The Flyers invited Johnny Gaudreau’s little brother, Matt Gaudreau, to development camp last week, according to a report on NJ.com. And the little Gaudreau, who will continue to follow in the footsteps of his much-more talented older brother when he plays his sophomore season at Boston College this fall, turned the Flyers down.
He instead went to play for the Devils. How dare he.
An invitation from the Flyers to attend their development camp must have been tempting for Matt Gaudreau, who grew up in southern New Jersey less than 35 miles from Philadelphia.
But the 20-year-old forward, the younger brother of Calgary Flames star Johnny Gaudreau, didn’t want it to look like the Flyers were offering him “a handout,” so he accepted theDevils’ offer to attend development camp in Newark this week.
“I want to do something on my own,” Gaudreau said.
To be clear, I sincerely doubt an invitation from the Flyers’ would have been considered a “hand out” at all, since Johnny Gaudreau has never had and probably never will have any connection to the Flyers, other than the fact that he grew up a fan of them and is from the area.
But whatever, Matt. Turn aside your local roots for Turnpike traffic. Hope that works out for ya.
(In all seriousness, good luck to Matt Gaudreau in his college career and beyond. Seems like a nice guy, and it’s never bad to see a local boy do well, even if it’s with another team.)
