Since Johnny Gaudreau’s demise, quite a few NHL stars have paid tribute to the late Columbus Blue Jackets star. Montreal Canadiens star Cole Caufield goes the additional mile by altering from No. 22 to No. 13 to honor one in all his heroes.

Caufield, 23, introduced the quantity change in a touching Instagram publish. Caufield wrote that, as a smaller participant himself, watching Gaudreau succeed in any respect ranges was an inspiration to him. Due to that, Caufield will now don No. 13 in hopes of retaining Gaudreau’s spirit alive.

“The previous couple of years taking part in as #22 have been among the greatest years of my life,” Caufield wrote. “It really has been a dream come true and I’ll endlessly maintain these reminiscences and that quantity near me. I wore #13 at some extent in my profession due to Johnny and now I will probably be sporting it once more to honor him. He paved the way in which for smaller gamers and proved we had a future on this recreation on the highest degree. I’ll endlessly be grateful to him for uplifting me and others.”

Throughout the 2024 IIHF World Championship, Caufield even received to play with Gaudreau on Crew USA. Caufield famous how particular that was to him and stated Gaudreau “was somebody everybody gravitated in direction of.”

Caufield was the No. 15 general decide by the Canadiens within the 2019 NHL Draft, and there have been actually questions on his 5-foot-8 stature. Nevertheless, Caufield has already thrived on the NHL degree, tallying 77 objectives and 67 assists in 195 video games.