Frank Seravalli Apologizes for "Poor Choice of Words" in Story Linking Johnny Gaudreau's Death to Draft Lottery
Former Daily News writer Frank Seravalli apologized Monday for a passage that referenced Johnny Gaudreau’s death in a Daily Faceoff story:
Earlier today, in an annual season predictions column, I picked the Columbus Blue Jackets to win the Draft Lottery and included commentary about Johnny Gaudreau looking down on them from heaven for good luck.
What I wrote and how my poor choice of words was received was not…
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 7, 2024
The story is a list of 32 predictions for the upcoming NHL season and the paragraph about the Blue Jackets looks to have been edited several times.
It now says:
14. The Columbus Blue Jackets will win the 2025 Draft Lottery. It’s the only consolation prize on a brutal year, but hope and help is on the way. Bananas that the Blue Jackets have never won the Lottery.
Original versions that readers shared on social looked like this:
Johnny Gaudreau’s death is going to help the Blue Jackets win the lottery. That’s basically what the early versions say. He got hammered for this on social and there’s an additional apology written into the story itself, reading: “Item No. 14 on this list, a prediction about the Columbus Blue Jackets winning the draft lottery, has been amended to remove a comment about the late Johnny Gaudreau looking down on the team from heaven. The intent was to honor Gaudreau and not offend. The wording was chosen poorly. Daily Faceoff regrets the error and apologizes to anyone hurt by the comment.”