The passing of Matthew and Johnny Gaudreau sent shockwaves throughout the hockey world, such as the fans, players, coaches, media, and most importantly, their family. Tributes have continuously poured in since this terrible incident took place. Perhaps one of the more touching ones came from Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield, who took to social media not only to offer his condolences but to tell his followers that going forward, he was going to switch his jersey number to 13 in honor of Johnny Gaudreau.
Not long after, the always-classy Meredith Gaudreau, the widow of Johnny Gaudreau, popped on with an especially touching comment. She mentioned that one of the moments in which Johnny was most proud this summer was playing with Caufield at the World Championships, a key highlight for him that would sadly turn out to be one of his final big moments.
This touching interaction says so much about the legacy that Johnny Gaudreau built and just how much this sport meant to him. As the new season encroaches, many different kinds of tributes to the Gaudreau brothers will be celebrated league-wide, but none as personally or common as that which the Montreal Canadiens are going to carry.