The Philadelphia Flyers took Cutter Gauthier with the fifth-overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. It’s one of the few absolute slam-dunk picks by the Flyers organization in the 21st century. He looks like he could be the best player in that draft.
Right now, Gauthier is one of the hottest players in the league. He scored 14 goals in his last seven games. That ridiculous scoring rate hasn’t happened since the 1992-93 season, when it was done by Hall of Famers Mario Lemieux and Alexander Mogilny. He also matched current Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet with three hat tricks in a five-game span.
He’s looking to break that record as the Anaheim Ducks keep rolling. Wait, the Ducks?
As Flyers fans know by now, Gauthier attempted to hold the Flyers hostage and demanded a trade while playing for Boston College, Gauthier informed the Flyers he had no interest in playing for the franchise. It forced Danny Briere into a bad situation. He could either let his top prospect continue to go public with his issues, or he could address it with a trade.
Jamie Drysdale, a former top-10 pick himself, was not playing up to his draft stock, and the Flyers tried to make something out of the issue. They sent Gauthier to the Ducks for Drysdale and a second-round pick.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a good trade. Drysdale is a fine player, and Jack Murtagh is growing as a prospect (the player the Flyers took with the second-round pick), but Gauthier is one of the best players in the league.
The situation stings to this day, and many believe the reason the Flyers targeted Leo Carlsson with an offer sheet this season was because of the Gauthier debacle. The Flyers were held over a barrel, and they made the move they felt gave them the best chance to move forward.
And here’s the thing: as bad as this season has been for the Flyers, Gauthier wasn’t changing anything. The Flyers are stacked with young wingers, with Matvei Michkov (current trade ask notwithstanding), Porter Martone, Denver Barkey, Trevor Zegras, and others are still young and not yet in their primes. While Gauthier would be nice, it’s not making or breaking the Flyers.
Cutter Gauthier is not important to the Flyers and never will be
Gauthier doesn’t even come up in conversations for “worst” trades in recent history. Yes, it hurts to lose such a talented player, but this is a new era where players have power to push themselves out of situations. While it’s more popular for guys with a history like Connor Hellebuyck and Dylan Larkin, we actually saw this with Adam Fox and the Carolina Hurricanes. He forced a trade to the New York Rangers and became one of the best young defensemen in the league.
However, with the Rangers where they are and the Hurricanes being the defending Stanley Cup champions, there might be some regrets there.
Gauthier can keep scoring, but the Flyers were smart to send him to the West Coast. His success has no real impact on the Flyers goals, and it will remain Briere’s attempt to turn lemons into lemonade.
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