Confirmed with Link: Flyers trade Cutter Gauthier to Anaheim for Jamie Drysdale and 2025 2nd round pick

[GKJ]

(EDIT)

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[FromOyVey2Matvei]

If Eliot Friedmann's comments are relevant/cogent, I think Gauthier did not like Briere's and Torts
"process", that you have to earn a spot on the Flyer's roster, plus he probably hated the idea of the Flyers not to expend a year on the ELC and had to play another year at BC.

For me, the kid can rot in hell for all I care, besides, I was never comfortable with him as a Flyer.

Now Barkey is the kind of Flyer I applaud....ahhhh......je ne sais quoi

I don’t give a damn about Cutter Gauthier (unless he becomes an elite goalscorer / all star).

I care more about the Flyers, in the midst of a rebuild that was already looking tenuous, shooting themselves in the foot and losing considerable value in trading one of the most valuable pieces they have for 75 cents on the dollar.

Whether Cutter is a douche with a massive ego rivaled only by Torts own huge ego or not is largely irrelevant to me. What is very relevant is that a front office with more tact and less rigidity in their “process” would’ve successfully signed Cutter and at the very least, been able to preserve more value (because a signed prospect is inherently worth more).

If you feel so strongly that the “Flyer way” and “earning your spot” is important, and you’re put off by his attitude, trade him after you signed him. It’s not hard.

 

[JABEE]

There is really no reason for Gauthier to say why now that he got what he wanted. No need to burn things down when you can just move on

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Can I have an opinion on this?

Those cost 1 USD or three (3) dog treats.

What are your thoughts on hot dogs being sandwiches?

As you well know, I have to check with the pug before I'm allowed to have opinions. She's currently asleep. And snoring.

 

[Striiker]

As you well know, I have to check with the pug before I'm allowed to have opinions. She's currently asleep. And snoring.

STOP DEFLECTING

ANSWER THE QUESTION AND ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT

 

[Beef Invictus]

So if we go by that, the kid didn’t want to be part of the Flyers development machine, and a questionable FO.

Shocking

See? This is a positive good. This is the kind of humiliation needed.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Sounds like he viewed the Fletcher/Briere/Jonesy Flyers as dysfunctional.

Well he isn't wrong

 

[JojoTheWhale]

STOP DEFLECTING

ANSWER THE QUESTION AND ACCEPT YOUR PUNISHMENT

I am a sandwich radical. Everything from a sushi roll to fried chicken is a sandwich.

 

[Embiid]

See? This is a positive good. This is the kind of humiliation needed.

10+ years and 50 year cup drought hasn't been enough apparently. This hole the team keeps digging is big enough to provide geothermal energy for all of the tri-state area.

 

[landsbergfan]

I think it is quite clear from what has been said, especially from his post trade interviews with the ducks media, that he and his family/agent felt beginning his career with the flyers would be detrimental to whatever measure of future success they feel is important. I can't say he is wrong, but it is tough to quantify how right he is. It certainly makes sense when considering the usual development path of forwards under Torts.

It's not the first time an athlete has taken that matter into his own hands. The timing of it and how that was handled certainly created most of the issue fans are going to have with the decision. We aren't owed an exact reason, and at this point it really wouldn't matter. As a group of shitposters, it's probably better that we dont know the exact reason and can speculate for 85 pages

 

[Striiker]

I am a sandwich radical. Everything from a sushi roll to fried chicken is a sandwich.

Hell yes

I knew I could count on you to be reasonable

 

[landsbergfan]

Hell yes

I knew I could count on you to be reasonable

it is a sandwich the same way a square is a rectangle

 

[Embiid]

I mean what successful organization whatever it may be or for what reasons (valid or not) has workforce retention issues? If you have a good , competent and winning culture this shit doesn't happen ...period....exclamation point.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I don’t think Verbeek is a good GM at this juncture (neither do I think Briere is either) but it’s probably easier in a hockey player’s eyes to put blind faith in someone who came up during Tampa Bay’s dynasty than someone who came up during the last decade of the Flyers.

