Player Discussion Cutter Gauthier

[MMC]

Gauthier demonstrates leadership skills with Ducks prospects | NHL.com

Opts to attend Anaheim development camp after making NHL debut in April

www.nhl.com

Having already played an NHL game, Gauthier could have opted out of development camp, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to meet other young players in the system.

Matt McIlvane, coach of San Diego, Anaheim’s affiliate in the American Hockey League, said Gauthier showed his maturity on the first day of development camp.

"Cutter said right away, 'I want to be a leader for the guys who are experiencing camp for the first time,’” McIlvane said. "For someone new to the organization to jump in and take on that responsibility right away, I applauded him for it."

As for his on-ice development, Gauthier said he's working on all aspects but mainly gearing up for the physical and mental demands of a long season.

"I've never played 82 games in my life in a season, maybe in youth hockey, but nowhere near this level as the NHL," he said. "So, just being ready mentally and, obviously, getting ready physically this summer is the biggest thing that I'm looking forward to."

 

[mightyquack]

Can't wait to watch him score the GWG against Philly next season.

 

[AngelDuck]

Can’t wait for September

 

[dracom]

so funny how angry Flyers fans on reddit are with this kid. and by funny, i mean it's really pathetic how angry flyer fans on reddit are about him.

The Flyers organization as a whole completely sucks ass, not surprised he didn’t want to play there.

 

[Firequacker]

You know, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that Flyers fans don't seem to want to give Gauthier. If one member of management/ownership did something improper and screwed things up with a top prospect, it's entirely possible that only the one particular person involved knows, the rest of the brass may truly be in the dark.

If OTOH they do know and they're covering it up by feigning ignorance, then you have to know it's embarrassing or ugly, and involves someone very significant.

I was a little more glib in that paragraph than I needed to be, admittedly. I don't think you're wrong about them potentially really not knowing. The thing is, if I were a Flyers fan watching such a highly touted prospect force his way off the team (especially, like you say, when he ends up on the Ducks) while claiming it was due to several things piling up, I still wouldn't be very happy to accept "well, we dunno" from the front office about it. Figure it out (or at least act like you're trying to) before you lose more key players, don't just shrug and pivot to "he didn't want to be a Flyer, and that's terrible".

It doesn't seem like most Flyers fans are mad about the lack of explanation anyway, they're mad because they've decided they know the reason and it's that Gauthier is an entitled brat. Which, if this were really just him being an entitled whiner about the ELC, I can't see why their front office wouldn't say that outright. It's certainly not because they're trying to take the high ground.

 

[Leonardo87]

Can't wait to watch him score the GWG against Philly next season.

I will sell my soul for that to happen. Love this kid. lol

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I still think there's more to this than what's been speculated. The more I think about it, if it really was just about the ELC burn, one side or the other probably would have said so, it's just essentially a money dispute and not worth making it into a big mystery.

But Gauthier stating that it wasn't one thing but a couple smaller things over a period of time, and the agent saying the family was involved in the decision ... sounds like they had a run in of some sort with a particular person in the org, but it's someone who's not going anywhere either. And the Flyers claim of ignorance could be a case where the rest of the brass genuinely does not know because it was a private interaction with one person and they're truly like "wtf happened?", or they do know but it's something that they would rather bury.

I don't claim to know anything, I could be completely off base. But if something uncomfortable happened with someone in the org, it would really go a long way toward explaining almost everything that happened.

The post hoc press conference and statements made by flyers management were hugely unprofessional and to my mind ratify the theory that Cutter had a really good reason to not want to work with them.

Now their wierd fans stalk forums everywhere to Correct the Record about how their childish behavior is actually really justified if you think about it, and management had to know that was the least of what would happen, up to and including death threats and more. They didn’t care! So I’m glad they feel bad and I’m glad their dork fans feel such mental discomfort that they have to troll around looking for opportunities to feel better about themselves. It’s a fraction of what they deserve.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

I love to hear Cutter embracing the role, I remember reading something about him being a leader on his college team as well.

Although I do have to admit I have to chuckle a little bit at the thought of him going around saying things like "Oh you've never played in the NHL? Don't worry, you'll get there" after 1GP lol

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I will sell my soul for that to happen. Love this kid. lol

You're selling your soul too cheaply. I'd at least hold out for a natural hat trick in a 3-2 Ducks win, with Cutter scoring the 3rd goal in OT and hear Cutter scream out loud ...

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I wonder how the fan base would feel if someone like McTavish pulled something like that after his WJC performance.

It sucks for Philly fans, but they have a good player in Drysdale (great when healthy and fully developed)

Who knows. Maybe Gauthier doesn’t perform well, or maybe he turns out to be a 70 point player in his rookie season. I’m happy we have some skill in this bleak lineup

 

[Leonardo87]

Flyers fans should not be coming in here to criticize and bash Gauthier, I won’t tolerate it.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Sounds like a future captain.

 

[FiveTacos]

I wonder how the fan base would feel if someone like McTavish pulled something like that after his WJC performance.

It's so rare/unprecedented though, that you'd have to think something rare/unprecedented happened behind the scenes to cause it. And then no one wants to talk about it?

Wouldn't have been happy, but also not going ballistic without more info.

 

[dracom]

I wonder how the fan base would feel if someone like McTavish pulled something like that after his WJC performance.

well i know i wouldn't be sending death threats, following him to unrelated games to trash him, or going around to other teams boards to shit talk him.

