A recently published annual predictions story referencing the late Johnny Gaudreau had much of the hockey world critiquing American sports writer Frank Seravalli for poor choice of words.
In the first version of his annual predictions story ahead of the NHL season, the hockey insider wrote, “With a little help from Gaudreau, the Columbus Blue Jackets will win the 2025 Draft Lottery.”
“It’s the only consolation prize on a brutal year, but hope and help is on the way. Bananas that the Blue Jackets have never won the Lottery.”
On X, formerly Twitter, users were almost unanimously taken aback by Seravalli referencing the Blue Jackets’ All-Star who was killed, along with his younger brother Matthew, in a tragic accident involving an alleged drunk driver on Aug. 29, the night before their sister’s wedding in New Jersey.
Many felt Seravalli, a regular contributor on Sportsnet and President of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, implied Gaudreau’s absence from the team would lead to a poor showing season and, thus, better positioning for the lottery to determine the draft order in the off-season.
Seravalli was quick to edit the post, changing it to “With a little help from above, the Columbus Blue Jackets will win the 2025 Draft Lottery.”
That, too, was met with ire and prompted a rewrite to start, “With a little help from Gaudreau in heaven,” before continuing.
The currently published version begins with, “The Columbus Blue Jackets will win the 2025 Draft Lottery” and continues as the original.
Late Monday afternoon, Seravalli apologized on social and explained he was suggesting Gaudreau would be “looking down” on his teammates “from heaven for good luck.”
“What I wrote and how my poor choice of words was received was not intended to create any hurt or anger.
“This tragedy is a difficult topic we’re all grappling with and what I wrote was never intended to add to that. Simply put, I should not have tied the two together. I am sorry and I promise to be better.”
Meanwhile, an editor’s note atop the story said the article had “been amended to remove a comment about the late Johnny Gaudreau looking down on the team from heaven.
“The intent was to honor Gaudreau and not offend. The wording was chosen poorly. Daily Faceoff regrets the error and apologizes to anyone hurt by the comment.”
The contentious wording wasn’t the only time Gaudreau was referenced among the 32 predictions.
On a more positive note, immediately before the section with the Blue Jackets draft reference, Seravalli wrote that the Lady Byng Trophy – an NHL end-of-season award for the most gentlemanly player – should be renamed for the Gaudreau brothers.
“Lady Byng had a great 100-year run. John won the Byng in 2017 and was a true gentleman of the game.”