Johnny Gaudreau focused on rebound for Columbus Blue Jackets: 'It's been tough'
Johnny Gaudreau was a cheat code.
After shocking the NHL two years ago by coming out of nowhere to sign the Calgary Flames’ 115-point man, the Blue Jackets felt they’d stumbled upon a shortcut to playoff contention. They’d traded Seth Jones for a haul, outperformed dire projections in 2021-22 with a respectable 81 points and couldn’t believe their luck when told that Gaudreau wanted to join Erik Gudbranson, his friend and Flames teammate, in Columbus.
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Upon completing a contract for Gaudreau worth $68.25 million over seven years, the maximum length for unrestricted NHL free agents, the Jackets’ brass could barely contain their excitement. “Johnny Hockey” was officially a Blue Jacket, Patrik Laine was a restricted free agent who wished to sign a multi-year extension and the new-look top line appeared formidable with both Laine and Gaudreau flanking captain Boone Jenner.
Jarmo Kekalainen, then preparing for his 10th season as the Blue Jackets' general manager, grinned like the Cheshire cat. While introducing Gaudreau, he crowed that it proved Columbus wasn’t a bad market for NHL stars to play, which he’d preached for two years after watching Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Matt Duchene, Jones, Josh Anderson, Pierre-Luc Dubois and others exit.
The Jackets’ rebuild was still being called a “reset” when Gaudreau signed, and it was supposed to be a quicker way back to the playoffs. It was a hopeful time for the Blue Jackets, but there was an unforeseen catch.
The cheat code didn’t work.
Hockey's 'tough' for Johnny Gaudreau since signing with Columbus Blue Jackets
Not long after buying a house in the Columbus area, Gaudreau and his wife, Meredith, became parents for the first time. Located much closer to both of their families in New Jersey, the move from Calgary to Ohio went exactly as planned in that regard.
They're both closer to family now, living in a great area to raise a family and they've enjoyed their new home. Things at work for Gaudreau are less enjoyable since he jumped from playoff contention in Calgary into one of the NHL’s youngest and most injury-prone teams. Gaudreau’s first season with the Jackets was a disaster from a team standpoint, ending with former coach Brad Larsen getting fired, and the second season was even worse individually.
Gaudreau and Laine struggled to develop chemistry, clashed on power plays while preferring to play the same spot and Gaudreau’s numbers tumbled from 40 goals, 75 assists and 115 points in his final season with the Flames to 21-53-74 in his first year with the Blue Jackets.
That worsened even more this season, after Larsen’s replacement, Mike Babcock, resigned amid controversy a couple days before camp.
Pascal Vincent was promoted to the head coach spot, installed new systems that took Gaudreau and others time to learn and the Blue Jackets stumbled into an early nine-game winless skid. Gaudreau started slow, never got on track and finished with a career-worst 12 goals to go with 48 assists and 60 points. His plus/minus (-27) was ugly again but was an improvement on -33 during Gaudreau's first season in Columbus.
That’s a combined -60 in two years after finishing +64 during his last season in Calgary. Gaudreau scored only seven 5-on-5 goals this season.
That's not an outcome Gaudreau or the Blue Jackets foresaw when the contract was signed.
“Hockeywise, it’s been tough,” Gaudreau said. “Outside of hockey, we love it. I love the city, love being here. It’s a special place, but the hockey part’s been tough. I have five more years here, so hopefully we get to build something, try to make it back to the playoffs and do some special things, because I’ve really enjoyed my time here away from the rink. It’d make it a lot more enjoyable starting to win games and playing into May and June.”
Columbus Blue Jackets' Johnny Gaudreau needs consistent linemates
According to Natural Stat Trick, Gaudreau has skated with seven different centers and 14 different forwards at right wing since joining the Blue Jackets. That’s not how it was supposed to work.
Gaudreau was supposed to play left wing, forming chemistry with Laine as his right wing in a playmaker/sniper combo. Boone Jenner was slated to doing the heavy lifting for them at center, winning draws and cleaning up rebounds. As a line, they logged 234:39 of 5-on-5 together in Gaudreau’s debut season with the Jackets, second highest on the team, but this season it plummeted to 11:24 in two games.
That’s because Laine only played 18 games while recovering from multiple injuries before entering the NHL/NHL Players’ Association Player Assistance Program in late January for undisclosed reasons. He and Gaudreau also didn’t click when they did play together, other than ripping through a few preseason games with Laine getting an audition at center for the top line.
In all, Gaudreau has logged just 236:06 of 5-on-5 with Laine and Jenner since signing with the Blue Jackets, which is 725:28 fewer than Gaudreau played with Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk in his final season with Calgary, and that not counting the 226:58 they logged on power plays.
"I’ve had the opportunity in the past to play with a few guys, where I was with them for pretty much most of the season,” Gaudreau said. “You know where they are on the ice, in the back of your mind, and you just repeat that game in and game out. When you’re playing with different guys every single night, it’s tough to build that chemistry.”
Since leaving Calgary, Gaudreau’s line has been in constant turmoil. He and Jenner have a bond, but the uncertainty with Laine does nothing to eliminate a revolving door that exists in his spot.
Yegor Chinakhov was impressive in that role until a season-ending injury. Jack Roslovic had chemistry with Gaudreau and Jenner before he was dealt to the New York Rangers. Kirill Marchenko had some bright moments. Adam Fantilli, who centered Gaudreau’s line for 12 games while Jenner was out, got just one game as Gaudreau's right wing before a calf laceration ended his rookie season.
It’s no wonder Gaudreau’s production has dropped severely. He has accepted his share of blame after a parade of missed breakaway chances and overturned goals this season, but not having consistency on his line is an issue the Blue Jackets must resolve.
“It’s difficult,” Gaudreau said. “You want to have one or two guys for most of the season, and that’s the hard part about injuries and guys missing games and whatnot. Sometimes, it’s not working, and you find that chemistry with a player or two players and just keep building off it — game in and game out and each day at practice. It definitely helps in games.”
Johnny Gaudreau plans to use summer training as springboard to a rebound season for Columbus Blue Jackets
Gaudreau is preparing to do his part this offseason to unlock the ‘cheat code’ within.
He’ll play for the U.S. next month at the world championship hosted by Czechia. He plans to skate more this summer than he did a year ago. Getting into the gym for strength training will be more of a priority, which could add some velocity to his shot.
It’s clear that after two years of misery, Gaudreau is looking toward a rebound next season. He’s seen how packed Nationwide Arena gets, even when the Jackets struggle, so his goal is clear. Give the Blue Jackets a cheat code to speed up their rebuild.
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“Everyone needs to be better, starting with myself,” Gaudreau said. “Also, the older guys need to make sure we’re holding everyone accountable as a team, making sure we’re having a good offseason, working hard in the offseason and doing all the right things to come in next season prepared to do something special here and give all these fans in our city something fun to watch ... because they haven't been watching a lot of fun hockey here in the past and they’ve been great for us.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Johnny Gaudreau aims to give Columbus Blue Jackets what they signed
