Why Flyers traded Cutter Gauthier for Jamie Drysdale

The Philadelphia Flyers shocked the world when it was announced that they t raded one of the top prospects, Cutter Gauthier, to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick on Monday night. The 19-year-old forward was supposed to follow the typical path of joining the team after he wrapped up his season at Boston College and then get started with a full season in the fall. Well, that is not happening any more.

Now, the Flyers have moved on from the 2022 fifth-overall selection and opted to trade him to the Ducks for a 21-year-old blueliner and a decent draft pick.

But, why? What caused them to do this? Isn\'t the team rebuilding and they need all the prospects they can get? Well, there are some reasons.

The obvious reason

If you have been on social media at all -- even just a glance -- you know the main reason why the Flyers decided to trade Gauthier. The player simply did not want to be a member of the Philadelphia Flyers and let the team know that he was not going to sign here.

Alas, to get anything in return for taking him with one of the Flyers\' few top-five draft selections in their history, the team pulled the trigger and traded him. Sometimes it\'s just something super simple and as president of hockey operations Keith Jones made it clear, if someone doesn\'t want to be a Flyer, they won\'t be a Flyer. Instead of dealing with a player who is just raring to get to unrestricted free agency, going through multiple stubborn contract negotiations in the future; they opted to just let the guy go sign his rookie deal somewhere else.

The Flyers could have technically just waited until Gauthier was done college in 2026 and hoped that the player changed his mind through his junior and senior years, but also he is already a little too good for college hockey and it most likely wouldn\'t even work out that way. The player either would have made the refusal to play for the Flyers more public, or his value wouldn\'t be even close to what it is now.

Now, they get to move on and Gauthier gets to sign in Anaheim this spring to start his professional career. Everyone can win from this trade, but it depends on some factors.

But, beyond the ultimate necessity of this move, why did the Flyers do this specific trade?

Positional help

It is impossible to not think about the context of Gauthier forcing his way into getting traded, but for just a moment here, let\'s fathom some world where this is just a strict transaction that is in the vacuum with the tightest seal ever. Just simply the fact that the Flyers traded this player and in return, acquired this other player.

Throughout this entire season -- a lovely season full of pleasant surprises -- the main fact has been that the Flyers are as shallow as any other team on the blue line. Some stop-gap help has been provided, thank you Mr. Sean Walker, but the long-term outlook of this team\'s group of defensemen isn\'t as strong as some other areas. They needed to either keep on trying their luck in the first round and drafting young blueliners who can fit this team, or try and go out and acquire one in some sort of way.

Well, thankfully, they potentially did that in getting Jamie Drysdale. The former sixth-overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft was projected to be the top-pairing kind of blueliner during his time with the OHL\'s Erie Otters. Someone who can control a power play and not hurt you at 5-on-5 -- maybe not the league\'s best defenseman at doing this specific role, because Cale Makar exists, but someone who can more than help your team be a very good one.

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Injuries have sputtered the start of his career, but Drysdale is still someone who is turning just 22 years old in a few months and has a stretch of road ahead of him.

Now, the Flyers addressed just one of their elephants in their room and added another young blueliner who might just pan out to be the player that desperately need -- especially considering that he is right handed.

Still following the timeline

We\'ve already mentioned Drysdale\'s age. He is just about to turn 22 years old and that slots him right in that comfy area to tag along with the current crop of the Flyers\' young talent. Cam York is less than a year older, Tyson Foerster and Emil Andrae are just a couple months older, Joel Farabee is a couple years older -- and then you have the younger group led by Matvei Michkov and the rest of the 2023 NHL Draft class.

Instead of acquiring pure draft picks for this player -- they got one of those too -- the Flyers got a player that they were coveting for quite a while now, to nestle right in with the young players on the team right now, who could still be here when they are consistently good and competing for the division lead.

We might be trying to read too much into this acquisition -- what else is a hockey blog good for? -- but getting Drysdale and addressing the major concern with this roster shows that this front office believes in these players more than anything. The forwards now have a blueliner who can theoretically carry the puck up to them and help them out in the zone, and the blue line\'s floor has been risen, with someone who can provide some sort of two-way presence on each pairing.

There won\'t be this staggering of players like we have been accustomed to, like Travis Konceny not reaching his prime until we have seen the best members of the modern Flyers come and go, but a group of players all within two years of each other that can play together and fit in with each other.

Striking while the iron\'s hot

The trade makes sense, but why now? Why didn\'t they do this in the offseason?

Well, Gauthier is most likely signing after his college season is done in a few months and will be able to get in his NHL debut before this regular season wraps up. Not only that, but now Drysdale can be utilized for the last months of the Flyers\' season and then come roaring back at the start of the next training camp, fully with the knowledge of how to work within this system.

In addition to the players\' individual timelines, but right after Gauthier did what he did to his teenaged peers at the World Juniors, made his value as high as it could be. General manager Danny Briere even said so himself -- the fact that Gauthier performed well at the Under-20 tournament pushed the trade through. His value wouldn\'t be as high as it currently is until he comes to the NHL and scores 40 goals or whatever.

All in all, there are several contributing factors to why the Flyers decided to trade one of their best prospects. Some were able to force the trade, but some reasons were simple roster construction and making the best of a bad situation.

Talking Points