Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / MEET THE KRAKEN: Freddy Gaudreau on family, shooting pucks in the backyard

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MEET THE KRAKEN: Freddy Gaudreau on family, shooting pucks in the backyard · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's time to meet the Kraken with Mike Benton. Freddie
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Gaudreau back once again. Take me back to one of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the missions that's dear to your heart. That's Roll Down
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Syndrome Day, and it's customary to wear mismatched socks. What
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: did the NHL's efforts last March mean to you?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it meant a lot that the NHL wants to
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: be proactive on inclusion. They put a lot of effort
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: into that day, and I know it's just a day,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: but it's more than that. It's just the idea of
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: inclusion and the effort that they take towards a more
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: inclusive world. So it felt awesome to have the support
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: from the league and to do that project with them.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: For you, just kind of shifting focus here to the ice,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: what was the goal in the offseason once you were
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: able to hit the weight room and hit the ice
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: again to recalibrate?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there comes a point in your career that
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: you understand that you're coming back into a long season.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: So you want to be, you know, tension free, as
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: much energy as possible. So the gym is always a
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: good space for me. But more importantly, it's quality time
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: with my family. So we had our second baby this summer.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: you know, a bigger squad, and it's been great. I
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: had a ton of fun moments with my son, too,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and so it's about coming back with that energy and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: just being ready to go back at it.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: What's the key to efficiency at home as far as
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: being a father now with a bigger family?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: You just got to be present, you know. Some days
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: you get big days at the rink, and it's easy
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: to kind of fall in a bit of a daze,
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: and Uh, but when you're back at home, it's just
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: about presence. Your kids, you don't really know about anything
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: else or what's going on at the ring. So put
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: that aside. And now it's, uh, it's all about presence
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and that's, that's it for me.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: What are your kids into? And what do you love
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: as far as the time that you can spend with them?
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Uh, it's just, uh, I think it's, they're just, again,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: they're present. They don't really think much about this or that.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Every time is just full of, uh, spontaneity and, um,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: They love every little details of the new world they're discovering. And,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: you know, I can speak for my son more. My
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: daughter is very young still, but he's almost two and
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: a half. So it's, yeah, everything is just full of
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: life and everything is magical. So it brings myself back
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: to the beauty that is everywhere around us that he
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: sees and that I see myself now.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Back to the on-ice stuff here. What's one specific drill
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: that made a difference in your off-season training?
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Actually, I have a little sports court in the backyard,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and then we just put nets all around, so I
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: built myself a little goalie, too. It wasn't the drill
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: as much as just the time spent there, and it
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: was fun. My son and I played there the whole summer, so.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: It's not about the drill itself, but about the quality
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of time there.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: What's the goalie made out of?
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: It's made of pipes, and it has the shape of
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: a goalie that's in a butterfly, if you want. The
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: center of it is made of a net, but then
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: I added to him bigger pads, blocker, mitt, stake, too.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: What's your record for the most amount of pucks that
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: you shot in one day as a kid growing up?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I used to spend, like, sometimes eight hours a day
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: in the backyard. So, honestly, like, I probably got to
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: 1,000 at one point.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Superstitions, do you believe in them much?
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Not much, no.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Give me one teammate that you've seen from the past,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: and you can take the name out of this, but
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: had the funniest superstition just watching him around the room
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: or in the hallway. Okay.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: One, I remember it's a long time in juniors, but
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: he would take the insoles out of his skates, you know,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and do some stuff with it. And I can't really
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: understand fully what was going on, but I knew there
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: was stuff going on that he needed to check and fix. Yeah,
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I'd say when you see things like that, you know
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: you're in some serious superstition.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Almost kind of wonder if it's like a prank going on.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if it was that or I
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: don't know.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Maybe one time he felt something in his skate and
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: he didn't like it and he couldn't really take it
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: out mid-practice or mid-game. And so now he started to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: check it out every time, make sure there was nothing
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: in the insole or something, and then it became, I
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: don't know, something like that.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: What's the craziest road trip that you were a part
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of before you hit the NHL?
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Back in juniors, probably the 18 hours bus ride from,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I'd say, the junior team I played towards Cape Breton.
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: And it was in a sleeper bus. And you didn't
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: have one or two seats per person. It was like
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: literally a seat each. So yeah, that prepared me well
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: for the next easier road trip.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Makes you really appreciate the airplanes out these days, right?
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: Exactly, exactly.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: How much caffeine do you drink in a day?
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Used to drink them only on days off, I'll be honest.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: It was like a treat. Now as a dad of two,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: I drink a little bit more. Yeah, not every day.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Once every other day, I'd say probably.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Game day as well?
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: No, you know, I just became a dad of two
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: this summer, so I don't really know yet. But I
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: don't like to do it for game days.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: So we'll see. I don't think so.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: The one time a Seattle fan made a big impression
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: on you was when?
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: I think just overall last year was my first experience
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: and I noticed fans being very loyal, positive, feel like
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: they all had our backs. In good times it's always
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: easy and that's most fans but in bad times I've
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: been on the other side of things too where they
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: like you in the good times but they're gone when
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: it's not going well and I didn't sense any of
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: that from the Kraken fans. I felt We were all
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: supported through even the tougher times. So everybody made a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: great impression on me.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: They have your back for sure. Looking forward to doing
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: this again this season. Freddie, thank you.
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 6:18
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