Guy Gaudreau joins Blue Jackets practice, ‘a joy to have him out there’

Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner hatched the plan and ordered several variations of the donkey hat.

“I think it’s fitting for us. It was a great idea,” defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “I wish the little guy was still here calling us that. But ‘Monny’ is the right guy to get that the first time, for sure. He’s battled through a lot, the injuries to get his body to where he’s at now. Along with coming here and his close friendship with John and how he played the first two games of the season, it was an absolute no-brainer.”

No one is sure how the players and coaches will react to the ceremony Tuesday, which will be attended by members of the Gaudreau family.

“Honestly, I don’t have an answer,” Monahan said. “But when we step on the ice, I step on the ice, you play for John. If he was here, he’d be excited for a day like this, a home opener, a new-looking team. We’ve got to be excited for it.”

Evason said the team has talked about their emotions going into the game.

“If you need to cry, then cry,” Evason said. “If you need to talk about Johnny, if you need to just giggle about things, then do that, right? Because it’s such an unprecedented thing, and something that obviously none of us wanted to go through, and nobody ever wants to go through it, but we have to.

“We are going to have an emotional day but we’re going to use all that emotion and turn it into energy for us as a group moving forward and throwing that on the ice when that puck drops.”