Let’s Talk About the Blockbuster. Drysdale for Gauthier
Cutter Gauthier had no interest in being a Flyer. The reasons for that aren’t entirely clear. One would responsibly speculate that he believed the plexiglass was too easy to crack with all of his wayward wrist shots that people attributed magical powers to. It’s a fair concern. They might eventually start taking that out on his paycheck.
I mean, let’s be honest. This kid told us who he was from the moment he walked in. When he was fitted with a microphone for his first development camp, and he had Devin Kaplan “feed him a couple one timers” after practice and every single shot they showed ricocheted off of the glass. They didn’t show any shots at all… likely for that reason… you could just hear the pucks colliding with the boards.
When he was prompted for player comparisons, he said Mark Scheifele and Pierre Luc-Dubois. I never understood why he gave two pass-first centers as his player comps, but now I know that PLD was just a personality comp and we never knew it.
Wait. That’s not fair to PLD. At least that dude made the NHL before he started picking his destinations.
But Cutter? He doesn’t need to wait. He patterns his shot after Auston Matthews, which he regards as a very important fact. The jury is out on whether he emulated the shot well, given that AM34 is shooting 18.6% in the NHL and Cutter is shooting 13% in the NCAA. And the college scene ain’t exactly making him face prime Hasek on a nightly basis, we’ll say that.
Now, some of you might be wondering… hey, is this sour grapes? Absolutely not! I said all of this already.
Now, I won’t lie to you. I didn’t then, and I’m surely not going to start now. There is potential for Cutter to be so much more than a mediocre goal scorer who contributes nothing else to the game. It would require humility discipline and an unyielding resolve, but the potential is there.
His World Juniors performance was the beginning of potentially laying the groundwork for that revolution in his game. I laid out the roadmap and depicted what that may look like in the article which that thread accompanies.
If any Ducks fan happens upon this article, there’s your upshot. The potential is enormous, and I’d stand by every word of that. The physical tools are elite. The approach he takes to hockey is lacking, but it can be fixed.
Of course, I think it’s fair to wonder if he has the personality to make those necessary corrections. Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t hold it against players to pick their destination. One of my favorite players is Adam Fox, and that dude said “Take me to New York or watch me graduate college with 41 doctorates.”
But you know the difference? Fox was up-front. He told both of his previous teams, ultimately, that he wouldn’t be playing for them and that they should trade him. He even made the reason why incredibly obvious. Because he was a Rangers fan growing up and wanted to play for the team he grew up dying for. You can disagree with his decision, but he was man enough to make it.
Cutter Gauthier can’t be bothered to answer calls from the organization that drafted him.
Pathetic. The organization goes out of its way to meet him at World Juniors and pitch him on coming to Philadelphia. A man might take that meeting, hear them out, and then say, “Sorry, guys, but I stand firm in my decision.”
Cutter Gauthier, a child whose mentality is even younger than his literal age, played hide and seek with the GM and POHO. And that’s not something I have any respect for. But I can hardly say it’s out of character. A kid who has no desire to play on the inside of the offensive zone also has no desire to be upfront about his desires? Seems fitting!
I hope he does well on the Ducks, and I mean that sincerely. I am one of Leo Carlsson’s foremost propagandists. I think he’s special, and I genuinely wish that he doesn’t break his back carrying around the version of Cutter Gauthier who thinks his wrist shot is God’s gift to athletics.
In the meanwhile? Let’s talk about someone who I’ve also loved for some time now. Jamie Drysdale.
The player that Cutter was traded for: Jamie Drysdale.
The 6th overall pick by Anaheim in the 2020 draft. A kid who has had a rough go of it on the injury front, but whose rookie season in the NHL was good for 32 points at the age of 19.
They throw around the term “smooth skating defenseman” fairly loosely nowadays. Jamie Drysdale isn’t that. He’s a special skater who happens to play defenseman. His fluidity, edge work, and agility are high-end. He changes directions on skates as well as a human being can. And to match his grace, he has an explosiveness that most smooth skaters don’t. He has a top speed that can leave forecheckers eating snow showers in his wake.
