Grading the Cutter Gauthier trade: Flyers lose a top prospect, Ducks take advantage

Holy moly. Who saw this one coming?

The Anaheim Ducks and Philadelphia Flyers consummated an enormously consequential trade seemingly out of the blue on Monday night — a deal in which the Flyers sent top forward prospect Cutter Gauthier to the Ducks in exchange for young defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a future second-round pick.

It’s a stunning blockbuster that sees the Flyers cut ties with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft barely 18 months after they selected him. According to Daily Faceoff‘s Frank Seravalli, Gauthier indicated to the Flyers organization at some point over that timeframe that he did not want to sign with the team.

Seravalli added later on Monday night that the Flyers engaged with upwards of 18-20 teams since being informed of Gauthier’s decision. In the end, the Ducks won out with their offer, leaving the Flyers to re-evaluate the construction of their young core.

Of course, we won’t really know who “wins” this trade until we see how things play out on the ice, but where’s the fun in that? It’s time for another edition of our Daily Faceoff Trade Grades. Here we go!

ANAHEIM DUCKS

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LW/C Cutter Gauthier, 19 – Unsigned draft pick

It really is a “New Era of Orange” for Gauthier — Orange County, that is. The Boston College sophomore is now a Ducks prospect after reportedly turning his back on a Flyers team that drafted him not too long ago (more on that later). Gauthier has 13 goals and 23 points in 17 games with the Eagles this year and also racked up 12 points in seven games with Team USA at the most recent World Juniors, tying Jiri Kulich for the tournament lead.

Gauthier isn’t as strong a prospect as Logan Cooley or Shane Wright, who respectively went to Arizona and Seattle with the previous two selections in the 2022 NHL Draft, but he’s a big, toolsy forward who can play both center and wing and has scored a ton of goals at every level over the last few seasons. Prospects of his caliber don’t come around all that often. The Ducks took their opportunity to strike.

What now? Obviously, the Ducks need to get Gauthier signed. That may be easier said than done. Remember when the Calgary Flames traded Adam Fox to the Carolina Hurricanes? Well, for Carolina, Fox ended up turning into nothing more than an “IOU two second-round picks” coupon when he remained steadfast on joining the New York Rangers. Gauthier was a Pittsburgh Penguins fan and played for the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes growing up. Does he have a team in mind, or did he just not want to be a Flyer?

The Ducks certainly have the depth and skill on defense to manage without Drysdale. Between Pavel Mintyukov, Tristan Luneau, Jackson LaCombe, Noah Warren, and Olen Zellweger, that team’s back end looks set for the present and future. It’s a pretty good crop. And it’s undeniably tantalizing to imagine Gauthier joining a forward group that already includes Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Troy Terry, and Trevor Zegras. (One wonders whether the Flyers tried to get Zegras in this deal).

There’s not a whole lot of downside for the Ducks here — that is, unless they can’t get Gauthier signed. But if they can, they’ll be adding an extremely projectable and versatile forward who has only taken steps forward since he was drafted.

Grade: A

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

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D Jamie Drysdale, 21 – $2.3 million cap hit through 2026
2025 second-round pick

So, look. The Flyers were in a tough spot. Danny Briere told reporters in Philadelphia on Monday night that Gauthier indicated after the 2023 IIHF World Championship, at which he played for Team USA, that he wouldn’t play for the Flyers. After that, Gauthier almost completely cut off communication with the Flyers and avoided their management group entirely at the World Juniors. Briere clearly had to make a move. Now, he has.

Aside from Matvei Michkov, Gauthier was by far the Flyers’ best prospect. This is a tough outcome for a team badly in need of another top young forward to enter their lineup in the coming seasons. As surprising as the Flyers have been this year, their top two forwards are Travis Konecny, who is set to become a UFA in 2025, and 31-year-old Sean Couturier. Gauthier was exactly what they needed.

But that’s not to say Drysdale isn’t a valuable piece in his own right. He’s a young offensive defenseman who went to Anaheim with the No. 6 overall pick in 2020. As a rookie with the Ducks in 2021–22, Drysdale racked up 32 points in 82 games while averaging 19:53 of ice time per game. There’s certainly something there. And a team like the Flyers can never have enough picks in the first two rounds of the draft.

That being said, Drysdale doesn’t exactly fit the bill as the prototypical John Tortorella defenseman. He’s a 5’11” righty with middling possession numbers — and he’s coming back from a torn labrum that kept him out of all but eight games in the 2022–23 season. Even so, Drysdale has five points in 10 games this year while averaging nearly 22 minutes a night. A move from a leaky Ducks team to a more stringent Flyers defensive group might be just what the doctor ordered.

It’s hard to call this a “risky” move just because it would’ve carried far more risk to hold onto a player like Gauthier who didn’t want to play in Philadelphia. But it certainly isn’t an ideal outcome. Pretty much the best the Flyers can hope for is that Drysdale becomes a rare 50-point defender while Gauthier merely turns into a much more common 50-point forward.

Grade: B-