Johnny Gaudreau was not your typical professional athlete

There was no denying the speed, the hands, the abrupt changes of direction. Johnny Gaudreau was impossible to miss in a hockey arena, listed at 5-foot-9 but one of the most fearsome forces in the NHL.

Out in the open ice, anything can happen. Even worse for opponents was how Gaudreau redefined what Open was what was possible — he was at his best finding creases no one else saw, and getting the puck into places no one else could have imagined — before he put shots on net so often.

Johnny Hockey, as they called him, came from South Jersey. He played with a bliss based on possibility.

ESPN’s John Buccigross aptly compared him to Allen Iverson, someone whose apparent disadvantage — his size — was turned into an advantage — impossible, glorious elusiveness.

Johnny Gaudreau, 31, and his younger brother Matthew, 29, an ECHL player, were killed Thursday night when an alleged drunk driver struck them while they were riding bicycles in Oldmans Township, New Jersey. They were in town for their sister Katie’s wedding. They were supposed to be groomsmen.

Johnny Gaudreau is survived by his wife Meredith and his two young children, daughter Noa and son Johnny.

The tragedy – both in its senselessness and its painfulness – is almost too much to describe.

Their father, Guy, was a former player and coach who got his boys into the sport at a young age, focusing on the fundamentals of balance, speed and skating. Johnny was an early prodigy — often shining in the skills competitions during his seven NHL All-Star appearances.

Gaudreau scored 243 regular season goals and added 500 assists in 11 NHL seasons with the Calgary Flames and Columbus Blue Jackets. He previously won a national championship and the Hobey Baker Award at Boston College.

The stats don’t even begin to describe his impact on the league, or the thrill he gave fans when he pulled off a spin move or a dart in a way no one else in the building expected. He was super smart on the ice. He was an edge-of-your-seat, breath-holding talent.

“Johnny played the game with great joy,” the Blue Jackets said in a statement. “(It) was felt by everyone who saw him on the ice.”

That Gaudreau ever became a Blue Jacket was a microcosm of his career: an unexpected, last-minute turn that stunned the NHL and went against the way nearly every free agent decision in professional sports has ever been made.

It also seemed to be a window into his life: it was a decision based on what he and Meredith thought would be best for their future children, and not just money, fame or personal interests.

In the summer of 2022, Gaudreau, who had just completed a 40-goal season in Calgary, hit the open market and became the NHL’s most coveted prospect.

In the half-century history of professional free agents, these moves have almost always been based on A) money, B) a chance to play for a contender, C) a return to the home/family where they grew up, D) the size of the market or the weather.

Calgary offered him the most money to stay. Gaudreau’s home state New Jersey Devils and the nearby New York Islanders also offered a Brinks Truck, hoping the chance to come “home” would push their offers over the edge. Stanley Cup contenders, big market clubs or Sun Belt teams were all possibilities if he had shown interest.

He was number one.

In Jersey, it felt like a done deal, the return of the Prodigious Son. A brewery in Jersey City even went one better by offering him free drinks for life if he signed with the Devils.

In Ohio, Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen also made an offer, but it was more of a formality.

The deal was $15 million less than Calgary, and Columbus was not Gaudreau’s hometown, a major market or luxury with beaches and cruise ship ports. Moreover, the Blue Jackets’ history is mediocre. They have won only one playoff series ever and are overshadowed locally by Ohio State Athletics.

This is a place where the best free agents often leave.

“We reach out to the people who are at the top of our list, but we often hear, ‘Yeah, you’re one of the teams…’” Kekäläinen said of how free agency often (doesn’t) work.

And then, out of the blue, Gaudreau announced he was signing with Columbus. The move didn’t just surprise the NHL as a whole. It surprised Columbus.

Kekäläinen’s answer: “Something like: ‘Do you really mean that?’”

And so he was. Although Gaudreau knew he had to explain himself.

“The first question is clear,” Gaudreau was asked during his introductory press conference. “Why?”

For Johnny Hockey, the product of a close-knit family, a man with priorities, someone who on the ice was always looking for the unlikely path to a successful future and was willing to do it with courage, the reason was simple.

Meredith was pregnant with their first child. The money would always be plentiful and Gaudreau wasn’t thinking about what was best for him, but what was best for their soon-to-be-growing family.

He had been to Columbus on road trips, walking through the bustling downtown area and even driving through the neighborhoods of a rapidly growing and exceptionally pleasant Midwestern city.

This was where a child should grow up, he thought. This was where his children should grow up. This was home, even if it wasn’t his old home.

“When I talked to my family and Meredith, it was the right move for us,” Gaudreau said. “That’s really all I can tell you.”

Many hockey fans did not understand it, but Johnny Gaudreau did not need to say anything more about it. He had already said it, about who he is and what he is now, unfortunately, leaving behind.