Confirmed Trade: [ANA/PHI] Cutter Gauthier for Jamie Drysdale and 2025 2nd round pick

[Clark Kellogg]

This isn't accurate. Gauthier indicated he wanted to play in BC this season with the addition of the BC line to try and win a championship down there.

The contact after the Worlds in May last year over zoom was the Flyers thinking he changed his mind and wanted to go pro (the Flyers were ready to do this) - but instead it was CG saying he did not want to play for the Flyers. The argument about this year hold no water. If there was a contract argument, I could certainly see it more last year where the Flyers weren't willing to burn an ELC year in his draft + 1 year (10 games) where it might have soured. THAT makes more sense than this year.

I don't know if that's where Briere got the "list" of teams he'd play for, or if he even got a reason - that may be just media-speak.

However, those talking about "Gauthier doesn't owe them an explanation" may be valid in an instance where there is no investment made into something; i.e., no asset was spent - say, like when he's a UFA and he says "I have 0 interest in playing for the Flyers" - that's totally fine.

But professional courtesy here is that the team invested a high draft pick, in a player who stated he was willing to play and "excited" to be a Flyer - to which it cost the Flyers a high value asset that they have invested into him. To later then state "I changed my mind, and have no interest in playing for your organization" is breaking a verbal agreement, and not providing an explanation or rationale - is a violation and from a professional conduct point of view, you do owe an explanation of why you are breaking that.

Now, did he provide one or not and the Flyers are not getting the hint and still pushing? Maybe. But the comments from the agent in response saying "Drafted players are not entitled to play for the organization that drafted them" seems to imply a lack of accountability in changing his mind (which is ok to do, but when you are an investment you should provide a reason). That is actually the purpose of the draft's existence - your rights are owned by the team that drafted you - and you are beholden to play for them.

If there's an issue with that, then these agents need to fight for it in the next CBA about what the draft rights actually are.

So all in all, it just seems like CG changed is mind and is trying not to get blamed for it. It doesn't really work that way. Ghosting isn't really the right move regardless of saying yes or no - organizations, corporations and people are always persistent to see if they can rectify or fix a situation - that is a mature attitude. CG did not even give them the light of day in order to do that. It's perfectly ok for him to meet with whoever went out of their way to try one last time for him to say "thank you for coming, but I hold my position I stated previously, please trade me" - and again, I don't blame him for this as he's a kid - but it sure seems like he's gotten some poor guidance.

Good luck to him.

There is a confusion here. Cutter Gauthier, through his agent informed the Flyers that he would be returning to BC this coming season.
That report came out just before the WJC.

 

[bigdog16]

I'm just curious and not sure if its been discussed, but did the Flyers expect to get more in value? It seems like they did fine. Not sure why so many are up in arms. Its over with

 

[quackquackquack]

Looks like Cutter is going to play out his season at BC and then join the Ducks at the end of the season if possible (e.g. BC season ends early.) What's so hard to understand?

 

[Firequacker]

Honestly, I was pretty wary of Gauthier's character when it first came out that he'd forced his way out. But seeing the Flyers org and fans acting like psycho stalker exes for days is clearing up a lot of my concerns.

 

[thedjpd]

There is a confusion here. Cutter Gauthier, through his agent informed the Flyers that he would be returning to BC this coming season.
That report came out just before the WJC.

Yes, to clarify, this meaning 2023-2024 (I believe this is what I said?). The Flyers were willing to sign him (if you believe them) to an ELC to play in the NHL this 2023-2024 season (which was the supposed plan). Where things may have soured is they were not willing to burn his ELC in the 2022-2023 season (which may or may not have been a Fletcher promise). When they were contacted by CG's camp after the Worlds last may via Zoom, they were told apparently he did not want to sign anymore and that's when they explored trade options in the 2023 draft.

 

[Clark Kellogg]

Yes, to clarify, this meaning 2023-2024 (I believe this is what I said?). The Flyers were willing to sign him (if you believe them) to an ELC to play in the NHL this 2023-2024 season (which was the supposed plan). Where things may have soured is they were not willing to burn his ELC in the 2022-2023 season (which may or may not have been a Fletcher promise). When they were contacted by CG's camp after the Worlds last may via Zoom, they were told apparently he did not want to sign anymore and that's when they explored trade options in the 2023 draft.

To clarify: This coming season meaning 2024/25 season.
Cutter would be returning to BC.

 

[yeaher]

50 pages, for players who will have trouble cracking 50 points.

