For Don Waddell, leading the Blue Jackets through the Johnny Gaudreau tragedy is an echo of the past
In the hours after the Columbus Blue Jackets announced that star player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew had been murdered, team president and general manager Don Waddell said he received about 500 text messages.
One hit him harder than the rest. It was from Graham and LuAnn Snyder.
On September 29, 2003, the Snyders’ son Dan was seriously injured when a car driven by Atlanta Thrashers teammate Dany Heatley was involved in a single-vehicle accident. Snyder died six days later.
More than 20 years later, the family still keeps in touch with Waddell, who was the Thrashers’ GM at the time. The message they sent on August 30, the morning after a car struck and killed the Gaudreau brothers, wished the organization strength and had a simple message for Waddell: that there was no doubt he could lead the organization through this tragedy, just as he had the Thrashers.
“I think it’s important in those moments that you feel some support or love somewhere,” Graham Snyder said The Athletics. “Because emotions are running so high.
“When I woke up and first heard the news and saw the headline and started reading… it took me about a minute and I thought, ‘Oh my God. It’s Don again.’ I knew he had moved to Columbus.
“I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, Don, how are you going to get through this?’”
Once again he must lead a grieving organization through so much pain. And yet, at a time when hockey doesn’t even feel that important, he must somehow try to get it ready to play hockey again.
“Nobody wants that job, but he’s certainly helped us, and the organization has,” Graham Snyder said. “I just felt like we should reach out to him. Because who can imagine going through something like that twice in their life?”
The message got through.
“When Graham and LuAnn reached out to me that Friday, it meant the world to me,” Waddell said The Athletics. “Because the family went through it, losing one of their two sons, that’s never easy for anyone. How they dealt with it and how we’ve kept in touch over the years, it just meant the world to me to hear from them knowing that as parents who’ve been through it, (they) felt that we handled it the best we could and supported them.
“They are good people.”
Graham Snyder remembers speaking to the Thrashers players after his son’s death in 2003 and wishing them all the strength to carry on.
“I remember walking into the Thrashers locker room in Atlanta, and I don’t know, there was a power that came from somewhere,” Snyder said. “Just a calmness that came over me and I started talking to the team about what needed to be done and that we were there for them.”
As Snyder recalls, the support from people in the sports world was incredibly important.
“One of the things that’s gotten us through, and that’s what’s happening in Columbus and in hockey right now, is people are really, really coming together,” Snyder said. “I don’t think it’s like any other sport. The hockey world is so connected and tight-knit.
“This is how they are going to get through this now, with the support of others in the hockey world.”
The Jackets felt that.
“Yes, 100 percent,” Waddell said. “It’s pretty evident by all the players that came to the funeral — a lot of players that played with him, but also a lot of players that didn’t play with him. It’s impacted not only the Blue Jackets, but the entire National Hockey League. And the entire country, for that matter. I’ve heard from so many people who didn’t know the Gaudreau family but saw all the stories and just wanted to support and ask what they could do to help. It was moving.”
GALLING DEEPER
Funeral for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau draws packed house
The idea now is to honor the memory of Johnny Gaudreau by playing for him.
“If it’s anything like Atlanta, the emotions are going to stay with them for a while,” Snyder said.
Right now, the Jackets are probably still in a fog of pain and shock. But they must find the strength to move on.
“We are all devastated for the Gaudreau families,” Waddell said. “You never think about parents having to bury their children. There is not a moment that goes by that you don’t think about the families.
“From a team perspective, we know it’s going to be tough. But we also listened to (Johnny’s wife) Meredith when she spoke at church. She knows Johnny wants the best for us. I know guys have talked about it, that he would want us to go out there and do what we can and try to win as many hockey games as we can.”
GALLING DEEPER
‘Let’s keep their stories alive’: Team candlelight vigils for Gaudreau brothers give fans, players opportunity to grieve together
It is of the utmost importance that players receive as much help as they need.
“Everyone grieves and mourns differently,” Waddell said. “You don’t expect people to be able to get through this on their own. The union (NHLPA) is great. They’ve offered multiple grief counselors.”
Waddell added that the Jackets also have people on site this week through Ohio Health who can talk to players.
It will be a difficult process in the coming days.
“We have to try to figure out how to go through the healing process and move on,” Waddell said.
And as Waddell noted, the Blue Jackets also tragically lost young goalie Matiss Kivlenieks just three years ago, an event that still has a repercussion within the organization.
GALLING DEEPER
The death of Johnny Gaudreau devastates a Blue Jackets organization already familiar with tragedy
It’s not an easy path here. But just the hope that everyone will find the strength somehow.
“This was a senseless and cruel way for people to lose their lives,” Waddell said.
It is a tragedy that will forever remain with so many. But somehow, the Jackets will honor the spirit of a player beloved by his teammates. And within that spirit, they will continue to help the grieving Gaudreau family in any way they can.
The Snyders felt that 21 years ago with the Thrashers too.
“They were so supportive and behind us,” Snyder said. “It was really amazing and really touching.”
(Photo: Kirk Irwin/Getty Images)
