JUST NOW :Columbus Blue Jackets’ Elvis Merzlikins new goalie mask is a tribute to Johnny Gaudreau

Elvis Merzlikins had already approved a new mask design.

Dave Gunnarsson, the famed Swedish mask painter for many NHL goalies, was prepared to create a glossy red, white, blue and silver design this summer featuring the Blue Jackets’ main logo along with stars, a red heart and familiar cartoonish logos on the back that Merzlikins uses for personalization.A week later, Johnny Gaudreau and younger brother Matthew were killed Aug. 29 in New Jersey by a driver who tested above the state’s legal blood-alcohol limit. Merzlikins, who’d witnessed the death of Blue Jackets goalie Matiss Kivlenieks on July 4, 2021, knew a design change was necessary.

He contacted Gunnarsson, added Gaudreau’s No. 13 to the chin and provided two more subtle ideas to memorialize yet another teammate’s death. Merzlikins just received the new lid recently and wore in warmups Monday before the Blue Jackets’ preseason game against the Washington Capitals.

“I just wanted to have Johnny with us this season, and with me, on my helmet,” Merzlikins said. “I did the same thing with Matiss, but I didn’t want to do exactly the same thing. I had ‘80’ for Matiss with wings, and here I put a ‘13’ on the front, but I also added two little details that in my mind were two of Johnny’s favorite things.”