 

[FiveTacos]

Now, did he provide one or not and the Flyers are not getting the hint and still pushing? Maybe. But the comments from the agent in response saying "Drafted players are not entitled to play for the organization that drafted them" seems to imply a lack of accountability in changing his mind (which is ok to do, but when you are an investment you should provide a reason). That is actually the purpose of the draft's existence - your rights are owned by the team that drafted you - and you are beholden to play for them.

I'm sorry, but no. He is not beholden to that one team beyond the terms of y the CBA. It's not like the pick they spent on him was a huge favor to him out of the goodness of their hearts. He was going to get picked by someone high in the 1st, and it wasn't out of charity. He got nothing out of it beyond becoming a 5oa pick instead of 6th, 7th, 8th, etc.. In the scheme of things that's nada.

The player owes a team nothing until both sides agree to a deal. Conversely, a team does not owe a high draft pick a contract offer at all if for some reason they change their mind or the player has a career ending injury or something. Hell Chicago didn't owe Bedard a max ELC contract either ... But he also wouldn't be obligated to sign a low-ball offer for league minimum.

And again, none of us know whether or not a reason was given. It may very well be that there was, but the Flyers aren't interested in making it public, and an agent certainly doesn't want to burn a bridge with an organization.

 

[LuGBuG]

Who gifted you the Stanley cup? That’s right the Oilers with Pronger.

Lol. Congrats on your former player winning the Cup in 07. You must be very proud. I can’t imagine how much this means to you.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

No, this is exactly it. The quotes in that Sporting Tribune article kinda confirm what I think anyone who follows the Flyers with a critical eye has seen.

The Flyers have been mismanaged for a while. That's not really a debate. They hired two consecutive bad GMs, ran through coaches, put a shitty product on the ice, and emptied out one of the most consistently-full arenas in the league. You can look at it any way you want, but they have gone from one of the premier names in the sport to just another shitty team, and that's the result of bad decisions made by the people who run both the hockey operations and the business itself.

And to fix this mess, you'd think that a team would look to hire externally. But instead they hired right from their own existing corporate structure, a former player turned business protege and their own color commentator. Doesn't smack of "innovative, forward-thinking organization" really.

Cutter likely saw some of that in action—Fletcher's laughable final Trade Deadline and firing happened the week before BC's season ended, at the time he would've been discussing signing a pro deal. He'd have talked to two very different GMs in the course of a couple weeks.

I think there are enough tidbits out there to safely assume something wasn't aligning: Perhaps an agreement from the Fletcher side he'd sign that became irrelevant when Briere was suddenly the GM, maybe the rookie GM did make things tricky on himself trying to play moneyball, whatever it was. As Cutter himself said, it wasn't just one thing, so I'm guessing he perceived some dysfunction in all that and got to wondering about whether he wanted to begin his career working for management he didn't have faith in.

The coordinated and concerted messaging from the Flyers is obnoxious and unprofessional. It's also narrative control. Jones was hired as team President to sell "The New Era of Orange" to a very angry and alienated fanbase. It's working: They're in playoff position and people are returning to the arena.

Even if the dysfunction was left over from the previous administration and the relationship with Gauthier is just extremely unfortunate fallout from problems they have since resolved, they are not ever going to acknowledge that—or no-comment their way to speculation of that they're still quite dysfunctional (which it's safe to assume they are, at least to an extent).

Instead, they chose to go on the offensive instantly to try to generate a galvanizing moment for thier fanbase. Philly sports fans respond well to people saying they hate them, so the Flyers decided to portray Gauthier's decision as some slight to the city/franchise/fanbase by repeatedly shouting "He didn't want to be A FLYER!"

And it's working, at least locally. They were able to turn a kid saying "I don't have confidence in this franchise" into a rallying cry for the toxic, drooling masses—the ones who produce profits for them—to the point that some are sending death threats. I mean, it is a business, and they did play this pretty well. But how that behavior will reflect within the business of hockey? If other players or agents will have second thoughts about dealing with them, they'll have earned it.

This. 100%.

 

[BAdvocate]

Another of a growing number of young entitled athletes who prioritize themselves over the sport that has defined them up to this stage of their lives. Circumvents the purpose of the draft to give poor performing teams a chance to compete with those teams who had high draft positions and were fortunate and/or smart enough to draft a kid with good ethics.

IMO easy advantage to the Flyers in this trade.

Over/under until the Cutter is involved in his next trade.... 2 years?

 

[usahockey22flyers]

maybe cause he got a better player in Drysdale now so it all worked out in the end.

