After being dealt to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday in a move that caught the hockey world by surprise, former Philadelphia Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier met with reporters on Wednesday for the first time since the trade.
In the hours following the swap that saw Anaheim send defenceman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick to Philadelphia, Flyers general manager Daniel Brière told reporters that the deal came together because Gauthier wouldn't sign, train or even communicate with the team.
Additionally, Flyers president Keith Jones said Tuesday that Gauthier "didn't want to be a Flyer."
With those comments fuelling a social media storm around the trade, Gauthier addressed the reaction he has received in a 30-minute phone call with Anaheim reporters, including The Athletic's Eric Stephens.
“There’s been a lot of good and bad,” Gauthier said. “A 19-year-old kid getting a lot of death threats and a bunch of thousands and thousands of people reaching out and just saying some pretty poor things that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, it’s pretty tough to see, obviously. But it’s a business. With all the rumours spreading around that aren’t true, it’s kind of tough to go out and say one word or anything to kind of quiet those people.
“But, you know, people are going to have opinions. People are going to say things. I can’t tell them to have an opinion or not. It’s been definitely a little bit of a stressful situation (the) last 48 hours.”
In the call, Gauthier also dispelled the rumours that he didn't want to play for Flyers head coach John Tortorella and that former Philadelphia forward Kevin Hayes influenced his decision in wanting to play elsewhere.
“I’ve kind of seen all the rumours going around about Kevin Hayes having his fingerprints on this,” Gauthier said. “I want to clarify that he has nothing to do with this whatsoever. He has absolutely nothing (to do with it). Some of the people who are kind of saying this stuff about his family and stuff like that, (it) is pretty gutless. He has zero fingerprints on this whatsoever."
Now a member of the St. Louis Blues, Hayes himself spoke out Tuesday, denying any involvement in Gauthier's decision to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic. Hayes said that he and his family had also received threats after the speculation that he was involved came out.
“I didn’t really mean to put any harm into anyone. I just was looking at a situation, kind of I’d say a pigeon view from above. I thought it was best for me to make the decision I made," Gauthier said Wednesday. "Obviously, some people aren’t going to be happy with it. I’m not here to please everyone. I’m here to do what’s best for me and my future. I felt that’s what I did. Obviously, people aren’t going to be too happy with that. Yeah, some pretty cruel things that people are saying.”
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman wrote Tuesday about what some people around hockey are saying about Gauthier's decision, while the young Boston College star has yet to divulge his motivation in looking for a new situation.
When asked about the reason Wednesday, Gauthier said: “That’s the question (that) kind of everyone’s wondering, and the biggest thing I can say right now is I have to keep it to myself, my family and my agent.
"It’s been a long process in the past handful of months of dealing with this. I don’t think it’s the right time to kind of discuss it. There might be one day where I kind of get into details on what happened. Right now, I want to keep it to a private matter.”