His puck skills complement his elite feet. He can pull off any number of elusive moves with the puck from spin moves to start and stop moves. He walks the blueline with ease, but also with an explosiveness that leaves prospective shot blockers clogging a lane that’s 4 minutes old.
His vision is above average and sometimes flashes as high-end. The ease with which he can hit things like cross-seam passes is uncanny, especially for a defenseman. I expect that as he gets comfortable in the NHL, and as he receives both the trust and license of his franchise, that game will show more and more.
I usually resent the idea of defensemen being plus shooters, but Jamie Drysdale is. He’s surgical. He can shoot for deflections as well as practically any defenseman in the league. And his vision helps here. He doesn’t just fling wrist shots through an open lane and pad a goalie’s save percentage like some people we know.
And when he gets into scoring areas? He can hit a precise spot that beats a goalie.
If I sound like I’m recklessly talking this kid up, it isn’t for no reason. The same hockey prospecting model that is a little gun-shy on Cutter is absolutely in love with Jamie Drysdale. 94% of relative scoring profiles that look like Jamie turn into star-level defensemen in the NHL.
There’s a motor to Drysdale’s game, too. This is towards the end of an overtime shift when he’s already turned on the jets once. His legs have to be burning and screaming at him to just take it easy. But he doesn’t. He sees Ryan Getzlaf left to play defenseman 1 on 1 against JT Miller and turns on hyperdrive again.
He was the man deepest in the offensive zone. He laps everyone by the time Miller gains the blue line. And when he goes to make his move? He’s met by a wall of Jamie Drysdale, and a poke check dislodges the puck from him.
The Ducks collect the loose change and go onto score a goal.
I suspect that some time under John Tortorella will only further sharpen his motor, which combined with his elite skating ability, makes him a potentially devastating weapon.
Playing defenseman in the National Hockey League is hard. It’s especially difficult when you’ve done it for 18 games over the last 2 years, and the last time you fully did it? You were 19.
But he’s healthy now. And he’s filled past the brim with talent.
The Ducks happen to have the deepest young core of defense prospects in the NHL. They got a high-potential forward using a position they had a surplus of.
But make no mistake. Jamie Drysdale has the potential to be an elite defenseman in this league. And the guy who’s gonna be working with him turned Rasmus Ristolainen from a walking disaster into a serviceable, even excellent shutdown defender after 8 years in the NHL.
Now, Brad Shaw is going to be working with a 21-year-old premiere talent. He’s gonna turn this kid into a mythical creature.
Do I sound confident? Yeah. Do you know why? It isn’t just because of the kid’s talent. Plenty of kids have talent. It’s because everyone who has ever met this kid has practically said in unison: “The Norris ain’t enough. Get him a Nobel Peace Prize.”
There are several examples of that, including from Anaheim. And anyone who follows player development closely in any sport will come to this conclusion very quickly:
Some players are so talented and so driven that they can be complete assholes and turn themselves into superhumans purely through the meeting of their talent and will.
Is that what you think you are, Cutter? Do you think you’re Kobe? Probably not. Kobe had to develop himself, and that’s seemingly beneath you. Do you think you’re Connor Bedard? Do you think you’re Matvei Michkov? I wouldn’t bet on it. I’ve seen you play both of those kids, and they both ate you alive. But at least you got your gold medal now, when the real killers were MIA and you got to pretend to be the big dog in the yard.
It isn’t a knock against Cutter that he likely isn’t that player, of course. Even elite players aren’t often that guy.
Most elite players? They’re elite physical talents who are willing to be humbled and molded by those around them. It isn’t just elite tools. It’s elite tools with high character.
And that’s Jamie Drysdale.
Mandatory credit: Johnny Ulecka
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Gauthier is buds with Kevin Hayes, and probably didn’t like how Torts treated his mentor. By not commenting publicly, he did give the Flyers the opportunity to trade him for more than just the peanuts they would have gotten had he gone public with his refusal to play in Philly. I hope he flops in the NHL, but he’s more likely a big loss for the orange and black.