Gaudette's path back to NHL took a lot of patience, hard work, most importantly: persistence

"I appreciate the grind and the work to get back here," Gaudette said Friday. "It just goes to show not to take things for granted. It was definitely a long road to get back. My goal now is to stick and keep getting better."

Gaudette was recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Wednesday when the Blues put Kasperi Kapanen on injured-reserve with a lower-body injury, and Gaudette made his re-entry into the NHL on Thursday in a 5-2 loss against the Washington Capitals.

Gaudette's last game was on April 29, 2022 with the Ottawa Senators, or one year, eight months and 20 days since his last NHL game.

In between, there was a stop representing USA at the World Championships in 2022, then onto the Toronto Marlies of the AHL before being dealt to the Blues as part of the trade that sent Ryan O'Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 17, and Gaudette has been with the Thunderbirds ever since.

He had played in 218 NHL games with the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks and Senators spanning six seasons with limited production. It was a mindset at that point that the 27-year-old needed to put in the work to get back.

"I feel like it took developing my overall game, not just the scoring, more the details and the defensive side of the game and having confidence in that and playing the right way," Gaudette said. "I think that propels the scoring and doing the right things and the little things leads to scoring chances. I've always been able to take advantage of my chances and put them in the back of the net. Now having the confidence playing the right way and know the right spots to be is huge and it's helped my game a ton."

It would have been easy for Gaudette to quit and pivot in a different direction, but the Braintree, Mass.-born, Taunton, Mass. native chose to allow the mindset to stay positive no matter the challenges and circumstances.

"It can, but I really pride myself on not letting it and just trying to be the best I can be wherever I am," Gaudette said. "As an older guy, veteran down there in 'Springy,' I really got to work on my leadership qualities and helped the young guys. In doing so, it helped me. Now I'm just more confident, not just on the ice but interacting with the guys and knowing the right things to say around the locker room and stuff like that. But I really pride myself on not letting anything get to me and get down. Just knowing if I put the work in, I'm going to get that opportunity and if I put the work in, I'm going to be ready for that opportunity when it comes, and feel like I'm in a great spot now and I feel as though in a year and a half, I'm a much better player now than I was the last time I was in the league."

Gaudette was tearing it up in Springfield, playing for current Blues interim coach Drew Bannister. He was leading the AHL in goal scoring through his recall with 24 goals, playing mostly with Nathan Walker, who's on recall with the Blues currently as well, and Matthew Peca.

The trip formed a heck of a bond, and now that Gaudette and Walker are back in the big show, it's proof that persistence pays off, and having someone with common goals trying to take a similar path helps along that journey.

"When you're friends off the ice, it helps on the ice too," Walker said. "We kind of hit it off right from the beginning and you can kind of see it on the ice too. You can see in practice every day how hard he works. In Springy, we kind of pushed each other as well to push the pace of practice and make sure we're having a good practice and work ethic. I think that started kind of with the older guys and kind of trickled down as well. It's good to see everyone put in the effort for that stuff.

"He's a shooter. He shoots pucks when he's in a good spot to shoot and when he puts it on net, there's a high chance it's going to go in. I'm obviously just going to try and get him the puck tomorrow in a good spot and let him do the rest."

Gaudette said the friendship with Walker, who's journey has led him all over the world, really helped put things in perspective.

"We became pretty tight right away," Gaudette said. "We're the only two guys on the team to have kids. Our kids are hanging out with each other and what not. We've both kind of had the same mindset. You can tell down there with that mindset that we did the right things and we led the right way and we were a big part of that team down there. Along with 'Pecs' on our line, there was a lot of fun to develop chemistry as a line.

"I feel like since college really, I feel like I haven't had a line I could play with as much as these guys, and it's tough to develop chemistry when you're not on a set line. It was a lot of fun. We weren't really thinking about the NHL. We were just trying to put our team in 'Springy' in the best spot to win and all three of us were having really good years and kind of driving the bus down there."

The Blues can use shooters, and Gaudette won't hesitate to shoot the puck. His 24 goals came off 130 shots, far and wide the leader on the Thunderbirds, and they've come from a unique set of circumstances.

