The widow of late NHL star Johnny Gaudreau has opened up on the tragic moment she was told her husband and his brother Matthew had died in a tragic bicycle accident last year.
Johnny, 31, and Matthew, 29, were both killed after being hit by a drunk driver while out cycling on a New Jersey highway the night before their sister’s wedding in late August 2024.
Their passing proved all the more painful given both men were awaiting the birth of children, with Matthew on the verge of becoming a father for the very first time. His wife, Madeline, eventually gave birth to their baby boy, Tripp Matthew, four months later.
And in April of this year, Meredith – Johnny’s wife of three years before his death – welcomed their third child and second son, Carter Michael.
Just over two months since giving birth in heartbreaking circumstances, Meredith has recalled the moment she received the news that her husband and his younger brother had lost their lives in an emotional letter published by The Players’ Tribune.
Titled ‘Thank You For Being Perfect, John’, the letter shares a number of special moments from their relationship before moving on to that fateful day in August.
Johnny Gaudreau’s widow Meredith has recalled the tragic moment she learned of his death
Johnny (right), 31, and brother Matthew (left), 29, were both killed after being hit by a drunk driver while out cycling in New Jersey the night before their sister’s wedding in August 2024
‘You kissed all of us goodbye and said you’d see us later. And that was that,’ she wrote.
Meredith then revealed that Johnny and Matthew’s sister Katie, whose wedding day had been shattered in the most harrowing way possible, initially alerted her to the bicycle accident.
‘Katie called, and she said something had happened, but she didn’t know what exactly,’ she added. ‘I was thinking the whole time about how I was going to help you through whatever it could be that had happened to Matty.
‘And then I walked up the front porch and learned the absolute worst had happened and that it was both of you.
‘There aren’t any words to go here.’
The mom of three said the pain was ‘completely indescribable.’
‘I was keeled over for days, sick to my stomach,’ she continued. ‘The only person who can relate to me is my own sister-in-law. I see her and my heart breaks for her.
‘I’m sick for her. We had just celebrated their gender reveal. We were all just down the shore together and had so much fun. Matty made me laugh so much that weekend.’
Johnny, who was a seven-time NHL All-Star, left behind his wife and their two kids at the time
Meredith then gave birth to her third child with Johnny eight months after his tragic passing
Johnny, an NHL veteran who was poised to enter his third season with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2024, married Meredith back in September 2021.
The couple then welcomed their first child, daughter Noa, a year later, and son Johnny as recently as March 2024.
In a tearful tribute at his funeral back in September, Gaudreau’s widow revealed she was pregnant with their third baby following his tragic passing, before giving birth to Carter Michael on April 1, 2025.
She concluded in her Players’ Tribune letter: ‘I love you so much. I miss you every second of every day. I miss you more and more every day as well. My love grows deeper for you each day too.’
