2018-19 Player Report Card: Johnny Gaudreau

Johnny Gaudreau: Forward

Regular Season: 82 GP, 36 G, 63 A, 99 Pts, 24 PIM, +18, 1.7 CFRel%

Playoffs: 5 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pts, 2 PIM

Individual Grades

MarkParkinson14 = (A) I’m docking a + for the fact that Gaudreau, like almost all of the Flames, was a no show in the playoffs. His regular season however, was one to remember. Gaudreau came up one point short of reaching the 100 point milestone for the first time in his career, had career bests in goals, points, assists, even strength assists, plus/minus and games played. As a whole, Johnny Gaudreau had an outstanding season, but the one blemish on 2018-19 will be his playoff performance. His one assist in five games was an accurate snapshot of Calgary in their series against Colorado, but as one of Calgary’s superstars, Johnny Gaudreau needed to be more than he was.

Madeline Campbell = (A) Overall, I really liked what I saw out of Gaudreau this season. It’s hard to get too fussed about a season where he set a new career highs in goals and points, and another where he led the team in both of these measures. He even took a step forward on the defensive side of his game, and in a way this was just as, if not more, exciting than those first things. But it’s this next part that I’ve struggled with–you want your best regular season player to be impactful during the playoffs, indeed that’s when you need them the most. And Gaudreau was something of a non-factor during this time, and we want to ding his grade for that (even if it was a small sample), but we also understand that his absence wasn’t just him deciding he was done producing for the season, but rather more a result of tight defense on the Avalanche’s part. We don’t like it, but we at least understand.

MGMacGillivray = (A) It’s hard to come down on a player who finished tied for 7th in NHL scoring with 99 points, but this is the second playoff series where he totally faded away. I know he may have had some bad luck, but your star player only registering one assist in five games will really hurt your chances of doing anything in the playoffs. The Flames had a deep enough core to do something if their top guys produced, but they didn’t. Now I think he was fantastic in the regular season so that’s why he gets an A grade, but patience is starting to wear thin on his lack of playoff production, especially as the Flames move into becoming a regular playoff team.

by Mark Parkinson