 

[Hockey Duckie]

I wonder how the fan base would feel if someone like McTavish pulled something like that after his WJC performance.

It sucks for Philly fans, but they have a good player in Drysdale (great when healthy and fully developed)

Who knows. Maybe Gauthier doesn’t perform well, or maybe he turns out to be a 70 point player in his rookie season. I’m happy we have some skill in this bleak lineup

Under Verbeek, he doesn't expend high draft picks on NCAA bound players.

2022 draft: Rd 5 RW Callow
2023 draft: none
2024 draft: Rd 6 RW Burnevik

I think the Justin Schultz snubbing has most Duck fans stable, provided they recall that incident, since it's much worse than the Cutter situation. Anyhow, karma seems to be alive and well. We miss out on Schultz, but we end up with G Andersen b/c he didn't want to sign with Carolina. We miss out on Thrun, but then we end up with Cutter b/c he didn't want to sign with Philly.

 

[The Midnight Burrito]

I wonder how the fan base would feel if someone like McTavish pulled something like that after his WJC performance.

Boo! That’s what you do. As fans, that’s your only legitimate tool. Yell your displeasure at him during games. That’s it. Otherwise, you leave him alone.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

Boo! That’s what you do. As fans, that’s your only legitimate tool. Yell your displeasure at him during games. That’s it. Otherwise, you leave him alone.

Yeah, it's crazy how some fanbases have people who are like rabid animals to 'protect' their team. Quite ridiculous lol.

I think the Justin Schultz snubbing has most Duck fans stable, provided they recall that incident, since it's much worse than the Cutter situation. Anyhow, karma seems to be alive and well. We miss out on Schultz, but we end up with G Andersen b/c he didn't want to sign with Carolina. We miss out on Thrun, but then we end up with Cutter b/c he didn't want to sign with Philly.

I don't remember the 'outrage' with Schultz being that bad - or does that have to do with us being a small market team? less exposure perhaps?

 

[GreatBear]

I don't remember the 'outrage' with Schultz being that bad - or does that have to do with us being a small market team? less exposure perhaps?

My memory is that there was tremendous outrage against Schultz. He was considered a "traitor". Much of that had to do with the fact that he kept saying that he would sign with the Ducks until the very end, when he did not. Fans viewed this as lying to the Ducks, as he did not give the Ducks the opportunity to trade his signing rights for value. He earned plenty of boos from the crowd when he would play at the Honda Center. Time has certainly caused much of that anger to drain away. Now he is just another player for the opponent, not worthy of more than a few boos from long term die hard fans.

Contrast this reaction with the reaction to Thrun not signing with the Ducks. Thrun told this to the Ducks while he still could be traded for value. This allowed the fans to feel that the Ducks got some compensation because Thrun acted honorably. This was unlike the situation with Schultz, where he did not give the Ducks that opportunity.

Gauthier told the Flyers that he would not sign with them, and he was traded to the Ducks for substantial value. However, he had previously expressed excitement about joining the Flyers, so there is some sense of betrayal by the fans. Plus, it is Philadelphia, where the fan base for all sports is one of the most unforgiving cities in the country. What can you expect in a city where fans once booed Santa Claus.

 

[70sSanO]

It was fun to boo Schultz when he was at Edmonton. By that time the Ducks were a good team, at least regular season, and Edmonton sucked.

I don’t know what his options were, but I always thought only an idiot would sign with the Oilers with the whole league available to him.

Getting a couple of cups with Pittsburg did smart some as we were getting past our peak. And he never could play defense.

John

 

[HanSolo]

Again, the Schultz situation is entirely different. Schultz led the Ducks on for four straight years as they kept entertaining his wishes to get a full college education before coming over. Anaheim never got the opportunity to trade his rights for value. Philly knew Cutter wanted out and they got value in return. The one thing that Cutter did that you can remotely criticize him for is shutting Flyers management out as they tried to change his mind, but whatever happened there, Cutter was serious about wanting out.

 

[ZegrassyKnoll]

One other thing to consider - how much does Cutter's embrace of our franchise speak to the competency of our management team?

 

[HanSolo]

One other thing to consider - how much does Cutter's embrace of our franchise speak to the competency of our management team?

Hard to say. Cutter seems excited to get his NHL career going the right way and I'd imagine he probably feels excited to be a part of one of the stronger up and coming youth cores in the league. Philly is a directionless disaster from an organizational long term outlook.

 

[Static]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1818050666390028522

 

[Ducks DVM]

Again, the Schultz situation is entirely different. Schultz led the Ducks on for four straight years as they kept entertaining his wishes to get a full college education before coming over. Anaheim never got the opportunity to trade his rights for value. Philly knew Cutter wanted out and they got value in return. The one thing that Cutter did that you can remotely criticize him for is shutting Flyers management out as they tried to change his mind, but whatever happened there, Cutter was serious about wanting out.

I would like it for Verbeek to sign Schultz so that I could boo him for 41 games this season. The first game back where he was booed so hard that he just lost the puck was priceless.

 

[Sean Garrity]

I would like it for Verbeek to sign Schultz so that I could boo him for 41 games this season. The first game back where he was booed so hard that he just lost the puck was priceless.

I’d prefer they sign him, send him to Tulsa (because SD is way too nice for him to be scratched in) and let him suffer playing there. 100% petty, I know. It’s Schultz’s leading the organization on that will always bother me. I’m not a huge fan of what Thrun did, but I can respect giving the organization a heads up as opposed to totally f***ing them over.