Andrew Mangiapane opens up on the passing of his friend & former teammate Johnny Gaudreau
Washington Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane opened up on the passing of his friend & former teammate Johnny Gaudreau recently.
The Washington Capitals took to the ice on Friday for training camp, with select members of the team meeting with the media following practice, including Andrew Mangiapane, who's entering his first season with the team.
Mangiapane was asked about his former teammate and friend Johnny Gaudreau, who was struck by a drunk driver at the end of August while riding bicycles with his brother Matthew.
When speaking with reporters on Friday, Mangiapane told Sammi Silber of The Hockey News that Johnny Gaudreau's passing still doesn't make any sense to him, adding that he's going to miss him, calling his former teammate one of his best friends in hockey.
He added, "When I first kind of got drafted I was thrilled because the organization doesn't care that you're kind of a smaller player, because they have Johnny there, right? So every time I stepped on the ice with him, I looked up to him. He was a big role model for me. He definitely helped my game a lot more than you know."
Gaudreau and Mangiapane were teammates in Calgary for parts of five seasons before Johnny left the organization as a free agent to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2022. The duo had the best season of their careers in 2021-22 when Gaudreau and Mangiapane had 40 and 35 goals, respectively.
Mangiapane was traded to the Washington Capitals at the end of June and was one of several big additions made by Brian MacLellan before he handed the GM reigns to Chris Patrick. Among the other players brought into Washington this summer include Pierre-Luc Dubous, Jakob Chychrun and Logan Thompson.
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