 

[Svedu]

As a flyers fan, I wanted Jiricek before Gauthier. A no brainer. Also hoped for Lambert as a late steal. Sadly, can't say I was wrong.
I hope we can draft Konsta Helenius to center a future Michkov line or why not a, dare I say? Potential top6 in Tuomaala.

Anyway, I never was a fan of Gauthiers actual talent level and I don't have any hard feelings what so ever, a dumb choice from the beginning. But I'm not that keen on Drysdale and would've still picked Jiricek before him because of higher upside imo.

Last but not least, I would've wanted to see something else in exchange for a fifth pick, perhaps Heinola and Lambert. Two prospects with higher upside. But then again, Lambert is probably already better than Gauthier so that would've been a really stupid move by the Jets.

 

[ajgoal]

Hell yes

I knew I could count on you to be reasonable

dumplings are sandwiches. As are chicken nuggets.

 

[Rebels57]

The more he talks, the more it sounds like he just won't actually reveal what the "things" that happened were to cause him to quit on the Flyers. Probably because they are petty and will make him look worse.

Maybe he reads HF Boards and didn't like @Beef Invictus constantly doubting if his goal-scoring will translate?

 

[deadhead]

We got a #6 and a probable #40 or so for #5.

I'd say Drysdale has a higher ceiling than Gauthier just based on position played, but more risk (I'll trade a 1LW for a 1st pair D-man any day of the week if the 1LW isn't elite, anyone ever thought Gauthier was going to be elite?).

And I'd rather have the player who wants to be here. Given Drysdale is 21 and Gauthier is 20 (and D-men tend to have longer careers), age is irrelevant.

So at this point good riddance, I don't see this having a major impact on the rebuild (Barkey may end up bringing more offense than Gauthier if he continues his current development path).

The only problem is we need more size, and this just means Briere may have to use size as a tiebreaker to balance the roster. The organization has a number of skilled prospects in Michkov, Barkey, Ciernak, Rizzo, Tuomaala, Andrae. But no big skilled forwards unless Kaplan makes a big jump and only Bonk, Attard and Sotheran (all RHDs) have size on defense (unless you think Samson, McDonald and Mann have a NHL future).

 

[JojoTheWhale]

We got a #6 and a probable #40 or so for #5.

I'd say Drysdale has a higher ceiling than Gauthier just based on position played, but more risk (I'll trade a 1LW for a 1st pair D-man any day of the week if the 1LW isn't elite, anyone ever thought Gauthier was going to be elite?).

And I'd rather have the player who wants to be here. Given Drysdale is 21 and Gauthier is 20 (and D-men tend to have longer careers), age is irrelevant.

It’s almost two full years of age difference without significant progress. Plus a wildly different contract dynamic. Hand-waving that is a fool’s errand.

That’s not to say he can’t recover. Nor am I the biggest Gauthier fan. We’re just talking about the probability.

 

[Striiker]

dumplings are sandwiches. As are chicken nuggets.

They absolutely are.

 

[Redpath]

Briere saying on the Jeff Marek Show that Gauthier had wanted to return to college. When his agent requested a Zoom call post-Worlds, they expected it was for him to be changing his mind and saying he was ready to go pro.

So that makes the timeline even more confusing. If, March-ish (post-BC season, pre-Worlds), Gauthier wasn't even looking to go pro, could deliberation over an ELC/burning a year/cap overages really have been the cause for him to change his mind by May?

At least 2 other teams had serious offers. Didn't necessarily have to be a defenseman coming back, they wanted to address either defense or center.

 

[thedjpd]

It’s almost two full years of age difference without significant progress. Hand-waving that is a fool’s errand.

That’s not to say he can’t recover. Nor am I the biggest Gauthier fan. We’re just talking about the probability.

It's 2 years by age, not by games. The concerns around injury are valid and whether he can recover - but to say that he's stalled development (Drysdale) in terms of potential or progress is pretty disingenous.

