Archive: Gaudreau Made 2015 THN Cover Due to Creativity and Dominance on Offense

The hockey world faced a massive tragedy Friday in the wake of the deaths of Columbus Blue Jackets star winger Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau. And in this cover story from THN’s February 16, 2015 edition (Volume 68, Issue 16), writer Ryan Kennedy profiled Johnny Gaudreau in his formative years with the Calgary Flames.

(And this is our regular reminder: to access THN’s archive https://archive.thehockeynews.com/, visit http://THN.com/Free and subscribe to the magazine.)

By the time this cover story was published, Gaudreau was not yet 22 years old, but in his first NHL season, he posted 24 goals and 64 points in 80 games. And while his physical stature wasn’t imposing, Gaudreau had the drive and creativity to elevate him to be considered among the best of his generation.

“I’ve definitely been questioned at every level,” Gaudreau told Kennedy. “When I was in AAA hockey it was whether I could make the jump to the USHL, or going from USHL to college, college to NHL. There’s always been those little people doubting me. A lot of people didn’t think I could make it, but I tried to prove them wrong.”

Gaudreau will be remembered for his warm personality and dedication to the game, and those who worked with him at the NHL level understood Gaudreau could be a difference-maker at hockey’s highest level.

“You could see right from Day 1 that he is an intelligent player who reads the game so well,” then-Flames GM Brad Treliving said at the time. “When you take the intelligence and the offensive instincts that he has, he’s able to create stuff out of nothing. He has a special skill set: he can find people off the rush, he creates space for himself and he thinks the game at a level beyond his years. He has given us a real spark.”

By Ryan Kennedy

From the Hollydell Arena he runs in New Jersey, Guy Gaudreau can practically see the hockey-mad city of Philadelphia, though in the small town of Carney’s Point, hockey has historically taken a backseat to the other major American sports. The most famous person to come out of the town is actor Bruce Willis, but there’s a new name on the scene, and it happens to be Gaudreau’s son John.

Yes, in Carney’s Point, one of the most dynamic and unlikely hockey talents in generations is simply known to friends and family as ‘John,’ once a tyke whose dad put Skittles on the ice for him and his younger brother to skate toward while Guy was coaching 16-year-olds. “It entertained them for the hour,” Guy said. “They were really wired up by the time they were done.”

But outside the confines of Riverside South Jersey, that tiny tyke is Calgary Flames right winger Johnny Gaudreau, a.k.a. ‘Johnny Hockey,’ a prospect whose legend grew so fast that the Flames literally had a private jet pick him up after his college career was finished so he and Boston College linemate Bill Arnold could be whisked away to join the NHL as soon as possible.

And while Arnold is still learning the pro game one season later in the minors, Gaudreau is one of the top-scoring rookies in the NHL – not to mention one of the smallest in recent memory. When Calgary drafted Gaudreau in the fourth round in 2011 out of the USHL, the youngster was listed at 5-foot-6 and 137 pounds. He’s not a whole lot bigger now, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting together one of the most impressive pre-NHL careers around and silencing the many doubters he had. “I’ve definitely been questioned at every level,” Gaudreau said. “When I was in AAA hockey it was whether I could make the jump to the USHL, or going from USHL to college, college to NHL. There’s always been those little people doubting me. A lot of people didn’t think I could make it, but I tried to prove them wrong.”

Even his current GM in Calgary was on the fence back then. Brad Treliving was the assistant GM in Phoenix in 2011, and while there was no arguing with the fact Gaudreau had scored 36 goals in a USHL circuit where offense is earned the hard way, the most glaring numbers involved height and weight. “You can’t deny the skill set,” Treliving said. “But let’s be honest: we were worried. How is it going to translate? The credit goes to him. He’s been told he was too small since he picked up a stick and skates, and all he does is go out and play.”

Treliving now has the joy of constructing a Flames team on the rebound that includes Gaudreau, thanks to forbearers in Calgary such as director of amateur scouting Tod Button and GM Jay Feaster. To land Gaudreau, the Flames had to be careful, however. The Boston Bruins were well aware of that tiny kid from the Dubuque Fighting Saints because their GM, Peter Chiarelli, was part-owner of the team. As the story goes, Chiarelli asked the Saints to keep him in the loop about which other NHL teams were keen on Gaudreau so he could plan his draft strategy, but the Flames played coy in public and beat them to the punch. “Calgary asked three times, then not again in the last two months of the season,” said then-Saints coach Jim Montgomery, now bench boss of the University of Denver Pioneers. “Several teams asked about him, and they asked me if he could play in the NHL. I said ‘I can’t answer that question, but if you have the chance to get a top-six forward and power play specialist in the draft, why wouldn’t you take him?’ ”

And so the 104th pick in 2011 became Johnny Gaudreau of Carney’s Point, N.J.

By that time, his mojo was already strong. Dubuque had won the USHL championship Clark Cup with Gaudreau as the leading scorer and a clutch performer. Montgomery recalls being tied 2-2 in the semifinal against Sioux Falls, when future San Jose pick Joakim Ryan corralled a turnover for the Saints. “Johnny was gone,” he said. “His anticipation was always two seconds ahead of everyone else.”

With a pass from Ryan, Gaudreau screamed down the left side of the ice and put a shot right under the bar to the goalie’s blocker side. For a player who didn’t impress much in his first couple pre-season scrimmages but got better as he played with more talent (Buffalo’s Zemgus Girgensons was on the same team), Gaudreau had become a game-breaker fast. During the season, Montgomery would let 2-on-1 drills in practice go an extra round or two just so he could giggle at the moves Gaudreau came up with. The title run was an incredible coda.

