The Anaheim Ducks have swapped top prospects with the Philadelphia Flyers, trading Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft for forward Cutter Gauthier. Gauthier is coming off a 2024 World Juniors performance that saw him record two goals and 12 points in seven games.
This trade comes suddenly but may be deeper rooted than fans expect, with The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun sharing that Gauthier wouldn’t meet with the Flyers front office and that he told the club he didn’t want to sign. This report was backed up by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, making it seem as though Philadelphia’s arm was twisted in the negotiations.
In sending away Gauthier, the Flyers send away one of the league’s top prospects, with the 19-year-old scoring a dazzling 23 points in 17 games as Boston College’s top centerman. It’s a follow-up to his strong season last year, which saw him manage 37 points in 32 games. Gauthier was the fifth overall selection in the 2022 NHL Draft.
The cost for Anaheim is undeniably steep, with the team moving out a former sixth-overall pick and a second-round pick. Drysdale’s season has, much like his early career, been marked by underachievement, with the 21-year-old defenseman boasting just five points through 10 games this season. These junior year struggles could be in part due to injury, with Drysdale missing 29 games so far this season, battling a series of injuries that delayed his start to the year and earned him injured reserve placements.
Philadelphia will look to breathe new life into Drysdale, backed by a blue line that’s become incredibly robust thanks to Sean Walker’s breakout season. Meanwhile, Anaheim brings in a dazzling young centerman who could serve as the successor to veteran Adam Henrique, who has found himself a part of trade rumors with the Trade Deadline approaching. It’s a deal that works for both sides at a glance, though each player will have the rest of their careers to underline just how foolish of a trade this may have been
Verbeek at it again.
bruh
Anaheim is going to be so nasty in a few years
I thought this was supposed to be a “New Era”….
Whaaaa…
they had no choice he didn’t want to be a flyer, wouldn’t even communicate with them Flyers had.to.fly out to the worlds for him to talk to him.
did Nick Sirianni, Ben Johnson, and Matt Patricia all sit there and sign with the Flyers early this morning? this is stunning. you would have to figure that Philadelphia could have got something better than this and that’s right while it’s not horrendous deal it could have been better in my opinion but what do I know
This reminds me of a hilarious story in Bill Russell’s Autobiography about how Red Auerbach drafted some kid with their #1 draft pick and after training camp they were heading to their first road game and the kid walks up to Red and goes where’s my train ticket? Red goes what are you talking about and the kid goes Oh, I never fly. Now that question is on the Pre draft checklist. I bet will you even talk to us if we draft you is on the Flyers checklist from now on. LMAO
You don’t get it do you
Another Primadona Prospect. What does he hate about Philly? He is playing college hockey in Boston, it can’t be that much different than Philly ?
Well that could be lots of things…It is Philadelphia. I’m sure he has no interest in playing for Tortorella. And then there’s the question of….have you seen the Flyers win a cup? Being that I doubt you are a dinosaur, you have not…
I seen them win 2 Cupssssssssss, and in several SCF’s. They are currently in a solid play-off spot right now. So I think it is more about the city than the team.
Daaammmnnnn…you’ve seen them win a cup and can use the internet? I’d take you for more of a slate tablet kinda guy.
Great game tonight…Go Pens!
What are you even talking about?
Not a primadonna. Flyers were cheap, refused to burn the first year of his ELC last season, costing him millions.
He elected to go back to the NCAA!
How can they burn a year of an ELC when he has not been signed????
It would’ve been the end of last season, after his NCAA season ended. That would’ve been April 2023.
He told them in May he was done. He only returned to NCAA after the Flyers refused to sign him.
That makes him a Primadonna then! LOL
He was not gonna make the Flyers at 18 and the AHL would not accept him at 19, so it was go back to jr or stay in the NCAA….oh and signing him would void the NCAA.
This would all add up to being a ……Primadonna! LOL
Top college picks like Gauthier get that treatment — they sign at the end of the year and play 10 games, clear that 1st year, and start making money sooner.
Not primadonna to expect the franchise to treat you like other teams treat their players.
Also, college players can go to the AHL. You’re confusing this with players leaving the CHL.
If a player is 1 yr removed from JR and has 1 yr NCAA, he can go to the AHL even tho he is wtill 19??? Ok, news to me. I have been schooled and I was wrong on this. But why have I not seen this any where else??? Evidently the Flyers thought 1 more year of NCAA was best for him given that they were a team full of vets that they needed to sell off and showcase them to get the highest return. I would think management wished for Cutter to start at the end of this year when after the TDL there would be plenty of spots to compete for.
