“People come up to me and say, 'thanks for choosing Columbus, thanks for believing in us, it means so much to us.' And that means a lot to me.”

American professional ice hockey left winger

Johnny Gaudreau was an American professional ice hockey left winger, known as “Johnny Hockey.” Born in 1993, he played 11 seasons in the National Hockey League and was noted for a career that made room for smaller players in a sport that often prizes size. He played three seasons of college hockey at Boston College before the Calgary Flames selected him in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL entry draft. Gaudreau won the 2014 Hobey Baker Award, earned a place in the 2015 NHL All-Star Game, and was named to the NHL All-Rookie team. He later became a seven-time NHL All-Star, finished fourth in Hart Memorial Trophy voting twice, and spent his final two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets.