Quote:
Originally Posted by FAN
That's a good point but he isn't without ties there. His father is from New England.
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Now you're just reaching and trying to manufacture something. New England is huge, comprising five states, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont.
Guy Gaudreau, Johnny's father, actually grew up in Beebe Plain, Vermont. That town is literally on the Canadian border with Quebec. This is where he fell in love with hockey. Guy Gaudreau is bilingual and probably spent a lot of time on the Canadian side of the border taking advantage of Canadian drinking laws, as most American kids in border towns are prone to do. Back in his day, border crossings were no big thing. So there is probably some kinship with not just hockey but also Canada. I wouldn't think that would have much impact on the decision of where Johnny plays, but neither would where he played his other hockey.
On the whole proximity thing for team selection, this is a real load of bunk. Johnny grew up in Carneys Point, New Jersey, which is closest to Philadelphia. But it is also within 120 miles of Washington and New York. If we go on where Guy grew up, you can drag Montreal into the mix. So now you have the Bruins, Flyers, Capitals, Devils, Rangers, Islanders and Canadiens as teams with possible linkage to the Gaudreau clan, simply based on geography.
Thankfully geography has a small to non-existent component to this decision. The affinity a player builds with his team after being drafted is more important, and Johnny Gaudreau has been pro-Flame since being drafted. It helps that he has a team mate, in Bill Arnold, who is also a Flames prospect. I suspect those two have spent more than a few hours together dreaming of the day they are making passes to each other in the NHL for the team that drafted both of them.
Something interesting I stumbled on while considering the geography conundrum is Guy Gaudreau grew up in Beebe Plain, VT. You know what is 2.5 miles from Beebe Plain? Stanstead College, where Mark Jankowski was discovered. Talk about cosmic connections?