I think torts has something to do with it. Also who knows behind the scenes what may have happened. To where maybe a former player told cutters agent a story about this or that and cutter chose not to play there if said person was still working with the flyers. There is a myriad of reasons other then jut not wanting to be a Flyer
He could have signed and played the final few games that would have been 10+ games
I bet Zegras gets moved this summer!
Johnny Z I would even say before the summer, my pick Pens to play with Syd…they could get even younger with some Pens young kids and draft picks..
Would this mean ZELLWEGER gets a good look now..Might as well bring him up ..
Next in line on the right side is Tristan Luneau, he should step right in once he’s over this illness. Showed well in camp and coach played him lots preseason. Zellweger is a lefty, hard to see them putting a kid on his offside but who knows.
Tristan is headed back to juniors.
Whoa
Wut? As some have said here, this has to be about someone not wanting to sign/play with their current team.
Well CG, thanks for nothing. Enjoy Aneheim.
This is good for LaCombe and Luneau.
Seriously? Did nobody pick up on Foley using the term predecessor in exactly the opposite meaning of the word? He says Cutter xould be a predecessor to Henrique…..Henrique was there first making him the predecessor. Pre….before. Henrique before Gauthier.
@darthdragula — Shame on you for jumping on the grammar train before me! I’ve been busy… “curling” … :)
Imbecilic at best.
You used predecessor wrong Foley.
@darthdragula – In all fairness, you have to give him credit for fixing it now.
Ducks future down the middle looks A+ — Carlsson, Gauthier, McTavish
To those who think Philly got a raw deal I’m not sure what more you could want…Drysdale is still a High, High ceiling player. All of last year lost to injury and now he moves in and is going to take over PP1 as he has more talent than Sanheim or York. He is going to get a huge look and as much opportunity as he needs and as long as he can stay healthy expect 70point seasons out of this kid. I am not a huge Gauthier fan, he bodes well for a good solid power forward with a ceiling, I think, of 60-70 points and plays a great physical game. I’ve watched some Boston College games and he doesn’t stand out. Killer one-timer though. That 2nd round pick is icing on the cake. He’s a good prospect, but he’s not Jack Eichel. I think both sides got good value but my bold prediction: Philly wins this deal.
Wish I could smoke some of yours …
People don’t realize JD is 21. They talk like he’s 34
I know it’s insane. Like a prospect who has done nothing at the NHL level, though highly touted, nets you a player who at least has played NHL games and is equally highly touted and if can stay healthy is an offensive dynamo from the backend..something that Philly lacks. Plus a 2nd round pick also boggles my mind. This wasn’t Michkov for Drysdale in which case I’d say they had a screw loose. Gauthier is not a 100 point player nor will he be one.
As a fan of all 4 Philly teams, I have seen it before. It is a demanding city to play for, but if you play hard and well, the fans will love you like no other fan base (ie. Bryce Harper/Jason Kelce). I don’t want CG because obviously he is scared of failure, so he doesn’t want to play for Philly. Go play for a team nobody cares about, like Trout playing for the Angels. Welcome to playing for a team with no fans and nobody giving a damn about your team while you finish near the bottom of your division every year.
Yikes.
Pretty sure the Ducks have been more relevant over the past 30 years than the Flyers have
Sure, if you want to pick and choose timelines. Anaheim hasn’t been any good in roughly 10 years and won that last cup nearly 20 years ago. Yes, that’s less than 50, but after so long it’s all “a while ago”.
Yikes
Pick and choose timelines? I literally just picked the timeline since the ducks inception. You’re right though, they have been bad bad the past 6-7 years. I’ll give you that. But my response was to a comment about how irrelevant the ducks are when his team has been equally as bad if not more irrelevant/bad since the inception of the ducks.
What are you talking about 2007 wasn’t almost 20……oh my god
Bro the flyers are a brand that is known worldwide. Iconic franchise. If anaheim moved today no one would care. Ducks dude, really? Silly franchise.
Delusion running high in Philly. Blowhard fans that regularly lead the league in whining, complaining, tantrum tossing, and scumbag behavior.
Flyers cost Gauthier millions by not signing him at the end of last season.
Entirely reasonable response from him to tell them to kick rocks after screwing him out of millions.
