The player's family, including his wife Meredith, were there for the poignant moment. Seeing his mother, sisters and father in tears gave us all chills.
In the opening game of the Blue Jackets against the Florida Panthers, the opening puck drop took a particularly emotional turn, as Gaudreau's number 13 was raised high up in the arena.
Personally, the scene that particularly touched me was when Johnny's little girl pointed to the sky while looking at her father's banner.
See the images right here:
Oh my, that's touching!
Even though it's been nearly two months since the tragedy, the pain remains very intense, including for Johnny's teammates.
The Blue Jackets, in a gesture of solidarity, wanted to pay tribute to the man, the father and the player that he was, and it is a total success.
Obviously, our thoughts are very much with the entire Gaudreau family in this terrible ordeal.
If you want to see the tribute that the Blue Jackets and Panthers players paid at the start of the game, you can see it by clicking here.
In 763 career games in the NHL, Johnny Gaudreau has scored an impressive total of 743 points, including 243 goals and 500 assists.
POLL | ||
Did you watch the tribute to Johnny Gaudreau? | ||
Yes | 79 | 55.6 % |
No | 63 | 44.4 % |
List of polls |