ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Gaudreau not so deft off the ice
Entertaining the usual crowd of reporters at his stall, Johnny Gaudreau had a fresh war wound on his nose.
No, the gash wasn’t from a battle in front of the net. Or an elbow to a face. Or the aftermath of one of his crucial blocked shots late in Monday’s 5- 3 win over the Dallas Stars. No. Way worse. “I woke up in the middle of the night and tripped over a bench,” said the Calgary Flames rookie winger with a sheepish grin, following Wednesday’s skate at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Uh, care to explain? “Well, most of the time when you get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, you turn the lights on,” Gaudreau said, chuckling. “But ( roommate Josh Jooris) was sleeping so I couldn’t turn the lights on. It was pitch dark. There was a bench in the room, I didn’t know about it and I tripped right over it and hit my nose on the wall.”
Turns out the sublimely skilled Gaudreau — who can turn on a dime on the ice, who can quickly evade a bodycheck, who has out- of- this- world abilities, who is leading the NHL in rookie scoring — IS human after all. Who knew? “I kind of screamed a little bit because it kind of hurt pretty bad,” joked Gaudreau. “I was gonna call the doc, but I didn’t want to wake him up.”
Hard to believe that Gaudreau’s hotel injury was the most interesting topic of the day.
Because, truth be told, the real news is old news at this point in the season.
Which, on Wednesday, was Gaudreau’s latest NHL rookie of the month nod.
In March, the undersized and often- doubted left winger led all first- year players with 16 points ( seven goals and nine assists) in 15 games.
Gaudreau, who also received the honour in December, edged Ottawa’s Mark Stone ( four goals and 11 assists in 16 games), Boston’s Ryan Spooner ( seven goals and seven assists in 15 games) and David Pasternak ( three goals and 10 assists in 15 games), Carolina’s Victor Rask ( three goals and eight assists in 15 games) and Anaheim goalie John Gibson ( 6- 2- 0, 2.50 goals against average, .918 save percentage).
“It’s a great honour,” Gaudreau said. “I’m really privileged to get a chance to win something like that and I think me, Monny ( Sean Monahan), and Huds ( Jiri Hudler) had a good month.”
Hudler, of course, was the other part of Wednesday’s announcement from the NHL offices.
The 31- year- old Czech winger and Flames’ leading scorer claimed the second star of the league’s monthly honours along with goalies Andrew Hammond of Ottawa and Calgarian Devan Dubnyk of Minnesota.
Which means a lot in March, given the magnitude of games during these past few weeks.
Hudler’s production and leadership are good reasons why the Calgarians are sitting in the playoff picture and in third- place in the Pacific Division.
“It’s impressive but it’s not surprising,” said Flames head coach Bob Hartley of Hudler’s 13 assists and 23 points, which led all NHL- ers for a month’s worth of points this season.
“I watch him in practice, I watch him around the team, I watch him on the bench ... this year, he really stepped up his role on the team. This year, he brought his game and his personality to a totally new level.”
As for Gaudreau, who entered the year as the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner, he’s lived up to the sky- high expectations set for him when he made the team out of his first NHL training camp in the fall. Why? “The question of the year,” Hartley said. “But I figured it out during the season, he was wellcoached as a kid.
“Look at him skate back to the bench on a line change. Look at him back check. This kid wants to learn. He wants to learn, he wants to compete. But he showed up with a great base.”
And, according to Hartley, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
“I shared this with his dad on the dads’ trip,” Hartley said of Guy Gaudreau, Johnny’s father who was also his coach growing up in Salem, N. J. “His dad is a tough customer and he doesn’t put up with mediocre performances. Johnny was raised not to be a cookie monster. Yes, he’s putting up some huge numbers. But he’s playing the game the right way. The ice is not tilted when Johnny’s on the ice.
“He goes hard one way and he comes back as hard so he takes lots of pride in his entire game. That’s why his progression has been great.”