Blue Jackets open camp amid lingering grief over death of Johnny Gaudreau

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Columbus Blue Jackets convened for training camp Wednesday weighed down by the grief of losing star forward Johnny Gaudreau three weeks ago.

One of the worst teams in the NHL last season, the Blue Jackets must find a way to move forward with a new general manager and new coach and with a huge void left on and off the ice by the death of the 31-year-old Gaudreau.

“There’s a lot of weight on our shoulders right now,” said Sean Monahan, who signed with Columbus July 1 because he wanted to play alongside Gaudreau again. They were teammates and best friends during eight seasons together playing for Calgary.

“I’ll miss him the rest of my life,” said a somber Monahan, who will dress next to Gaudreau’s empty stall in the Blue Jackets locker room.

Captain Boone Jenner said coping with Gaudreau’s death is “the new reality” for the Blue Jackets.

“To say we know exactly what to do, I don’t think that’s fair,” said Jenner, who’s in his 12th season in Columbus. “I don’t think there’s a playbook out there for this situation and what has happened. And that’s OK. I think we’re going to learn and lean on each other as we go on.”

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Gaudreau was killed along with his brother Matthew on Aug. 29 when they were hit by a car driven by an alleged impaired driver while bicycling near their hometown in Oldsman Township, New Jersey.

This is the team’s second camp in recent years that follows the offseason death of a player. Goaltender Matiss Kivlenieks died in July 2021 of chest trauma from an errant fireworks mortar blast at the wedding of an assistant coach’s daughter.

The Blue Jackets will have their first day on the ice on Thursday with a new coach, Dean Evason, and the new general manager who hired him, Don Waddell.

Defenseman Zach Werenski, another longtime Blue Jacket, said the players are eager to get back to work.

“It’s been some tough stuff that’s going on the last couple of weeks, but I think we’re excited for it,” Werenski said. “Just keep playing hockey again and, doing what we love to do and doing it together.”

Waddell said there will be counseling and other services available for players who may have a tough time making sense of playing hockey after Gaudreau’s death.

“The guys know Johnny would want us to go play hockey,” said Waddell, who was hired to replace Jarmo Kekalainen, who was the longest-tenured general manager in the history of the franchise when he was fired in February.

On the ice, the Blue Jackets are in serious need of some stability.

Injuries, bad luck and mismanagement have knocked Columbus off track in the past few seasons, despite Gaudreau’s 74- and 60-point efforts in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively.

Last season under coach Pascal Vincent, the Blue Jackets finished last in the Metropolitan Division and out of the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

Columbus plays its first preseason game at Buffalo on Sept. 23 and opens the regular season Oct. 10 at Minnesota, the team that fired Evason after 19 games last season.

“Everybody’s juices are going,” Evason said. “And we’re excited about getting on the ice and actually implementing what we want to do as a coaching staff, to start the process of establishing our structure, our work ethic.”

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