It’s not often that a 20-year-old will get a chance for a revenge game in their second NHL season, but Gauthier made it clear that he’s ready to take it to his former team when the Anaheim Ducks battle the Flyers for the first time since January’s deal brought him to the West Coast.
“Obviously with all that happened, it’s definitely been a game circled on my calendar, and I’m super excited to play,” Gauthier told reporters Friday. “It’s been a lot of anticipation leading up to the game, so I’m ready to go out there and play my game.”
Gauthier was selected fifth overall by Philadelphia in the 2022 draft before a divide between the two sides set the course that led to the trade. Anaheim ultimately sent defenceman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick to the Flyers in exchange for Gauthier’s rights. The Ducks then signed the Boston College alum to an entry-level contract in April.
It was a messy exit from Philadelphia for Gauthier, who reportedly refused to train or negotiate a deal to start his career with the Flyers.
“He didn’t want to be a Flyer,” Flyers president Keith Jones confirmed in an interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia following the trade. “So we had to come up with a plan and, fortunately, we were able to execute on that plan.”
Gauthier never revealed the reason why he decided that he wouldn’t sign with Philadelphia. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last season that the Flyers’ inability or unwillingness to sign him at the end of the 2022-23 campaign may have been the beginning of the fractured relationship.
“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,” Gauthier answered when asked why he wouldn’t sign in the fallout of the trade.
“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.”
After making a one-game NHL debut with the Ducks last season — recording an assist in a win — Gauthier has slowly found his footing in a full-time role with Anaheim through 33 games in 2024-25.
The left-shot forward has four goals and 14 points in 14 minutes and 33 seconds of ice time per game for the Ducks. Gauthier has upped his production over Anaheim’s last 13 games, with six of his points on the year coming since Nov. 27.
“The confidence has definitely been growing these last eight games, and just the ability to make plays and use my speed in transition, I feel like, has adapted a lot,” Gauthier said Friday. “Definitely feeling a lot better on the ice when I’m skating through the neutral zone.”
Puck drop goes at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT Saturday between the Flyers and Ducks. You can catch all the action by streaming on Sportsnet+.