Cutter Gauthier situation in Philadelphia was nothing new to the NHL

On Jan. 9, the Philadelphia Flyers traded Cutter Gauthier, their first-round pick from the 2022 NHL Draft, to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick. 

For some, it came as a shock to the system. The Flyers believed Gauthier wanted to play for the Flyers when they drafted him. However, after the team met with him following his season last year with Boston College to discuss his development, Gauthier said he did not want to play for the Flyers. He informed the team of that decision following the 2023 IIHF World Championships. 

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere kept the news a secret as he believed it would not be in the player's best interest to get that out to the media in case the Flyers could not trade Gauthier. Just imagine if he had to go into the team's locker room; there would have been so much tension between Gauthier and his Flyers teammates. 

Gauthier said it was a personal decision for him not to play in Philadelphia. But this is not the first time a player has told the team that drafted him that he did not want to sign with the club. 

It is just the first time it has happened to the Flyersn. 

NHL history is replete with players who have exercised their right not to play for a particular club after they were drafted. The Flyers benefited from Eric Lindros telling the Quebec Nordiques not to draft him. Quebec drafted him anyway at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft, but Lindros refused to sign with the Nordiques. 

After holding him for the entire year, the Nordiques informed clubs they would trade Lindros. Quebec agreed to two trades -- to  the Flyers and the New York Rangers. In the end, the Flyers were awarded the trade via an arbitrator. 

If you look at the modern NHL, college players have told teams they will not sign them. Adam Fox of the New York Rangers did it twice. Fox was drafted in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Calgary Flames. The Flames traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes, but Fox said he did not want to sign there either. He was then traded to the New York Rangers. 

Other examples include Jimmy Vesey, Alexander Kerfoot, Will Butcher, Blake Wheeler, Cal Petersen, Ryan Donato, John Marino, Alex Killorn and Kevin Hayes. 

So what happened in Philadelphia is just a player exercising his right to choose where he wants to go.