Former Flyers Captain Speaks Out On Cutter Gauthier: 'If He Thinks He’s Going to Have a Better Time Someplace Else, Then Go For It.'

With Boston College advancing to the Frozen Four, Flyers fans have not seen the last of the top prospect.

When Cutter Gauthier let it be known that he wasn't going to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers — essentially forcing the team into trading his rights to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Jamie Drysdale earlier this season — a giant orange-and-black target was placed on the top prospect's back.

Philadelphia fans called the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft a villain, a traitor and much, much worse. Flyers coach John Tortorella took a different approach, saying, "I don't know Cutter from a hole in the wall."

But with Gauthier having picked up a pair of assists in Boston College's 5-4 overtime win against Quinnipiac on Sunday, it's going to be increasingly difficult to ignore someone who The Hockey News recently ranked as the No. 2 prospect currently playing outside the NHL.

Basically, if you didn't know who Gauthier was before, you will now that he's going to the Frozen Four. And according to Eric Lindros, the Flyers only have themselves to blame for how they "publicized the situation" to the point where Gauthier has received death threats from angry fans.

"I would have focused on just saying, ‘We wanted Jamie Drysdale and we had to give up this player,’ " Lindros said in an interview with The Hockey News over the weekend. "That’s how I would have dealt with it. I wouldn’t have publicized the situation. I would have just traded the kid."

Lindros speaks from experience.

As the top prospect heading into the 1991 NHL draft, Lindros let it be known that he wasn't interested in playing for the Quebec Nordiques. They picked him anyway and then tried to pressure him into playing for them. 

A year later, he was eventually traded to the Flyers.

Lindros' reasons for not wanting to play for the Nordiques were based on the team's dysfunctional ownership. Gauthier's reasons for not wanting to play in Philadelphia are less known. But either way, Lindros said it's the player's right to decide where he wants to play.

"I had a great time in Philly," said Lindros. "But if he thinks he’s going to have a better time someplace else, then go for it. It’s a player’s right. The better the city and the organization treats a guy, the more it’s going to attract guys. That’s a big part of it.

"I don’t think a player puts his head down any more and says, ‘Thank you.’ Especially a free agent or someone who has been around the league."

Gauthier, who currently leads all players in the NCAA with a .95 points per game average, has scored 37 goals and 64 points in 39 games this season with Boston College. It looks like the 6-foot-2 forward is going to be a special player, one that will be an important piece to the Ducks' offense going forward.

Maybe that's why the Flyers took his decision not to sign in Philadelphia so personally.

As for how the Flyers handled the situation, Lindros said he wondered why GM Daniel Briere even mentioned that Gauthier had no interest in signing. After all, the Flyers ended up getting Drysdale in the trade, who some suggest might end up becoming a better player than Gauthier will be.

"Think about how it was handled," said Lindros. "It's like going to the bar when you’re younger and you ask a girl out. If she says, ‘No,’ you don’t go to your buddies and say 'She shut me down.' You know what I mean?

"(The Flyers should) accentuate that you got a player you coveted. But you don’t mention the guy who didn’t want to go to your team."