The national hockey league needs the flyers to be relevant my friend. They are a huge market team, a massive and the most passionate fan base in the country. Anaheim is a west coast team nobody sees or cares about.
I saw the headline and I thought what a bad trade by Philadelphia but then I saw he wouldn’t even TALK to them. What’s that about? Didn’t anyone interview him before they took him? I just would like to know the reason. You gotta put this on the Flyers FO for not doing their homework.
Current going statement is he changed his mind about a year ago seemingly on a dime.
Agreed. He was all about the Flyers when he was first drafted but changed his tune a few months later. Very odd circumstance. Can’t wait until he comes to Philly…
when he was drafted, he said something along the lines of “i was born to be a flyer.” the kid’s a douchebag. this is not on Philly
It was the Flyers fault in refusing to burn his first ELC year.
It wasn’t on a dime. It was on millions of dollars. Flyers stiffed him on his ELC at the end of last season.
Don’t know how they stiffed him. Contracts usually go both ways. If the Flyers didn’t want to bring him in for 10 meaningless games at the tail end a lost season, then why should they start his clock early? You usually head about that sort of things when playoff teams need an extra boost to get them to a cup. I am sure he will make him millions, but if he’s this soft now, I can only imagine how much more of a headcase he will become. I liked Cutter and hate that we couldn’t keep him but the more I hear, the more he sounds like a total donkey and his press conference with the Ducks about his “personal reasons” don’t exactly change that perspective.
Tough to see Drysdale go. He was easily the Ducks best defenseman this season. But being overly stocked a D-men, someone had to go. Too bad it wasn’t Fowler. He’s sooooo overrated.
Completely agree. Fowler and Gibson both are so overrated.
Zegras is done at center if stays with Anaheim. I will not be shocked if he is traded. Signs are he is Not Verbeek type of guy.
A taste of Torts was enough.
Just waking to this news & I’m a lil shocked no doubt. Its rare a team being forced to move a player that won’t play there actually wins the deal. This may be that time. As a flyers fan I like it & we move on. Hey cutter enjoy your trips here! JD Drew 2.0 Can’t wait!
Drysdale is a good prospect, but he’s not the best dman in the ducks system also made out of glass. Not saying he’s sucks, but glad they didn’t trade mintyukov, luneau, lacombe or zellweger
Drysdale isn’t a prospect anymore. He’s established already & a good player. The other guys you mention are good prospects no doubt, but until they each lace them up in nhl there are questions.
I would’ve been fine with a one for one, the second round pick might’ve been excessive for someone that wasn’t going to sign. Everyone I listed has played mintyukov is the only stud so far, but they all won top defensive player of year in their respective leagues last year. Drysdale needs to stay healthy. Ducks need offense, I guess drysdale was the most expensive younger guy on the team, and was expendable
My bad. I’d heard ducks had stockpile of high ceiling dmen but didn’t realize they all made their debuts. Have to watch more hockey I guess lol
Gauthier will be heartily booed forever when in Philly.
A once a year occasion now, I think he will OK.
The fact that the Flyers flew to Sweden to meet with him and he didn’t give them the time of day speaks volumes of the lack of maturity and professionalism. You don’t want to be a Flyer, don’t go say you were “built to be a Flyer” and then turn around and go silent. Solid move to get him out and bring in value
Well said. I didn’t watch him in college but at the world juniors he didn’t fill me with a lot of admiration. I’m sure there’s a lot of pressure but it just didn’t look like he was having any fun out there. Kinda weirded me out. His career is getting off to a bumpy start. Hope this is worst part for him and not the norm.
Elliott Friedman reported the Flyers refused to sign him to an ELC and call him up to burn the first year in April (standard procedure for a top college pick).
He was built to be a Flyer, until he learned being a Flyer means getting ripped off by management. Quite mature and professional for the kid to stand up for himself.
Another in a long line of mentality weak athletes who couldn’t relish the thought of Philly. Grab your tail and join Ben,Carson and about a dozen others. Broad Street is to big.
I believe the Flyers did not have the cap space to sign him…something they took care of by moving Hayes and Dean help for a bag of pucks…
The flyers didn’t have the cap space to sign him. Not sure where you got the “ripped off by management” narrative. If he wanted to “stand up for himself” he would’ve met with them and talked things over, instead of just blowing them off. Sounds more like immaturity and self entitlement
Why and how has Kevin Hayes been dragged into this?
Poor Kevin Hayes has no luck.
Trying to Keep This Short….
