How the Columbus Blue Jackets shifted from a Kepi to the 'Donkey' hat
Dean Evason felt it might be a good time to change the way the Blue Jackets celebrate victories.
After learning that his new team had a tradition of handing out a blue replica Civil War soldier’s Kepi hat to the player-chosen “player of the game,” the Blue Jackets’ coach broached the idea of a change with captain Boone Jenner. Something to honor Johnny Gaudreau seemed fitting.
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“I talked to the coaches, and we decided, you know, maybe it’s time to change,” Evason said. “Maybe it’s something that Johnny would want or something that represents Johnny.”
When he spoke with Jenner, he learned the Blue Jackets were a step ahead.
“I asked Boone to come in and talk to us, and I started telling him, and he goes, ‘Yeah, you wanted something different, we’ve got something different, and we’ve already ordered it and it’s what Johnny wants,’” Evason said, smiling. “It was exactly like that, like it was matter of fact, and he’d already ordered it. They’d already talked about it and made that decision.”
A new tradition in honor of 13 ❤️💙
Only fitting that Monny wears the donkey for our first dub🎉 pic.twitter.com/M9brYCATdt— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 13, 2024
Just like that, it was farewell, Kepi. Hello, donkey.
The new hat debuted late Saturday night in Denver after the Blue Jackets spoiled the Colorado Avalanche’s home opener. Zach Werenski, an alternate captain who filled in for the injured Jenner, announced the shift to a gray and white donkey hat complete with donkey ears, a gray tail and special No. 13 patch on the side.
Sean Monahan, one of Gaudreau’s closest friends and center of a top line that generated three goals in the win, was first to receive the postgame honor. He gladly put the donkey hat on his head and explained its significance a few minutes later to a television audience.
Gaudreau often called teammates “a donkey,” so what better way to remember him than with a hat that encompasses his lighter side?
“I said it after the game, but if you knew John, he’d probably called you a donkey before, so that was his word,” Monahan said. “He called me a donkey probably a million times. So, it’s just a little something to remember him, and obviously it’s for after wins.”
It wasn’t a decision made without careful consideration. The new hat couldn’t have been just any old donkey hat. The one selected made it through a round of judging by the Blue Jackets' leadership group.
“Boone actually brought in four or five of them, and we went with that one,” Monahan said. “It’s there to obviously remember John in the best ways, and I think it’s a nice touch.”
Evason agrees.
“That, to me, is wonderful, right?” he said. “That’s leadership. That’s who Boone is, and whoever ... as a group, they decided that’s what they were going to do. I said, ‘Well, why the donkey hat?’ and he said, ‘Well, Johnny called everybody ‘donkeys.’ Like, ‘This guy’s a donkey. That guy’s a donkey,’ So, that special player or the guy they feel had the influence on the game or whatever is the ‘Donkey of the Game.’ Fantastic.”
Remembering the Columbus Blue Jackets' Kepi hat tradition
As for the Kepi, it certainly had good run in the Blue Jackets’ locker room.
First used in 2014-15, it was handed out to Blue Jackets players in the same manner the donkey hat will continue to be. Monahan will decide who gets it next after the Jackets’ win again, and so on.
Perhaps most memorably, former Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert once wore the Kepi over a blood-stained bandage in the Jackets’ locker room during the 2016-17 season. He looked the part of a Union soldier after getting hit in the face with the puck, getting stitches to repair the wound and returning to score a goal in overtime.
“I think the doc was just worried about a little bleeding, but you see this getup they found for me,” Calvert said during a postgame interview. “You have your eyes closed the whole time while they’re doing the stitches, and it took a while. The doc checks you out, to make sure your head’s OK, and I felt good enough to come back.”
Others who proudly wore the Kepi during a run that included four playoff appearances and the 2019 sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning include former captain Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson, Seth Jones, Sergei Bobrovsky, Artemi Panarin, David Savard, Matt Duchene plus the new wave of Blue Jackets who've donned it the past few years – including Gaudreau.
Now, with his No. 13 jersey hanging in the locker room for every game, he’ll also join the Blue Jackets as the "donkeys" celebrate victories.
“It’s fitting for us,” defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “It was a great idea, and I wish the little guy was still here, calling us that, but ‘Monny’s’ the right guy to get that the first time, for sure. He’s battled through a lot (with) the injuries, to get his body to where he’s at now, along with coming here and his close friendship with John (to) how he played the first two games of the season. It was an absolute no-brainer.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets' postgame award hat rooted in Johnny Gaudreau's humor
