Sean Monahan gives emotional speech after first win in Columbus.

It is going to be an extremely challenging season for the Columbus Blue Jackets but, all things considered, the team appears to be handling the unique challenges of this season as well as could be expected.

On Saturday night, the Blue Jackets recorded their first win of the 2024-25 National Hockey League regular season, and that victory would spawn a new tradition in honor of the late Johnny Gaudreau. The new tradition will see the player of the game awarded with a special hat, a set of donkey ears, for the 'donkey of the game' which while not the most flattering name in the world does hold special meaning to the Blue Jackets.

You see Gaudreau himself used to affectionately call his teammates 'donkeys' and the post-game award has been created to honor his memory. It was appropriate to see the first donkey of the game awarded to none other than Gaudreau's long time friend Sean Monahan, who gave an emotional speech after being chosen to wear the donkey ears.

"Big win boys," said Monahan. "Thanks for making it feel like home right away here. Great staff, great teammates. It's obviously emotional for me coming here and it's been great so thanks guys. Huge win."

Monahan was visibly emotional during his speech and had an unmistakable tremble in his voice, but the Blue Jackets did a great job of supporting him by giving him a roaring ovation after his short speech.

I'd also like to take a moment to highlight the fact that general manager Don Waddell could be seen standing off in the distance, supporting his players at a difficult time. Waddell has received a great deal of credit for how he has handle this tragedy, as well as the tragic passing of Dan Snyder when Waddell was general manager of the Atlanta Thrashers, and it seems that credit is well deserved.