With parents in town, Gaudreau continues historic season

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Twelve years ago, an undersized 16-year-old hockey player from Salem County, N.J., was dominating a youth tournament in Boston and starting to get noticed by talent evaluators. 

Player agent Lewis Gross had not heard of the player, but knew one of his coaches at that tournament. After a game, Gross and the coach took a walk.

“I still remember it like it was yesterday,” Gross recalled. “He said, ‘There’s a kid on my team, I don’t even know if he weighs 150 pounds. He probably doesn’t. But if you don’t call this kid, you might be the dumbest guy I’ve ever met in my life.’ He said that’s all he would say, and the kid’s name was Johnny Gaudreau.”

Gross followed the coach’s advice, went back to his office, and tracked down Gaudreau to meet with him and his family.

“When the meeting was over, his dad said, ‘This is all well and good, it sounds like my son really likes you and I really like you, but Mrs. Gaudreau is the decision maker in this family and you need to meet with Mrs. Gaudreau,’” Gross laughed.

Gross and Jane Gaudreau met, and she approved Gross to become Gaudreau’s family advisor as he pursued his NHL dream. Twelve years later, that undersized 16-year-old kid became the first Calgary Flames player to score 100 points in a season since Theo Fleury in 1993.

Jane remains the decision maker in the Gaudreau family and on Tuesday, she and her husband, Guy, were in town to watch Johnny play at the Saddledome for the first time in more than two years. Their son made it worth the wait, assisting on Matthew Tkachuk’s third-period goal versus the Seattle Kraken to hit the milestone and eclipse his previous career high of 99 points set in 2018-19.

Gaudreau is now two goals shy of his career-high 36 that was