Total win for the Flyers here

No way

 

[HanSolo]

Who gifted you the Stanley cup? That’s right the Oilers with Pronger.

So...then by that logic the Blues gifted the Oilers' last cup finals appearance and Anaheim had the better overall roster between 05-07 since the only difference was Chris Pronger?

 

[SK13]

So...then by that logic the Blues gifted the Oilers' last cup finals appearance and Anaheim had the better overall roster between 05-07 since the only difference was Chris Pronger?

The goaltending got Anaheim laughed out of that series, but whatevs, not the point of the thread.

 

[HanSolo]

The goaltending got Anaheim laughed out of that series, but whatevs, not the point of the thread.

Missed the point entirely, but all right.

 

[SK13]

Missed the point entirely, but all right.

I wasn't the person making that point. You were right. It's ridiculous to consider trading a key player to another trade "gifting" that team anything. You made a trade.

I just took issue with the characterization of those teams in that series.

 

[FiveTacos]

Cutter likely saw some of that in action—Fletcher's laughable final Trade Deadline and firing happened the week before BC's season ended, at the time he would've been discussing signing a pro deal. He'd have talked to two very different GMs in the course of a couple weeks.

Has there been any talk about Fletcher's role in this? Could he have aired the organization's dirty laundry to the player/agent on his way out the door and poisoned the well? I assume he was in close contact with them since he was drafted and had built a relationship.

Just clarifying I have ZERO inside info. But I have been in a situation where I had a great relationship with my boss, who got backstabbed and dumped. They offered me a chance to stay with a promotion, and work with the new guy ... Who my former boss told me was the one who stuck the knife in. So I told them to shove it.

Btw that slimy guy died a few years later when he got piss drunk and slammed his Mercedes into a tree at 100mph, with my replacement in the passenger seat.

 

[HanSolo]

I wasn't the person making that point. You were right. It's ridiculous to consider trading a key player to another trade "gifting" that team anything. You made a trade.

I just took issue with the characterization of those teams in that series.

Fair but my characterization was poking fun at the premise that the Oilers are directly responsible for the Ducks winning the cup. The underlying premise was almost entirely sarcasm.

 

[Sniperberg]

50 pages, for players who will have trouble cracking 50 points.

50 points? Thats a 1st liner in Philly.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

He has a sick release/shot, when he gets it on net. But it's usually from above the dots, too.


He makes up things about death threats and still won't give a reason lol.

The reason is clearly a terrible look on him or else he would've said it instead of going out looking for empathy and phrasing himself as a victim.

You lot really are sour about this. I'm sure if we all went and read the prospect thread in the Flyers forum, you all are singing a way different tune to what we're seeing now.

 

[FlyguyOX]

You lot really are sour about this. I'm sure if we all went and read the prospect thread in the Flyers forum, you all are singing a way different tune to what we're seeing now.

lol not at all. I actually think fan skepticism on Gauthier may have contributed to his change in thinking.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm sorry, but no. He is not beholden to that one team beyond the terms of y the CBA. It's not like the pick they spent on him was a huge favor to him out of the goodness of their hearts. He was going to get picked by someone high in the 1st, and it wasn't out of charity. He got nothing out of it beyond becoming a 5oa pick instead of 6th, 7th, 8th, etc.. In the scheme of things that's nada.

The player owes a team nothing until both sides agree to a deal. Conversely, a team does not owe a high draft pick a contract offer at all if for some reason they change their mind or the player has a career ending injury or something. Hell Chicago didn't owe Bedard a max ELC contract either ... But he also wouldn't be obligated to sign a low-ball offer for league minimum.

And again, none of us know whether or not a reason was given. It may very well be that there was, but the Flyers aren't interested in making it public, and an agent certainly doesn't want to burn a bridge with an organization.

It seems like, from Cutters comments, that something happened that made him say yeah no way I'm playing there and briere was told but obviously stating it is a bad look given they're tying to forge a new path right now for accountability on the team.

 

[Bleak]

50 pages, for players who will have trouble cracking 50 points.

50 points for a dmen is nothing short of astonishing! Philly would be ecstatic if Drysdale gets 50.

 

[JRichard]

How was Drysdale last night? Couldn’t watch and am hoping he does well.

According to HockeyStatsCards on X, he was 3rd worst player for Flyers.
Skates very well, makes good passes, will qb the pp but needs a partner to cover up. Might drive Torts nuts…

 

[gach]

Has he said that he will absolutely sign with the Ducks?