[News] Confirmed: Johnny Gaudreau and brother Matt have passed away

[Gemnoble]

Originally Posted by Makarov

This hurts personally way more than I would have imagined or could even explain. Johnny and his family had become such a huge part of my fandom, the Flames and Calgary (probably why Johnny leaving for Columbus hurt too).

I really hope the Flames recognize what the Gaudreaus meant and still mean to this team and the city and respond accordingly.

I can't imagine how shattered the family is. If anyone learns about a way to send condolences or co tribute to a fund for Johnny's young children or a charity in Johnny's name, I'd appreciate it if you could share in this thread. Thanks!

Last season he was part of a thing where each point he donated to men's mental health support.

[Minnie]

Rick Tulsie, on Threads -

https://www.threads.net/@ricktulsie/...86NQmzvXoqr6Ng

[Nehkara]

Rest in peace Johnny. 😰

[timun]

Originally Posted by SutterBrother

Be patient with yourself and others today. It's going to be a tough one.

Thanks. They hadn't even gone "on air" yet and I was already going through tissues, so...

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Getting pretty leaky over here tuning into the Barn Burner...

Originally Posted by manwiches

That tribute they did on BarnBurner made me tear up. Jesus H...

... probably best for my own sake that I listen later, haha.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Thanks for the mental health pep talk. ^

Have a date this evening with someone I don't know well and I don't know if I can get myself into good enough spirits for that.

I felt bad about potentially re-scheduling, thinking to myself it shouldn't be a problem to shelf this for a few hours, why can't you do that? But maybe it's not strange to need a little time to grieve something that mattered, even if the physical connection wasn't close.

There's no way this isn't weighing on my mind for any stretch of time today.

You know you and you know what you need and want to do. If this turns off your date and a reschedule doesn't happen then it wasn't meant to be.

Do you need this distraction? Do you need to just grieve? You do you. Ask your self the questions you can honestly answer to decide to do what you need to do. Whatever you decide will be okay.

[activeStick]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1829531278489887158

[Flame On]

This is so crazy to wake up to. So sad and tragic.
I keep thinking about that moment in Ted Lasso when he's with the therapist and breaks down saying: life is hard. My mum was in palliative care when i watched that and I lost it.

Life is hard, and the entertainers and sports people that bring a spark of joy or excitement in our lives are not to be taken lightly.

Maybe that's why this is hitting me so hard.

RIP Johnny and heartfelt thoughts for the Gudreau's. He was magic.

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

I don't know if this is a ####ed up thing to be thinking about but I wonder if they're even going ahead with the wedding today. What an absolute catastrophe on top of a tragedy.

Dude, what do you think?

[Buff]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

I don't know if this is a ####ed up thing to be thinking about but I wonder if they're even going ahead with the wedding today. What an absolute catastrophe on top of a tragedy.

Not messed up to wonder at all. It is a huge event. An event of happiness. I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. Do you want to remember crying in grief during your wedding?

I've wondered what they would do too. I think they're probably in a situation where they can financially reschedule and not suffer. Many of us would feel forced to go through with it because money is spent and money to reschedule isn't there. Do you take the loss and have a happy occasion later? Do you go through with it anywhy? No wrong answers. Just hard decisions.

[Mattman]

This hurts alot. Easily the most electric player since Iginla and Kipper. My heart is broken for the family not only to lose 1 but 2 sons/fathers/husbands/dads on the day of their sisters wedding. When he left Calgary to be closer to family you could tell how tight they were as a group. Utterly tragic and I feel for all impacted by this.

[timun]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

I don't know if this is a ####ed up thing to be thinking about but I wonder if they're even going ahead with the wedding today. What an absolute catastrophe on top of a tragedy.

Originally Posted by Buff

Not messed up to wonder at all. It is a huge event. An event of happiness. I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. Do you want to remember crying in grief during your wedding?

I've wondered what they would do too. I think they're probably in a situation where they can financially reschedule and not suffer. Many of us would feel forced to go through with it because money is spent and money to reschedule isn't there. Do you take the loss and have a happy occasion later? Do you go through with it anywhy? No wrong answers. Just hard decisions.

Feels gross posting a link to Page Six, but they've 'confirmed' it's not going ahead in the short term: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/30/celeb...l-stars-death/

Johnny and Matty were going to be groomsmen, and their other sister Kristen and Johnny's wife Meredith were supposed to be bridesmaids...

