When Columbus honored him earlier this season, Monahan and the Blue Jackets took the ice for the opening faceoff down a man. The left wing position, where Gaudreau would have aligned, was left vacant, a tribute to Gaudreau and among the most memorable scenes in Nationwide.

COLUMBUS — Midway through a conversation with a pair of Calgary-based reporters, two scribes who covered each of his nine seasons with the Flames, Sean Monahan fishes into his pocket for his phone. A proud-parent smile spreads across his face as he opens a photo snapped the previous day.

Meredith Gaudreau, wife of late hockey star Johnny Gaudreau, shared kind words about Sean Monahan before the Columbus Blue Jackets game aginst Calgary Flames.