You will be hard pressed to find a person in Philadelphia who doesn’t hate Cutter Gauthier and can also pick him out of a lineup. That’s what happens when such a blatant and personal betrayal happens in this city. It doesn’t matter who you are — in fact, we don’t even have to know who you are — if you don’t like us, we hate you. On January 9th, 2024, Cutter Gauthier became Public Enemy #1 in Philadelphia.
Flash back to July 7, 2022, NHL Draft night. The Flyers were picking 5th overall after a terrible season. Logan Cooley and Shane Wright went 3 and 4 with the next best prospect falling to the Flyers: 18-year-old Cutter Gauthier who was planning on attending Boston College. This was an awesome get! The Flyers had been desperate for blue chip level talent for years and Gauthier was exactly that. Then the following draft, the Flyers took a chance on maybe the best Draft eligible talent in the world in Matvei Michkov. The problem was that he might never come over from Russia. It didn’t matter. The Flyers now had two legit top prospects to dream on.
Gauthier’s freshman year did nothing but get Flyers fans excited: 16 goals, 21 assists in 32 games. In his sophomore year, Gauthier exploded with an NCAA leading 38 goals plus 27 assists. Unfortunately, we were a little less excited when those season totals became finalized. Midway through that collegiate season, we found out things were not so good behind the scenes.
Apparently, Gauthier and his representation stopped talking to the Flyers around May 2023, after his freshman year at BC. The disagreement was that Gauthier didn’t want to wait another year to get started in the NHL. The Flyers thought he wasn’t ready and didn’t want to start his contract clock. There are rumors that it was more than that, that Gauthier never wanted to be a Flyer and that he hated coach John Tortorella. The Flyers gave him space but were rebuffed for months whenever they tried to contact him. He made it clear that he would NEVER sign with the Flyers. Not a word of this got out to the media. We just all thought he was going to lead the next great Flyers team as our first great goal scorer in years…until January 9, 2024.
Out of nowhere, the news hit that Gauthier had been traded to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 2nd round pick. What the hell??? Why the hell??? Danny Briere did a news conference where he gave a composed but very clearly angry explanation of what had happened. The trade happened in stealth so the Flyers could retain some bargaining position. Had it not, Gauthier could have dictated his own location and really frozen the Flyers out or even just bide his time to wait for his rights to expire at the end of college. Just like that, the dream was dead.
The reaction from the entire city was fury. Flyers fans knew Cutter Gauthier, but the rest of the city had no idea. However, they were very aware that some spoiled 19-year-old asshole FROM FUCKING BOSTON didn’t want to come to Philadelphia. Fuck him! By the end of the day absolutely everyone knew who Cutter Gauthier was and they hated him.
Years earlier, JD Drew was drafted #2 overall by the Phillies but refused to sign. Two years later, he made his first in-game appearance for his new team, the St. Louis Cardinals, in Philadelphia. It also happened to be Duracell Battery Day at Veteran’s Stadium. Famously, a few were tossed in his general direction. Over his 14-year career, Drew would end up playing 33 games in Philadelphia and was lustily booed in every single one of his 145 plate appearances.1 Philly doesn’t forget.
After the trade and the end of the college hockey season (Boston College LOST in the National Championship…losers), Gauthier signed his entry level contract with the Anaheim Ducks. He got into 1 game that season. His true rookie year, he was very good, scoring 20 goals with 24 assists in a full 82 games. I hate to say it, but he is now as advertised and fully weaponized in his second full season. Through about half the season he has nearly matched his scoring output from last season. He’s only 22.
The bright side of all this is that with Gauthier around, the Ducks no longer had the patience to wait for their own former top prospect, center Trevor Zegras. The Flyers swooped in and grabbed him for a 2nd, 4th, and Ryan Poehling. Zegras has been rejuvenated in Philadelphia, reunited with his best friend in Anaheim, the coincidentally traded Jamie Drysdale. For some, Zegras can be seen as the anti-Gauthier. The fun and good forward who WANTS to be in Philadelphia. Others still see Gauthier as a big lost opportunity. Did it really have to happen this way? For everyone though, he’s Philly’s current most hated, even if we still have no idea who he is.
- It should be noted that Drew destroyed the Phillies throughout his career to the tune of a 1.001 OPS ↩︎
Philly Front Office 
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