The next season, Gaudreau was a freshman at Boston College, where he helped the Eagles to a national title and was named the Hockey East conference’s playoff MVP. As a sophomore, his play earned him a spot on Team USA’s world junior entry in Ufa, Russia. Again and again, Gaudreau was sprung for rushes and breakaways by teammates. He scored seven times in seven games (adding two assists) to lead the tourney in goals, while earning an all-star team nod and most importantly, a gold medal for the Americans. Three straight chances for titles, three straight wins. Not to mention all the professional lessons he learned from those runs. “As I got further into the playoffs each year, I could see how tight the guys were in the dressing room together,” Gaudreau said. “With all three teams there was a unique connection. Even with the world juniors, we were only together for a month and a half, but you could see how well everyone fit in the room and how close everyone was. That related back to the ice.

Which is why it was heartbreaking for Gaudreau when his Boston College squad didn’t win it all his final year. Instead, the Eagles were upset by eventual champs Union College (who also knocked them out the previous year) in the 2014 semifinal. “It was really difficult for me,” he said. “I thought that year was a pretty big chance to win it again, and we fell a goal short. There was a pretty special connection in that dressing room, too, and that was one of my favorite seasons even though we fell short.”

Part of the reason was that Gaudreau’s younger brother Matthew was on that Eagles team. It would also be the last Boston College team he would suit up for. As soon as the tournament ended (with Union beating Minnesota for the title) and with a Hobey Baker Award in hand as the nation’s top player, Gaudreau officially signed a contract with the Calgary Flames and was literally whisked away to the pros.

But Boston College will continue to define Gaudreau in one specific way for the time being: that’s where he was christened ‘Johnny Hockey’ by local fans. Coming on the heels of Johnny Manziel, the Texas A&M quarterback known as ‘Johnny Football,’ Gaudreau was given the tribute nickname, even though he is much less notorious than Manziel was and continues to be on and off the field. The B.C. pep band would always play Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode when Gaudreau scored and his agent, Lewis Gross, now has the ‘Johnny Hockey’ moniker trademarked for him.

In person, Gaudreau looks like a normal college kid. Not a college hockey player, mind you – just a normal, gotta-get-to-English-Lit–today college kid. He’s polite, pleasant and, yes, pretty slight. He is destroying the notion of what an NHL player physically looks like so far, since even smaller players such as Martin St-Louis and Brian Gionta had strength where they lacked height. Even on NHL ice, however, those concerns all blow away. Gaudreau can be like a ghost in the offensive zone, but in a positive way. Opponents don’t find him until the last second and by then, he’s probably doing something incredibly dangerous with the puck. “You could see right from Day 1 that he is an intelligent player who reads the game so well,” Treliving said. “When you take the intelligence and the offensive instincts that he has, he’s able to create stuff out of nothing. He has a special skill set: he can find people off the rush, he creates space for himself and he thinks the game at a level beyond his years. He has given us a real spark.”

And he is doing so in true rookie form. Montgomery remembers Gaudreau as an old-school kind of player, in the sense that he never really wanted to spend too much time around his coach asking questions; he just wanted to do his job on the ice and not ruffle any feathers. The flamboyancy is left for the game itself. “He’s a quiet guy, but he’s a fun guy to watch,” said Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie. “Sometimes you think he’s running out of room, and all of a sudden, he shifts so fast that he creates space for himself and finds a way to sneak through those small holes.”

That coveted speed and ability to make plays at full stride has even added a fun little wrinkle to the Flames’ attack. Sometimes used on the power play, it involves Gaudreau trailing the play just a little more than usual, almost like a running back in football on a delay route. Once the blueline has been breached, Gaudreau will take off with speed and the puck carrier will attempt to feed him in mid-flight. So basically, David can slingshot his way past the opponent’s Goliath defenders.

Is there work to do? Naturally. Gaudreau made it a priority to get stronger before this season, and that will likely be a constant battle. He said he is most comfortable with the puck on his stick, which means defensive play will be more learned than innate, but he’s willing to put in the effort.

Thanks to the most recent collective bargaining agreement, most NHLers no longer have road roommates, but those on rookie deals still share, and Gaudreau has paired up with Josh Jooris. The two are also living together in Calgary this season and, small world, Jooris is a Union College alum. The fact Gaudreau likes to fall asleep while watching TV is one of his few flaws, according to Jooris, since the brightness on his laptop is “like a flashlight shining on me,” but other than that the two have been getting along swimmingly.

On a Flames team augmented with veterans such as Mark Giordano, Jonas Hiller and Jiri Hudler, the youth brigade has still been crucial to the team performing above expectations, even if it’s a tough league to break into. “There’s a great group in here and I’m fortunate that Johnny is in a similar situation as me,” Jooris said. “We can relate to the little things going on in the dressing room – rookies are always a tad behind, and it’s nice not being the only one.”

With elite youngsters such as Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett also under Calgary’s organizational umbrella, the Flames have a lot to be excited about in the present and future, but that little kid from New Jersey still sticks out as the lucky find.

Crack open the modern history books – and by that I mean go to YouTube – and you’ll find footage from 2003 of a pre-teen Gaudreau playing at the famous Brick Tournament in Edmonton. Of course he’s one of the smallest players on the ice and of course he’s dominating, spinning off defenders behind the net and bewitching the helpless goaltender. He was one of just two outside players brought in to play on the Boston Icemen team for that tourney, and it would mark his early landing point in Alberta.

For a kid who grew up on the East Coast and then played USHL in the Midwest, Gaudreau still had a lot to explore when he got to Calgary for his first rookie camp this past summer. “I had never seen a mountain before in my life until I got to Calgary,” he said. “Then the next day, I was hiking on one.”

Johnny Hockey, top of the mountain. Seems about right.

The Hockey News Archive is a vault of more than 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 articles exclusively for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until today. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com