This is his second season in the NHL, effectively. 130ish games so far. He's got 6 points in 11 games this far as a small sample, with 30ish as an 18 year old. Nothing about his "potential" or "upside" is different, or slowed down. The question is going to be can he stay healthy enough to get there - that's still an open question.

 

[VladDrag]

Again, you’re doing exactly what I’m describing here — contorting the circumstances to fit our particular grievances as Flyers fans; in this case, Morgan Frost’s treatment in the lineup.

Trevor Zegras (9th overall, 2019) and Mason McTavish (3rd overall, 2021) are totally different players and situations than Morgan Frost (27th overall, 2017). Much, much better players, at that. And they proved it and forced their roles in the Ducks’ lineup right off the bat. Why not cite Sam Steel (30th overall, 2016) who flamed out in Anaheim?

The Flyers afforded every opportunity to their top-of-the-draft prospects (eg, Provorov, Patrick). Konecny hasn’t exactly been put in a position to fail, either. Of course there are frustrations you can point to (valid ones!), but there are plenty of kids getting their opportunities. Notwithstanding the odd lineup decision here and there, Foerster & Brink are not exactly being starved for opportunity. Gauthier almost certainly would have been gifted a major opportunity on the Flyers before proving that he’s earned it (and that would have been the proper decision). Michkov will be too.

But surely you understand that not every opportunity is equal. Sure, you can say look, Frost is getting games, Brink, Foerster, they are all getting games and time, but it doesn't mean that their development is prioritized.

Last year, the GM had to tell the coach to play Frost with offensive players because he refused to. This is when they didn't have a 1C. When he finally did, Frost went on a 60 point pace over the last 50 games. Then, 2 games into the season this year, he was benched for 2 or 3 straight weeks. It got so unusual that the national media picked up on it (You think Cutter saw that?). Anytime the team isn't playing well, Frost is the one who gets benched. And yet, his underlying metrics are phenomenal; he's tilting the ice in the flyers favor every time he steps on the ice. I do recognize he's underperforming in the raw points totals and I would love for him to have 4 or 5 more points right now because I think he's capable of it, but still he's proven that he's a legitimate NHL center with top-6 upside.

Bobby Brink, who has been very good offensively, is getting put on the 4th line. Scott Laughton is currently seeing power play time over Brink, an area where Brink has shined his entire career. His average icetime has dropped somewhat consistently from about 15 to about 13 min/game.

I could continue (and have in other threads), but I'll just stop there.

My point being that these are not contorted circumstances. These are real grievances. Development isn't just put them out there, and if they are good enough, they will succeed. It's about putting them in a position to be successful.

 

[GKJ]

Briere saying on the Jeff Marek Show that Gauthier had wanted to return to college. When his agent requested a Zoom call post-Worlds, they expected it was for him to be changing his mind and saying he was ready to go pro.

So that makes the timeline even more confusing. If, March-ish (post-BC season, pre-Worlds), Gauthier wasn't even looking to go pro, could deliberation over an ELC/burning a year/cap overages really have been the cause for him to change his mind by May?

At least 2 other teams had serious offers.

Or when they didn’t do it in March, he decided to go back.

 

[deadhead]

It’s almost two full years of age difference without significant progress. Plus a wildly different contract dynamic. Hand-waving that is a fool’s errand.

That’s not to say he can’t recover. Nor am I the biggest Gauthier fan. We’re just talking about the probability.

I said more risk.
D-men tend to have longer careers, so that balances out age.

The risk is primarily injury, was it a one off or is Drysdale fragile? Maybe he was just rushed and not physically ready, maybe not. There is nothing in the kid's profile that say character issue and he's touted for having a high IQ, so there's a lot for someone like Shaw to work with. And the raw talent is certainly there.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

It's 2 years by age, not by games. The concerns around injury are valid and whether he can recover - but to say that he's stalled development in terms of potential or progress is pretty disingenous.

History disagrees with this to an overwhelming degree.

I’ve been careful to not say he’s stalled. That’s ridiculous. But so is insisting he hasn’t. We have no idea. He’s undeniably worth less in trade today than he was when he was drafted. Two different issues.