"I've always liked to shoot the puck. I've always worked on it," Gaudette said. "I was always obsessed with taking one-timers since I was a little kid and trying to hit the hard shots that not many people can pull off. I work on it a lot, different types of shots. I added a bunch of different types of shots in my repertoire, shooting on the move, shooting through sticks and through guys and changing angles. I think that's what helps me is my shot's pretty deceptive and I can get it off pretty quick. Every day I'm working on different types of shots that I like to use in the game. It's funny because a couple goals I scored this year guys have seen me working on those shots in warmups and they make comments like, 'Hey I seen you doing that in warmups.' That's why I do it if I get an opportunity like that in the game, I know exactly what I'm going to do with the puck."

Gaudette's NHL numbers won't woo and wow you. He has 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists) in 219 regular-season games and no points in 10 Stanley Cup playoff games with the Canucks in 2019-20. But after signing with Toronto in the summer of 2022, he has 51 goals in 102 AHL games, including 20 with the Marlies in 20 games last season before being traded to St. Louis.

"Credit to the guys in Toronto," Gaudette said. "They worked with me a lot. It was good in Toronto. I did a lot more skill work, skating work with them. That got my confidence to carry the puck and stuff through the neutral zone, hang onto pucks and then when I got to Springfield, it was more systematic in playing the right way stuff. Every year I just take little things and work on those until I master them and then onto the next thing. You get confidence working on one part of your game, and then you get that down and you can move onto the next thing. I pride myself on getting a little better every year and I think I've done a pretty good job of that."

There comes certain types of pressures being a Hobey Baker Award winner when Gaudette finished a solid three-year run at Northeastern University, including 30 goals and 30 assists in 38 games in 2017-18 as a junior. The Blues are going through it now with defenseman Scott Perunovich, who won the award in 2020.

"I think so and people expect a lot from you if you're a Hobey Baker winner," Gaudette said. "I felt like there was a lot expected of me when I came into the league, but looking back at it, I don't think I was totally ready yet. I wish I kind of had the development that I had the past year and a half in the AHL my first two years. You've just got to keep putting your head down and keep working and be ready for that opportunity."

Gaudette was recently named an All-Star for Springfield and although he's honored by the recognition, he will be with the Blues at least through the NHL All-Star break, and if things go well playing here, it may be a permanent ticket to remain in St. Louis, which is the goal.

"It's definitely awesome to get the recognition," Gaudette said. "It's not just me either, it's 'Walks' and 'Pecs,' playing with them. I owe a lot to them as well. It's a good feeling to be named, but I'm up here now and I don't want to go back down. I want to stay up here. Every game, I'm just going to try and keep earning more and more trust from the coaches and hopefully get a little more and more ice time each game and then kind of break through with hopefully what I've been doing down in Springfield translates up here."

Gaudette can use Walker as a prime example of that persistence, considering where Walker's been and his journey to keep working for an NHL job.

"At the end of the day, we're playing hockey for a living," Walker said. "If you want to do it and you enjoy it, then you're going to do it as hard as you want and make it as enjoyable as you want. Obviously when you're up and down, it's tough mentally, but that's just kind of the way it is. People have to do it. There has to be guys that go up and down, that's just kind of the way it is. If you look at it a certain way, you can make it a very long season for yourself and a very long career. If you want to make it hard on yourself, then it's going to be a lot harder on you going down and trying to play the way you want to play in order to get called back up.

"I enjoy it. It's still fun for me. It's always going to be fun for me. It's a lot easier to do something when you enjoy it. It's taken me around the world. I've played in the Czech, obviously been here for a while now. The people you meet, the friends you make is something you'll always remember for the rest of your life."

That's why Gaudette is savoring every moment, and putting in the work to give himself the best chance to stick.

"Don't take things for granted," Gaudette said. "As a young guy in the league, I was like, 'This is awesome,' and I thought it was going to last forever type of thing. Being down (in the AHL) for a year and half, I think it was really good for me maturity-wise and mentally. I'm really proud of myself and my wife and my family in just sticking to it and not letting anything get under my skin or getting frustrated. Just trying to get better no matter where I am. I'm still getting paid to play hockey regardless of where I am. What can you be pissed off about? If you put the work in, opportunity is going to present itself. I believe in karma. You get out what you put in and I just put my head down and trying to get better and finally got the opportunity come back up."