Calgary Flames 13 days until the season starts: #13 Johnny Gaudreau
By Ramina Shlah
Less than two weeks until the regular season starts! With 13 days left, let’s look at a current Calgary Flames player with that number.
Since the start of August, we’re counting down the number of days left until the regular season starts up again! Every day until the start of the season, we’ll be talking about a Calgary Flames player whose number correlates with how many days there are left.
Yesterday, we looked at one of the best players in Flames history. Who has even broken some franchise records (which have since been broken), but also had some things to deal with off the ice. That was #14, Theoren Fleury.
Today, with just 13 days left until the season starts, let’s look at someone a little younger. Let’s look at #13 Johnny Gaudreau.
Related Story: 14 days until the season starts - #14 Theo Fleury
Who is Johnny Gaudreau?
Name: John Gaudreau
Birthplace: Salem, NJ, USA
Position: LW
Shoots: Left
Birthdate: 1993-08-13
Height: 5’9” / 175 cm
Weight: 71 kg / 157 lbs
Drafted by: Calgary Flames, 104th overall 2011
Stats with the Calgary Flames + junior/college teams, regular season:
Johnny Gaudreau is a special case. Not taken until the fourth round, he’s definitely up there for one of the best later round pickups. He even had good stats in his minor league days, however, given his small stature, that’s probably the most likely reason that he wasn’t picked up earlier.
Actually, NHL.com did a re-draft of the 2011 NHL draft last summer and put Gaudreau at first overall. In fact, out of all players who’ve played at least 100 games since the 2011 draft, Gaudreau has the best points-per-game.
Related Story: Flashback Friday - Gaudreau taken at 104th overall
Johnny Gaudreau made his NHL debut in 2014, in the Flames last game of the regular season. They lost 5-1 to the Vancouver Canucks. Gaudreau had the lone goal for the Flames. He had just come off a successful year with Boston College of the NCAA, where he won the Hobey Baker. That year, he also played with Team USA at the World Championships, but they didn’t medal. He still had 10 points in eight games at the tournament. Not too shabby for a guy who’s only played one NHL game, on a USA team with a lot more NHL experienced guys.
The year before in 2013, he played at the WJC where Team USA won Gold. Johnny had seven goals and nine points in seven games at the tournament. He had the most goals at the tournament and he was voted as a top 3 player on Team USA.
Now we get into the 2014-15 season where he finally had his first full NHL season. He played on a first line alongside Sean Monahan and Jiri Hudler. The Calgary Flames made the playoffs for the first time in six years and Gaudreau and his line were a big factor. Gaudreau had 24 goals and 64 points in 80 regular season games. He won the rookie of the month twice and he was third in Calder voting.
That year, not only did the Flames make the playoffs, but they also made it past the first round. A feat they hadn’t done in 11 years. Gaudreau had four goals and nine points in 11 playoff games.
This season has definitely been an impressive one. While he had somewhat of an off year during the regular season (if 61 points in 72 games is considered an off-season, I’ll take it), but he’s accomplished quite a bit.
Related Story: Johnny Gaudreau's Case for the Non-Olympics
He went to the World Championship again with Team USA. They finished fifth, however, Johnny had five goals and 11 points in eight games. He had a point in almost every game and he was voted as a top 3 player on Team USA. Then the NHL awards came around and Johnny won the Lady Byng as the most gentlemanly player in the NHL. And then he gets ranked as the 10th best winger out of all skaters by NHL.com. Then he gets inducted into the Salem County Sports Hall of Fame. And all of this has been since May.
While NHL players won’t be allowed to go to the Olympics in 2018, he definitely would have made it. Which would have been something else to throw on his already impressive resume on just three full NHL seasons.
Next: Throwback Thursday - Gaudreau and Voracek at ASG
He’s still young (just turned 24), but he’s already shaping up to be one of the best players in Calgary Flames history. They don’t call him Johnny Hockey for nothing.