No locker yet, but it’s all good for Gaudreau
Unheralded centre making presence felt with two goals in the Stanley Cup final
The chair in the middle of the dressing room looks like it belongs in a cafeteria. These days, it belongs to Frederick Gaudreau.
Everyone else on the Nashville Predators has a swanky stall with shelves and a comfy cushion to sit on. Gaudreau gets a flimsy chair and a beat-up cabinet on rollers to hang his equipment.
The no-frills setup is just for the morning skate and practices, he said. During games, Gaudreau gets to borrow one of the stalls belonging to that night’s healthy scratch — not that he minds one bit.
“I could be sitting on the floor and I would take it any time,” he said. “It’s great, for sure.”
The fact Gaudreau doesn’t have his own stall reflects just how surprising his play has been in the playoffs. No one figured he’d be leading the Predators with two goals after three games in the Stanley Cup final. No one even expected him to be playing in the NHL at this time of year.
The 24-year-old is one of those how-did-he-get-here stories that tends to come up in the playoffs.
Gaudreau wasn’t drafted. He wasn’t a big-time scorer in junior. He spent time in the ECHL. Heading into the playoffs, he had played just nine games in the NHL.
At best, he was considered a two-way depth centre. Instead, with Ryan Johansen injured, Gaudreau has wowed everyone with his offence.
“I think he’s surprising everybody how good he is,” teammate James Neal said. “He’s a young kid in a huge, crazy atmosphere, a huge time with the Cup final. He’s done an unbelievable job.”
Gaudreau never really thought this moment would come. He’s not even sure it will continue. Maybe that’s why his parents drove all the way from his hometown in Quebec to Pittsburgh for games 1 and 2, and then hopped back in the car and made the seven-hour trek to Nashville for games 3 and 4.
“It is a little crazy when you think about it, but honestly now that I’m here, I just try to do my job,” he said. “It’s happening at a good time, so I’ll take it.”
In regards to his dressing room situation, teammates are confident he’ll get his own stall soon enough — that is, if he keeps finding the back of the net.
“I’m not sure, maybe score a couple more goals,” Colton Sissons said when asked what Gaudreau had to do to get his own stall. “I don’t know exactly how many it will take. It’s just a seniority thing.”
Nolan Patrick said he was trying to play it cool.
As the top prospect heading into this year’s NHL entry draft, Patrick couldn’t stop smiling as he met Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and other players before Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final.
In another setting, he might have asked them for their autographs or gushed about how big of a fan he was. Instead, Patrick tried to remember that in a few more months he could be competing against them.
“My goal is to play in the NHL next year, so I think it would be a little weird to be a fan grilling him,” Patrick said of Crosby. “It was just nice to meet him. He’s the best player in the world, so it’s hard not to be star-struck, but he obviously carries himself well off the ice.”
Patrick missed significant time with the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings this season because of injuries. But the 18-year-old centre, who came straight from the NHL draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., said he was able to reassure teams of his health by participating in all the fitness tests.
“I was happy I got to do it and I think by the end of the summer I’ll be ready for next year,” he said. “I was pretty good. I was middle-of-the-pack for most of the things, but I was near the top for chin-ups, so that’s pretty good.”
Nico Hischier attended only his second NHL game on Monday, but this one was even more special than the last.
For one, it was the Stanley Cup final. And more important, it featured three Swiss-born players, including Nashville’s Roman Josi.
“I just say hi to Roman. I skated with him a little bit,” said Hischier, the No. 2-ranked prospect who has a chance to become the highest-drafted Swiss player. “He’s pretty popular. Especially growing up as a hockey player, everyone knows him.”
When asked if winning a Stanley Cup could make Josi as popular as Roger Federer, Hischier laughed and shook his head.
“I think Federer is like if somebody can be perfect, it’s Federer,” Hischier said. “He’s the most popular person is Switzerland. There’s not a chance (you will catch him).”
As someone expected to go anywhere from third to seventh overall, Casey Mittelstadt is preparing for the chance that he could be the first-ever pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, who will pick sixth in the draft.
If so, the Minnesota native said it would be an honour.
“I think going over there (to Vegas) will be great if I could be their first pick. I think they’ll have a good team,” said Mittelstadt, who is not worried about the dangers of playing in Sin City.
“I’m pretty low-key, so I think they understood that. I’m not the kind of guy who goes out much.”
I think he’s surprising everybody how good he is … He’s a young kid in a huge, crazy atmosphere, a huge time with the Cup final. He’s done an unbelievable job.