RW Julien Gauthier (2016, 21st, CAR; traded to NYR)

[wings5]

Looked great today, physically already NHL ready. Although it was against a tired Russian team.

 

[JayKing]

Traded to the Saint John Sea Dogs. They are absolutely stacked.

 

[izzy]

That's not a great return for him

 

[Redline]

I haven't heard much about how Gauthier is working out in Saint John? His goal totals look to be way down this year, does anyone that watches him have any idea's why?

 

[torontosports10]

The team is winning, but the big dogs on the team have been mediocre the last few weeks.

 

[MMC]

Why are his AHL stats so crappy?

 

[Thebesthockey]

in jr it was man against child in size
in AHL not so much
it all evens out
now he needs talent
not so much

 

[dogbazinho]

Drafting physically complete players sometimes has a risk of their earlier careers being propelled by them physically imposing themselves on others. As other players mature and catch up physically sometimes these prospects no longer develop other aspects of their game. It always worries me with drafting these type of players.

 

[wings5]

Only in his first AHL season and the word bust is already being used, bigger forwards take longer to develop the kid is barely 20 years old, lets wait a while.

 

[landy92mack29]

I remember when Mantha was a bust his 1st pro year

 

[Thebesthockey]

not even close to a comparaison
mantha bringing in allot of skill into ahl with him

 

[GoldiFox]

not even close to a comparaison
mantha bringing in allot of skill into ahl with him

It's about as close as a prospect comparison one can make.

Curious time to bump this thread when Gauthier just had a 2 goal game and has been coming on strong recently.

 

[newfy]

I remember when Mantha was a bust his 1st pro year

Mantha broke his leg in training camp that year and came back slow, 90% of wings fans would've told you who watched him play that that was a big part of it. He was looking like he was going to make the wings out of training camp that year. Gauthier produced way less in junior (by a lot) and was pretty pedestrian at the World Juniors, whereas Mantha was probably Canadas best player. Gauthier also seemed to kind of stagnate production wise in Junior.

I'm not saying Gauthier is a bust, but it doesnt look good. Using Mantha as a comparison isnt a very good reason to hold onto hope either

 

[Canes]

Most of Ron Francis' 1st round picks other than the Hanifin gift look bad. Plus even if Fleury, Bean, and Gauthier become decent to good NHLers, there will be multiple better players at both defense and offense that we could have had over them.

Given all of that and Gauthier's performance since drafting him, I would be really surprised if he even becomes a journeyman NHLer. Not really his fault an inexperienced, subpar GM took him higher than he should have gone. That just added unneeded pressure for him to perform.

 

[kabidjan18]

That's the problem with combating anecdotes, it basically comes down to previously held beliefs. We don't have to accept the Mantha anecdote, I could offer Radek Faksa as another example, but that would speak more to my personal views than objective truth.

 

[Caser]

Traded to NYR.