A week before the NHL Entry Draft commenced in the summer of 2022, many had the Philadelphia Flyers picking Simon Nemec or David Jiricek at 5th overall with players like Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Logan Cooley going in the top-3.
As the week wrapped up, Bob McKenzie updated his final draft rankings one last time with a surprise inclusion of Cutter Gauthier in the top 5-10. He said there was a legitimate chance that he could get drafted in the 5-7 range if a team truly believed in his capabilities of turning into a centre. Lo and behold, Gauthier was taken by the Flyers with the 5th overall selection ahead of David Jiricek, who many at the time claimed to be the better, safer, and routine choice.
Gauthier was essentially a high-risk-high-reward selection as he was placed in the teens on my draft rankings and mock drafts. He announced that he would be willing to shift from the wing to the centre-ice position, which many teams saw as a boon for their future – Flyers included. Many believed that had the Flyers not selected Gauthier with the 5th overall selection that he wouldn’t have waited too long to hear his name being called out, unlike Shane Wright. Many teams fell in love with his future prospects and it’s starting to become evident as to why.
In his draft year he played 22 games for the USNTDP of the USHL, where he scored 19 goals and 28 points. He also partook in 54 games with the U.S. National U18 Team of the USDP, where he added 34 goals and 65 points, before playing 6 games for USA U18 where he tallied another 3 goals and 9 points. In total, across 3 platforms, he scored 57 goals and 102 points in 82 games.
Fast forward to the 2022-23 season, where he committed to Boston College of the NCAA, and he has 10 goals and 16 points in just 13 games. He is currently playing for Team USA at the World Juniors that started on the 26th of December and has recorded back-to-back multi-assist efforts. A lot of what he has done hasn’t shown up on the scoresheet but he has proven to be a viable asset on the man advantage as his assists have either come from a direct shot attempt or a re-direct pass attempt – both from his office in and around the faceoff dot.
The Flyers look to have a pretty good prospect in Gauthier in the pipeline for years to come and adding him to the mix of Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, and whoever they select in 2023 should give the fanbase something to look forward to beyond the darkness that is currently covering the team at this very moment.
As for the upcoming NHL Draft in 2023, all eyes are on Connor Bedard, who has been likened to Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. He is tabbed as a generational talent and those have been hard to come by in recent years. Shane Wright was likened as an elite prospect at best but never generational. Same with Nico Hischier, Alexis Lafreniere, and Owen Power. The tank-for-Bedard watch has been in full flight since the beginning of the season and as we currently stand, the Flyers have the 5th-best odds to claim the jewel of the draft.
According to Tankathon, the Chicago Blackhawks are sitting pretty at the top with an abysmal 8-22-4 record, followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim Ducks, and San Jose Sharks. Below the Flyers are rebuilding teams like the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens. New league rules that were first implemented ahead of the 2022 lottery state that no team can move up by more than 10 slots, and a team cannot win the lottery more than twice in a span of 5 years. The lottery is strictly for the top 2 picks now, instead of the first 3, securing that the team with the worst record picks no later than 3rd.
The team that finishes in last place has an 18.5% chance to win, followed by 13.5%, 11.5%, 9.5%, 8.5%, 7.5%, 6.5%, 6%, 5%, 3.5%, 3%, 2.5%, 2%, 0.5%, and 0.5%. The Flyers will likely be swimming somewhere between 5th and 10th all season long with their penchant for late-game comebacks and not giving up on a fight. John Tortorella has instilled a fighting spirit amongst the group and that unfortunately takes away from the tank-for-Bedard-sweepstakes. Crazier things have happened in the past with lotteries, as we all remember 2017 when the Flyers jumped 11 spots from 13th to 2nd and selected Nolan Patrick.
Bedard is utterly insane in the best way possible as he would change the fortunes of every single franchise in the NHL today. He scored 51 goals and 100 points in only 62 games last season for the Regina Pats of the WHL, added 6 goals and 7 points in 4 games for Canada U18, and then another 4 goals and 8 points in 7 games at the World Juniors. This year he has bettered those tallies by scoring 27 goals and 64 points in just 28 games for the Pats and is currently on a torrid pace at the World Juniors with 6 goals and 14 points in only 3 games. He is ranked #1 in every single draft ranking and for obvious reasons. He is a sensational talent and someone the Flyers desperately need to change the fortunes in a hurry. There are a lot of good players ahead of the draft this year like Adam Fantilli, Leo Carlsson, Matvei Michkov, Brayden Yager, Will Smith, and Zachary Benson to name a few, but the prize will always be Connor Bedard.
There is still a lot of season left to be played out, the lottery can be anyone’s guess with how they’ve stacked up in yesteryears past, and as we keep an eye on the standings for Connor Bedard’s sweepstakes, we should also be focusing on Cutter Gauthier’s rise in just a few months after being drafted 5th overall.