Hayes had an ugly exit from Philly. Hayes was mad at the training staff’s handling of his injuries, mad at Chuck Fletcher for not putting together a better roster, really mad at Torts for his coaching style, and mad at the vocal on-line Flyers fan base for categorizing him as a lazy and disinterested player who only wants to score goals and was statistically one of the worst defensive forwards in hockey. Not to mention he’s close with Keith Yandle who the Flyers benched after he got the Ironman streak.
Hayes & Yandle are both respects parts of the US Hockey clique and also the Boston Hockey clique. Both of whom Gauthier is a part of now. Hayes was known to the Philly writers as getting into the ear of players and was the player that led the mutiny on Alain Vignault which led to Fletcher hiring Torts.
Gauthier by all accounts was happy to be with the Flyers after he was drafted. Hayes got close to Gauthier after finding out he was going to BC. Hayes allegedly invited him to parties at his house and out with his friends for golf outings/vacations. But this time last year, the Hayes relationship with the organization was toxic and the number of times he was hanging out with Gauthier were increasing.
It’s being suspected that Hayes (and to a lesser extent his BH buddies from Spitting Chiclets, Barstool, etc.) got in his ear and aired dirty laundry and telling him he should hold out and demand a trade. Given this lines up with stuff Hayes has done in the past, there’s probably some layer of truth to it.
It’s also been reported now that Gauthier wanted to jump right to the NHL. But there was no talk of that when he was drafter. Also, Chuck Fletcher was fighting for his job at the time, and if he felt comfortable drafting Gauthier #5OA, he may have given him an entry deal if he wanted it.
In the past year, nearly everyone has been fired or left. The CEO, Dave Scott, resigned. Fletcher and his advisors were fired, the medical team and training staff were all fired and new ones brought in. Torts is the only one still there and honestly, he won’t be the coach of the team when they’re ready to compete in a few years. Danny Briere and Keith Jones are beloved by the wider hockey player and fan base.
The truth is probably a mix of a lot of things. But when Briere & Jones fly over to Sweden during the holidays to see you play and meet with you and you ghost them. There’s gotta be some animosity there with the organization as neither of them did anything to Gauthier (that we know of). But the shift in Gauthier’s attitude and behavior to the organization seems to line up with when Hayes’ toxic feelings to the organization were at a high and his subsequent trade to St. Louis.
It hurts the Flyers to lose him. Gauthier is a very good prospect but not the elite prospect some think he is. On a cup contender, he’s probably a 3C. Plays like a more skillful JVR with a great one-timer. He can probably produce on a team’s second line if he has 1-2 elite wings on his line.
Very informative. I remember when Hayes brother refused to sign with Chicago. I thought Vigneault was a great coach. Not a fan of Fletcher.
Good stuff! Is this Keith Jones burner account? Haha. Definitely kevin hayes influenced. Imagine a very average player having this kind of impact on a kid.
That might explain some of it but it still makes no sense. If the people Hayes is mad at are all gone, Why hold a grudge against the new guys? If Gautier really said ” I was born to be a Flyer”, How do you go from that to I don’t want to talk to you, Without even meeting with the new management team? Rather than believing Hayes had anything to do with it when he’s not even there anymore, I would rather believe it’s his agent who doesn’t want to negotiate with the new people. Maybe he had a deal in place with the old management team? I don’t know. There’s a lot more to this story. Looking forward to hearing it.
Interesting background. I don’t know the Flyers well but what I do know makes this sound plausible (as opposed to when a random shouting match gets someone to conclude that a player is a cancer in the dressing room, with no other evidence). Some people reached to the knee-jerk answer of Torts is the problem. Obviously, something deeper than not liking a coach made the kid change his mind.
I’m sure there is more. I don’t know Kevin Hayes or Yandle’s friends, but they might hold a grudge. I knew a guy who got a raw deal and shortly thereafter everyone involved was let go. Ten years later, with all the senior staff gone, he was still warning people to stay away from the company. There has been more than one college kid disillusioned that the lollypops promised on draft day didn’t materialize in the business of the NHL.
Let’s take Hayes’ personal feelings out of the picture, Torts is still there. Last year under Torts, Kevin Hayes had one of his best overall years. He was a positive defender on the ice and was posting stronger assist numbers than usual. But this was coming at the expense of his goal numbers dropping, which Hayes didn’t like.
