Cutter Gauthier didn't divulge the exact reason for his trade request from the Philadelphia Flyers, but he did shed some light on his decision.
"It wasn't one specific reason why I asked for a trade," Gauthier told reporters on a Zoom call Wednesday, including The Sporting Tribune's Derek Lee. "It was multiple, re-occurring issues that I'd seen over the past year and a half, two years of being under the Flyers organization. It kind of hit me all at once, thinking 'I can't move forward with this' and 'I really need to step up for myself and see what's best for my future' and that's what I did."
He added: "I haven't seen one thing that's been remotely close to the reasons that I decided."
Gauthier was selected fifth overall by the Flyers in 2022. He was shipped to the Anaheim Ducks in a shocking blockbuster trade on Monday that sent 2020 No. 6 pick Jamie Drysdale and a second-rounder back to Philadelphia. Gauthier didn't intend to sign with the Flyers and could've become an unrestricted free agent in 2026 after playing out his NCAA eligibility.
Gauthier, who currently plays at Boston College, also squashed the rumor that former Flyers forward and BC alumnus Kevin Hayes convinced him to spurn Philly.
"I haven't spoken to (Hayes) in a long time," Gauthier said. "I wanted to clarify it so it's not just his words against everyone else's. I wanted to make sure (it's known) that he definitely was not involved in this whatsoever. It's kind of disrespectful to his name that he was being brought up."
Hayes said Tuesday that the report is "complete bullshit." The current St. Louis Blues forward added that he's received death threats and messages from people saying they were happy his brother is dead. Flyers coach John Tortorella called out the reporter Wednesday for creating the rumor.
Speaking of Tortorella, Gauthier said the hard-nosed coach wasn't the reason for his request, either.
"All those rumors saying I was scared of Torts, that's not the case at all," Gauthier said. "I've had many hardo coaches throughout my whole life and I think that any coach I play for would love to have me on their team. I want to do whatever it takes to win and if they're a hard, yelling, screaming kind of coach, I'll roll with the punches."
He added: "I actually met Torts during dev camp two years back. I was super excited and thrilled to meet him and obviously being a big name in hockey and the coaching staff industry, definitely was not against playing for him whatsoever."
Gauthier said he's also received death threats due to the trade request.
"My DMs on Instagram right now are kind of pretty crazy of what people are saying right now," he said. "There's been thousands and thousands of messages. I've been getting some five, 10 minutes ago. 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 among my worst enemy. It was pretty tough to see."
Gauthier recently helped the United States win gold at the 2024 world juniors, leading the team with 12 points in seven games.
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