Johnny Gaudreau's 2022-23 season was hectic, to put it lightly. In July 2022, he signed a seven-year, $9.75M AAV contract with the Blue Jackets, leaving the only NHL organization he'd known, the Calgary Flames, after nine seasons. In September, he became a father for the first time and played his first regular season game for the Jackets just two weeks later. In his first season as a Blue Jacket, Gaudreau scored 21 goals and a team-leading 74 points in 80 games.
On Wednesday, he spoke with NHL Network's Tony Luftman, Mike Kelly, and Sam Cosentino about the upcoming season and his recent charity golf tournament benefitting Gloucester Catholic High School (Gloucester City, N.J.). The full interview can be seen in the embedded video above or by clicking here.
"I went there," Gaudreau said. "My brother went there. My sister went there. (My) brother's a coach of the high school team there. So it was a lot of fun that day, but it's important to try to give back to the school that kind of helped build you and make you become who you are today. And you know, private schools are getting expensive nowadays. So we are trying to make as much money as we can every year and make more money every year."
Gaudreau praised general manager Jarmo Kekalainen when speaking about the additions of Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson, two blueliners that should bolster a defense that allowed a league-worst 231 five-on-five goals.
"I thought Jarmo did a great job this offseason," Gaudreau said. "Picking up two really good defensemen, they're going to help our team big time where we definitely need to play a lot better at in our own zone. That was obviously tough on our team last year in our own zone and picking up two (defensemen) like that (is) going to help us tremendously."
After playing for five coaches in Calgary, new Blue Jackets head coach Mike Babcock will be the third coach Gaudreau has played for in as many seasons. How does he feel about his new bench boss?
"I'm excited," Gaudreau said. "(I'm) excited to get out there with him and start working with him. Obviously, he's had a great track record throughout his career and I've heard great things about him on the bench. So I'm really excited to get out there and kind of get to know him a little bit and, and, you know, hopefully, you know, kind of build a relationship with him and our team and get going from there."
He also spoke about fellow Hobey Baker winner and No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli's addition to the team.
"(He's a) great, great player," Gaudreau said. "Obviously, he's going to help us out a lot this year. (I) haven't gotten talked to him too, too much. I know how hectic it can be on draft day after they get drafted and (there's) a million texts this and that. So I'll get to meet him a little bit more when we get out there. But obviously, I've heard tremendous things about him and heard he's a great young player and he's a college kid too, which makes it even better."
Gaudreau said all of the changes in his life away from the rink may have affected his on-ice performance.
"Sometimes it makes it difficult to kind of get your head in the game there when so many different things are going on," Gaudreau said.
He added that he got to meet almost all of the players in the organization due to the massive amount of call-ups necessitated by the injuries the team suffered but said that's going to be helpful heading into his second year with the organization.
If the Blue Jackets are to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020, they are going to need Gaudreau to be his best all season long.