Regardless of personal biases, there’s a track record for Torts. And that young, offense first players like Gauthier don’t thrive in his system. Or at least thrive in terms of elite offensive production. Guys like Morgan Frost & Owen Tippett are perfect examples. Travis Konecny is having a breakout season and is a near lock to be an all-star and there were stretches last year that Torts was healthy scratching him because he didn’t play 200 ft “the right way”.
Torts has never been someone to favor his young players and players that don’t defend well or aren’t interested in it. And the Flyers have had an unhealthy obsession with 200 ft players since the 90s. In the last decade of their decline, the front office in Philly has been under the impression that fans will come back and they’ll return to winning form if they recapture the Broad Street Bullies play style. Fletcher’s moves (and even Hextall’s) are indicative of this.
Fletcher chose to pay Nic DeLauries, Justin Braun, & JVR instead of Johnny Gauedreau who offered to play for his boyhood team for a discount. It’s why they chose Cam York over Cole Caulfield. Previous decision makers in Philly don’t like small guys and/or skill-first players. They think everyone needs to grind the whole ice, which lines up with Torts’ philosophy.
Briere and Jones haven’t been there long enough to prove a culture shift has changed in this way of thinking. But the drafting of Michkov would not have happened under Fletcher, Hextall, Holmgren, Clarke, or the others. But there is evidence to say that players like Gauthier struggle under Torts. Which then, in turn, depresses Gauthier’s future earnings as he’s an offense first prospect who will probably be a liability defending out of possession.
I can sum up the Flyers organization history in one twitter post. There was a post last March where at one of the last Flyers home games, the Flyers put a graphic on the scoreboard which made the rounds on social media. It said “Did you know, your Philadelphia Flyers lead the league in Hits and Blocked Shots?”. They posted this in the arena unironically not realizing that, those stats mean your team never has the puck. The culture was ingrained to make you believe that being difficult to play against (which was Fletcher’s stated goal) meant you hit people and blocked shots. Instead of having guys that could skate, an organized power play, and players who are skillful and allowed to play to their strengths. These are all things that Torts believes in and Gauthier (much like Hayes before him) would be forced into this style of play by Torts whether he likes it or not. And Gauthier would probably rather risk it and play somewhere else that he’ll be given room to play to his strength and not in a system like Torts demands?
I don’t know Hayes but hearing & reading stuff from podcasters and writers who are in the know and around the team. Hayes sounds 100% like someone who holds grudges. He’s really ingrained into that whole “hockey bro” culture. I’ve never interacted with him but they say you can judge a person by the company that they keep. And one of Kevin’s best friends is Portnoy from Barstool. And there’s enough stink around that guy to make you never want to approach Hayes. It sounds like Hayes and Torts are very much alike and sometimes that means those guys come together and sometimes it means they blow apart. Regardless of if/what Hayes said, Gauthier is the one who made the decision and it falls on him in the end.
It’s a shame because Cutter was a hard-nosed, gritty player with good hands and a heavy shot. He would’ve been a great fit with the Flyers. Now his name is mud here in Philly. Figured something was amiss when he declined to make an appearance at Rookie Camp. Kudos to Briere and Jones for getting a nice haul for him, given the circumstances. Also pleased in the way the FO handled damage control, having Jonesy on to talk about the trade during intermission. They knew that the fans would be (rightfully) pissed at the news so they made sure to bring all the details to light. Even though Cutter might only make it to Wells Fargo once a year, Flyers faithful will be sure to circle that game on their calendars and hopefully make him regret his decision.
All details to light, eh? Did dear old Jonesy mention they went cheap on the kid, refusing to let him burn his first ELC year?
I’m sure Flyers braintrust is clueless, but they had to know the consequences of being so cheap
I think I found Cutter’s burner account. Jonesy wouldn’t have been involved in those talks since that was the old regime…plus they were strapped by the salary cap since they spent so much money on mediocrity. You seem quite upset about this topic and have been commenting several times on it. Everything okay?
Why weren’t Mike Grier and the Sharks all over this? My goodness, they’re so incompetent. Will be horrible for a decade, at least. Fire Grier and Quinn NOW!
I agree, But the ownership is atrocious and he allowed Doug Wilson to run the team into the ground for quite awhile.
What would you offer that’s better than Drysdale and a 2nd? My bet is they were in on it and just didn’t have the assets.
Why do you assume that Gauthier would sign with the sharks?
Drysdale was at flyers practice today. Love it when players show up right away after trades.
Torts talked to Drysdale last night right after the game. JT was excited.