their native New Jersey.
Tkachuk, who was teammates with Gaudreau for six seasons when both played for the Calgary Flames, posted on social media the day after Gaudreau’s death that he was “absolutely devastated” and shared a number of pictures of the two together.
On Wednesday, during the Panthers’ media day session ahead of training camp, Tkachuk spent nearly two-and-a-half minutes speaking about Gaudreau’s legacy.
Here are Tkachuck’s full comments:
“Of all the great things that happened this summer, it’s almost overshadowed by what has happened over this last couple of weeks. It’s been a terrible time. It really has. It’s just the saddest thing I have ever seen or heard. Being able to go to the service just breaks your heart.
“Johnny is one of my favorite teammates I ever played with, but he was more than a teammate to me: He’s such a great friend. It doesn’t matter if you knew them or played against them or even if you just have a sibling, everyone can relate to this. It’s been terrible. You’ll always carry something around where he’ll always be with me.
“He’s the most offensively talented player I have ever seen. It was such an honor to play with him. You guys all saw what he did on the ice. I was the lucky one in this room who had a great relationship with him off of the ice. Those are the memories I will take, but it’s been terrible. It really has been.
“I have memories with him will last forever, but I can’t help but thinking about his parents, about [Gaudreau’s wife] Meredith and the kids. It was a very tough time at the wake and at the funeral. It’s been a tough few weeks, but he’ll always be with us and I think everyone has done an amazing job of telling stories and keeping him present because that is exactly what he would want — for us to smile about him and tell fun stories about what a great player and teammate he was. But he was a better guy. His memory will go on forever. My memories of him will go on forever. I feel like last year, I was telling a Johnny story to someone every week, so I am going to continue to do that.’’