[Ferarri]

Hockey and sports in general is a nice distraction to get away from your issues when life knocks you down. For many its an outlet, and can provide a momentary reprieve from daily struggles. This board represents our favorite team and the players we cheer for become almost family like. The media does a great job of sharing their personalities both on and off the ice. Factor in that Johnny was one of the best to wear the flaming C and its easy to see why this has impacted us so hard.

This is such a devastating tragedy, but I hope his family finds comfort in knowing just how loved and respected he was in Calgary. His legacy will live on forever and he touched so many people in our community. Truly an outstanding human being and I will always admire how he put family first. The Gaudreau's became Calgary's adopted family and we share in their grief. Thoughts and prayers to each of them and thank you for sharing your son with all of us.

[manwiches]

Originally Posted by Buff

Not messed up to wonder at all. It is a huge event. An event of happiness. I wonder what I would have done in the same situation. Do you want to remember crying in grief during your wedding?

I've wondered what they would do too. I think they're probably in a situation where they can financially reschedule and not suffer. Many of us would feel forced to go through with it because money is spent and money to reschedule isn't there. Do you take the loss and have a happy occasion later? Do you go through with it anywhy? No wrong answers. Just hard decisions.

Something I've thought about as well. I don't think there is a wrong answer, but this is something that I don't think I could go through with if it was my wedding. this is something that I would find insurmountable to get through... Putting my own happiness above the obvious grief of my own and my families grief.

The chaos of having to deal with cancelling or rearranging the wedding and logistics, but then having to handle it under the duress of this heavy heavy grief... I feel for the family so much.

[timun]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Dude, what do you think?

Chill.

I'm one of the worst offenders—maybe the worst offender—for piling on and biting people's heads off on these boards for posting things that appear to me, on the face of it, dumb. I have been—I am—an ###hole to people on these boards. Fight the urge to get snippy today, please. Just chill.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by timun

Feels gross posting a link to Page Six, but they've 'confirmed' it's not going ahead in the short term: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/30/celeb...l-stars-death/

Johnny and Matty were going to be groomsmen, and their other sister Kristen and Johnny's wife Meredith were supposed to be bridesmaids...

Another sign of how close this family is. Not super common for future brother-in-laws to be groomsmen in their sister’s wedding. Shows it’s a welcoming and tight family group. You could see that in how much the Gaudreau’s embraced this city and team so passionately. I feel so awful for them all.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Dude, what do you think?

Already confirmed they canceled but it's not unheard of, for weddings to go ahead in the face of tragedy. Some couples/families take the time to honor those they lost. Very personal decision, regardless.

[Paulie Walnuts]

In the summer we had a incident like this as well. A family member passed away during the wedding week, but the wedding went on.

It's a difficult thing to do, but people pay a lot of money for the wedding, reception, people flying in from all over the world etc.

[kermitology]

This is just awful. I went to bed last night hoping this wasn't real, woke up and my heart just sank. Johnny should have been a Flame for life. He brought life to this franchise in so many ways.

As a cyclist, I've had a number of close calls, I've been clipped by a driver. Nothing is so important that you can't take more care.

My heart breaks for his family. They were a part of us it felt like. Just the worst.

[Neeper]

Originally Posted by shogged

just wanna talk about the mental health aspect of this news today. For a lot of us, this might be the first celebrity death that hits close to home. we might be asking ourselves why we feel these powerful emotions for someone we didn't know personally.

We are grieving more that just the individual today, we also grieve for our own emotional connections to johnny. Watching him play with friends, family, our community of flames fans and hockey fans creates a deep emotional bond, its painful when its severed. It also targets our identities; as flames fans we share that collective identity that johnny symbolizes and it feels like part of that is gone now. We mourn both the past and also what could have been.

it's important to remember self care today, to reach out to others and share our grief. check in on your fellow fans and share a memory or two. eat a good meal, get some rest, take a break from the screens.

Thank you, I needed to read this. I have never had a "celebrity death" hit me like this one. I couldn't explain why, but you summed it up nicely.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by BigThief

https://twitter.com/user/status/1829519694812033431

I'm going to be in Columbus downtown tomorrow on an unrelated trip. Will leave an offering of skittles, purple Gatorade and potentially a Flames Gaudreau jersey on behalf of Calgary puck.