Bill Simmons Says He’s ‘Never Heard a Single Conversation’ About Columbus Blue Jackets Despite Tragic Deaths of 2 Players
Bill Simmons on Tuesday claimed he’d “never heard a single conversation” about an NHL team that had a pair of tragic deaths in recent years.
During a segment The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons responded to a listener who asked him to name the “most irrelevant franchise in professional sports.” In the message, the fan suggested the Columbus Blue Jackets. Simmons said the Blue Jackets had an “incredible” case for the title before briefly delving into the team’s history:
So, they come in the league in 2000. They haven’t made round two of the playoffs ever. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2020. They’ve missed the playoffs 20 of 25 times. The best Blue Jacket ever is Rick Nash. They’ve had 7 team captains: Lyle Odelein, Ray Whitney, Luke Richardson, Adam Foote, Rick Nash, Nick Foligno, and Boone Jenner. I’ve never heard a single conversation about the Blue Jackets. Now granted, I don’t have a ton of hockey fans in my life, but I have never heard a single convo about them.
I’m not sure who their rival is. I looked this up on Google, and Google said their rival — the Google AI, whatever that thing is called — their biggest rival, the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then I asked Google what the Pittsburgh Penguins’ biggest rival was, and they suggested Philly, Washington, the Rangers, and the Devils. So, Columbus’s biggest rival isn’t even one of that team’s four biggest rivals.
Things took a turn when Simmons pivoted to the tragic deaths the team had suffered over the last few years.
“Their saddest moment was Johnny Gaudreau dying recently,” Simmons continued. “That was really sad. Their weirdest moment was a backup goalie a few years ago died in an awful fireworks accident, which I didn’t know about, but it’s a terrible story.”
Gaudreau and his brother Matthew Gaudreau were struck and killed by a drunk driver while cycling in New Jersey last August. Three years earlier, Latvian goalie Matiss Kivlenieks was killed in a fireworks accident on the Fourth of July. The 24-year-old was celebrating in Michigan with his family.
