BSH Community Draft Board 2022, No. T-10: Cutter Gauthier

While we discussed our 10th player in Brad Lambert in yesterday’s Community Pick Draw, the poll was actually a tie, meaning we’re not quite done with our top 10. Cutter Gauthier Also coming in at 10 on our community board is Cutter Gauthier, who fits well into that lineup, with mock drafts available putting the left-handed striker between 6 and 20, but mostly in the top 10. Gauthier is a big guy, 6 feet 3 inches and 194 pounds, but most reports mention his agility among his positive attributes. Gauthier was born in Sweden when his father, Sean, played goalie at Allsvenskan, but grew up in Michigan as part of the United States National Team Development Program, where he played his junior career. Gauthier committed to Boston College for next year after a 64-point final season with the USNTDP.

BSH Community Editorial Board 2022, T-No. 10: Cutter Gauthier

Season 2021-22:

Team: USNTDP

Stats: 34 G, 31 A in 65 GP

Prerelease Leaderboards

No. 3 (NA Skaters) by NHL Central Scouting

No. 13 by McKenzie/TSN (mid-season)

#11 by Dobber Prospects (April)

No. 20 by Wheeler/The Athletic (mid-season)

What’s there to love?

There’s a reason there’s talk of some scouts slipping Gauthier into the top 5 in the upcoming draft; he’s big but a great skater, plays on the wing but can also play center, and has a good shot but also skill with the puck. He is a goalscorer, with 34 goals in 65 games in the USDP this season and 19 in 28 games in the USHL.

Moreover, his name is Cutter Gauthier. If the Mad Max franchise ever comes to Wasteland France or French Canada, there’s sure to be a badass by the name of Cutter Gauthier.

What’s not to like?

While Gauthier is tall, he’s not the most physical presence on the ice. It’s not the worst thing in the world, but some fans see someone over six feet on the ice and expect them to move their body. It’s the same kind of move we’ve seen frequently against another (semi-)recent Flyers pick, James van Riemsdyk.

Scouts didn’t poke many holes in Gauthier’s game as much as they expressed he might not become a top player once he’s fully developed. Gauthier projects himself as a top-6 player with the potential to hit big, but his path to becoming an elite first line isn’t as clear as some of the top-5 guys. but with the Flyers making a rare top-5 pick and hoping to be gone next season (we’ll get to that, though), you hope they can use this opportunity to add some real top-end talent.

How would he fit into the Flyers’ system?

Spend three minutes on Flyers Twitter or any Flyers-related Internet forum and you’re likely to find at least a few comments clamoring for what the Flyers have been missing for most of the past decade: scoring high-end goals. Or at least someone shooting the puck. It’s the same logic behind the acquisition of Cam Atkinson last offseason and Owen Tippett at the trade deadline. Gauthier also fits this bill. Corey Pronman’s report lists his shooting as his primary offensive weapon, with an ability to “corner the corners from distance with a powerful wrist shot”. With such a high pick, teams are most likely looking to pick the best player available, but if Flyers management sees Gauthier as that player, it looks like he would be a perfect fit for a pass-heavy Flyers roster.

Could the Flyers actually have it?

Probably yes. While the consensus on the back half of the top 10 is a bit muddled among scouts and writers, the top 4 seems pretty well established, which means it will likely fall to the Flyers to make the first pick of the second tier of guys at the nope. 5. Gauthier is definitely an option for them, and if they don’t get him, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go in the next picks. Unlike Lambert yesterday, Gauthier feels like a lock going into the first round and will likely be out of the picture before the first half of the first round is over.

As we had a tie at 10, today we will add two new players to the poll:

Danila Yurov — AG/AD, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) / Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk (MHL) — 0 G, 0 P in 21 GP, / 13 G, 36 P in 23 GP:

Yurov is one of my favorites in this draft class. He’s already a proven dominant player in the MHL, where he rules play, odds and results at both ends. He has an impressive track record (partly because of his birthday in December 2003, but mostly because of his well-rounded skill level) both domestically and internationally. He’s a kid who really impressed me almost every time I saw him against his peers. If you were to fill two buckets with his tools (one for strengths, one for weaknesses) and place them on a scale, the bucket with his strengths would overflow and the one with his weaknesses would be nearly empty. — Scott Wheeler, athletics

Pavel Mintyukov – LHD, Saginaw Spirit (OHL) – 17 G, 62 P in 67 GP:

Mintyukov, who was one of Russia’s top prospects as a child, was supposed to make the jump from the OHL last season before it shut down. It took me a while this year to warm up to him, but he became a fan of me and the Scouting community as a whole with his play in Saginaw (although I’m a bit below consensus that I collect). — Scott Wheeler, athletics

2022 BSH Community Draft Committee

1. Shane Wright —C, Kingston (OHL)

2. Juraj Slafkovsky — AG, TPS (Liiga)

3. Logan Cooley — C, NTDP (USDP/USHL)

4. Simon Nemec — D, HK Nitra (Slovakia)

5. Matthew Savoy —C, Winnipeg (OHL)

6. David Jiricek — D, HC Pilsen (Czechia)

seven. Joakim Kemel — F, JYP (Liiga)

8. Conor the geek —C, Winnipeg (OHL)

9. Frank Nazar — C, NTDP (USDP/USHL)

T-10. Brad Lambert — C, JYP/Pelicans (Liiga)