Columbus Blue Jackets have found a new 'Breadman' in Johnny Gaudreau

The hours melted away on June 30, 2019, a sun-drenched Sunday that arrived in Columbus with an ominous midnight deadline for the Blue Jackets.

At the stroke of midnight, June would give way to July and a handful of pending free agents would be untethered to Columbus if they didn’t agree to contract extensions. The group was headlined by Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, but included Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, too — the Jackets’ biggest additions at the 2019 trade deadline.

Despite the Jackets shocking the NHL with a first-round sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning, none stayed. Their departures, collectively, sparked a narrative around the NHL that players must not like Columbus. But the truth was more nuanced.

The Jackets didn’t extend an offer to Dzingel, a misfit from the start, and didn’t want to pay Bobrovsky’s exorbitant $10 million per year asking price over eight years. That left Duchene, who was already building a house in Nashville, and Panarin, the only one the Jackets truly wanted to keep.

Jarmo Kekalainen, the general manager who had nabbed Panarin from the Chicago Blackhawks in a 2017 offseason trade, picked up his phone and made a final offer to keep Panarin at $96 million over eight years, a massive extension worth $12 million per season.

That’s how much Panarin meant to the Blue Jackets, who were left with a hole atop their lineup when the “Breadman” left it all on the table for the bright lights and big garages of New York.

Columbus Blue Jackets get roster ‘reset,’ new direction, with Johnny Gaudreau

Panarin’s departure took a heavy toll on the Blue Jackets.

They gamely qualified for the playoffs in 2019-20, but the bulk of that roster was soon blown apart by multiple trades that occurred before, during and after the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. A roster “reset” process swept out a lot of franchise stalwarts for various reasons, and now only a handful of players and coaches from those teams remain.

John Tortorella and assistant Brad Shaw are with the Philadelphia Flyers now. Tortorella’s right-hand man in Columbus, Brad Larsen, is entering his second season as the Jackets’ head coach. Nick Foligno, Cam Atkinson, David Savard, Seth Jones and others are long gone.

Boone Jenner is starting his second season replacing Foligno as captain. Jakub Voracek is going into the second year of his second stint as a Blue Jacket. Zach Werenski is now the top defenseman and Elvis Merzlikins owns the No. 1 goalie role.

Oh, yes, there’s also a new “Breadman” in town with his own catchy nickname: “Johnny Hockey.”

Johnny Gaudreau pulled his own Panarinesque maneuver in July, shocking the NHL by picking the Blue Jackets as a star UFA forward who left his former team, the Calgary Flames, wondering why he left. In a way, it was a decision that felt like a time reversal for Columbus, which instantly felt healed by whatever “wrongs” Panarin inflicted.

Johnny Gaudreau is the new Artemi Panarin for the Columbus Blue Jackets

The similarities are too obvious to ignore.

Gaudreau is undersized but overflowing in talent, like Panarin. He’s a lefty instead of a right-handed shot, but is only a year younger than Panarin and regularly makes plays that leave mouths agape.

Also, like Panarin, Gaudreau is a rare breed of forward who can accurately be described as a “one-man breakout.” He gains the offensive zone with possession a lot, almost at will, and is able to hold onto the puck until teammates arrive. At that point, he’s able to create scoring chances with elite skating and hands that generate pinpoint passes or shots.

Those are all skills Panarin used to set franchise scoring records for the Blue Jackets in 2017-18 (82 points) and 2018-19 (87). Gaudreau racked up 115 points for the Flames last season while playing on the NHL’s most productive line.

He could come 27 points short of that mark this season and still break Panarin’s franchise record in Columbus.

Adding that type of talent to a team with a highly skilled group of young players that includes Patrik Laine — a 24-year old who’s already had 40 goals in a season — is the main reason there’s a strong sense of optimism in Columbus.

Gaudreau isn’t a carbon copy of Panarin, who is slightly taller and costs the Rangers $2.25 million more per year, but the Jackets’ newest star may have a similar impact on wins and losses.

“When he’s open, he’s going to make plays and he’s going to carry the puck through the ice because that’s what he’s good at,” said Werenski, who was the beneficiary of a Gaudreau setup pass in a 7-0 preseason win over the St. Louis Blues last Thursday. “Instead of just throwing the puck up the glass, he’s skating it through the neutral zone, making plays, and we haven’t had a guy like that in a while. It’s nice to have him on our side.”

bhedger@dispatch.com

@BrianHedger

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Blue Jackets hope Gaudreau has same impact as Panarin