CALGARY -- Johnny Hockey was Johnny at the Movies.
Johnny Gaudreau was home in New Jersey, a restricted free agent working on a new contract with the Calgary Flames as training camp turned into preseason games. Of his close circle, one friend was still at home, and they hung out and skated. It might have been weeks but it felt like months.
"My one buddy is done playing hockey," Gaudreau said. "He works at home. He was helping me get through that time there and just made it a lot easier.
"We went to a lot of movies. Saw four or five that just came out."
So Gaudreau was Oscar-season ready. Just not hockey-season ready.
When he signed a six-year contract with the Flames on Oct. 10, there were two days before the season opener at the Edmonton Oilers. Not only did he miss the preseason, but there was a new coach, Glen Gulutzan, and new coaches have slightly different ways of doing things.
One person was a little worried. It was hockey coach Guy Gaudreau, Johnny's father.
"I told my wife, I don't think he's left here in the right frame of mind," Guy Gaudreau said in a telephone interview. "You could tell in his play and his body language and all that, in the first 10 games or so. The first part of the season he looked very frustrated."
All this is worth revisiting because of what transpired next. Gaudreau sustained a broken finger Nov. 15 against the Minnesota Wild and had surgery the next day. It was thought he'd need 4-6 weeks to recover but he returned in less than three weeks. When he came back, he looked like a new player.
Before the injury he had five goals and 11 points in 17 games. Since returning he has 11 points in nine games. He had an eight-game point-streak end Tuesday against the San Jose Sharks. The first game of that streak started the night Gaudreau was injured.
The return was like a second start to his season.
"Glen made the comment and I agree with it," Flames general manager Brad Treliving said Thursday. "If you look at the two starts, the start to his season when he came back after the contract situation, he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"And now you look at him coming back, it's like two different guys."
Dealing with the business of hockey was a first for Gaudreau. Prolonged contract negotiations aren't easy even for veterans, let alone a 23-year-old.
"You come out here and you were just arguing with them a week ago," Gaudreau said. "It's difficult to switch the mindset a little bit. … Thankfully I don't have to go through that for another six years."
For Gaudreau, the post-surgery recovery time helped him view the game from a different perspective.
"I was itching to get back," he said. "When it was getting closer and closer I knew … that first game back felt like my first NHL game again. I was so excited to get back out there. The guys were doing so well on the road and I was here in Calgary watching them win games on the road. Once I got back I just wanted to help the team and keep the winning streak going."
Gulutzan noticed the difference in demeanor.
"He seems like a more relaxed player," Gulutzan said. "He seems to be smiling more and a little happier. You could see he was so excited to come back. I thought he was a different guy. Not only on the ice, but more so, even leading up to those games, a different guy off the ice."
Dad, from afar, noticed the change, too. Johnny Hockey was Johnny Hockey again.
Guy Gaudreau, however, calls his son John, not Johnny.
"He's a good kid," Guy said. "He loves to play hockey. That's all he really wants to do is play hockey. When he left I tried to tell him that, 'You're a hockey player.'"
Also putting things in perspective for Gaudreau was a pre-Christmas visit here from a childhood friend. Anthony Calabrese, a rookie defenseman with Norfolk of the ECHL, sustained a broken neck, a broken back and a partially collapsed lung stemming from an incident in a game Nov. 24.
Calabrese is expected to make a full recovery. Gaudreau said they've known each other since they were 4 or 5 years old.
"He just got the neck brace off," Gaudreau said. "It's just going to take some time healing and therapy. It was great to see him here. Just tried to get his spirits up.
"He just texted me right after it when he was in the hospital. It's upsetting to see anyone get hit like that, especially your close buddy."
With Gaudreau's game-breaking ability and innate showmanship, it's easy to forget how young he is. He wasn't the only Flames player to get off to a slow start as they won once in their first six games (1-4-1). Center Sean Monahan, 22, also struggled early.
"We've got young guys in important positions," Gulutzan said. "I looked the other day and our top five scorers were 21, 23, 21, 19 and 23 [years old]. It puts things into perspective."
Said Treliving: "We expect so much from them, but they're young people and still going through all the things young people go through off the ice. [Gaudreau] has been tremendous since he came back and he's got that weight off his shoulders and he can just go and play."
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