Tkachuk shares hilarious story of Johnny Gaudreau chirping Flames veteran defenceman

Though Johnny Gaudreau is no longer with us, plenty of stories continue to surface from former teammates detailing his fun-loving personality.

The latest comes from Matthew Tkachuk, who spent six seasons playing alongside the late Johnny Hockey in Cowtown.

The duo had a ton of fun together in Calgary throughout those six seasons, and for good reason. They were the two biggest stars on the team and were viewed as leaders despite their young age.

Their play on the ice quickly garnered them respect amongst their teammates, and even allowed for them to poke fun at veterans on the team, including former captain Mark Giordano.

In an episode of the Wingmen podcast, which was uploaded on Wednesday, Tkachuk shared some funny stories of Gaudreau chirping Giordano often throughout practices.

“I remember Johnny would always give it to Gio,” said a grinning Tkachuk. “Some of my favourite memories in Calgary was Johnny Hockey making a two-on-one or a one-on-one, doing something on Giordano and scoring and just being like, ‘Atta boy G! Way to go G! I got you G!’ The whole practice was just full of laughter.

“I miss Johnny. He’s the best.”

Matthew learned some NHL lessons early on from the veterans at Calgary Flames practices 😭 pic.twitter.com/VBFo82M4yh

— Wingmen with Matthew and Brady Tkachuk (@Wingmenpod) August 5, 2026

While the banter between Gaudreau and Giordano was all fun and games, Tkachuk admitted that he himself had some learning to do early in his career.

In his first training camp at just 18 years old, he put a move on Troy Brouwer and found himself alone on a breakaway. He then went between his legs before scoring, only to realize moments later what a big mistake he’d just made.

“The next rep, I’m looking at Brow, and I’m like ‘Oh my god, he’s going to f*cking kill me.’ He came in to just clobber me,” Tkachuk said. “I was not going in for that puck. I knew if I went for the puck, my head [was] done. I learned my lesson right there.”

These stories are a fun trip down memory lane for Flames fans, who were able to watch some very exciting moments during the years Tkachuk and Gaudreau shared the ice together.

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