NHL insider Frank Seravalli is forced to issue a public apology after comments about Johnny Gaudreau

NHL insider Frank Seravalli is no stranger to online controversy.

Ever since breaking free from mainstream sports media like Bally Sports, TSN and Sportsnet, Seravalli has been pretty cavalier with his hot takes. He's seemingly unafraid to offer up his opinion on any topic, whether it's in good taste or not. He's put his foot in his mouth a few times over the past couple seasons and has been forced to eat his words more than once.

This week though, Seravalli may have crossed a line.

In a column about 2024-25 NHL predictions, Seravalli predicted that the Columbus Blue Jackets would win the NHL's Draft Lottery "with a little help from Gaudreau."

Seriously, Frank?

Yes, seriously... he printed that.

Check it out:

Yeesh... I don't even know where to start with this?

Seravalli simply must have been trying to shoe-horn in an idea with awkward phrasing that just didn't work? It comes off like 'The Blue Jackets suck now because they don't have Johnny Gaudreau', but I think the intention was 'Johnny is watching them from above and will make some magic happen', or something similar.

In the end though, it just comes across as clunky and like he's placing blame on Gaudreau for the Blue Jackets' predicted struggles this upcoming season.

Whatever his intention was, Seravalli formally apologized on social media this afternoon:

You can see that Seravalli references 'looking down from heaven' in his apology, so I think I understand what he was trying to say after all.

Look, I can sympathize with a guy trying to make a point and simply wording things awkwardly. It's a regular occurrence for this Hockey Feed reporter. So good on Seravalli for stepping up and owning his words.

As you can imagine though, social media isn't letting him off so easily. Just check out some of these vitriolic replies to Seravalli's apology: