Several Layers Added to Flyers Trade Drama

Siobhan Nolan

Jan 11, 2024, 00:04

Siobhan Nolan

Jan 11, 2024, 00:04

Cutter Gauthier's agent, Kevin Hayes, and "Flyers Twitter" have managed to make this saga even more convoluted.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports - Several Layers Added to Flyers Trade Drama

Whether you're sick of hearing about it or can't get enough tidbits of information, there seems to be no end in sight for the Cutter Gauthier-Jamie Drysdale trade saga.

To recap: The Flyers drafted Cutter Gauthier fifth overall in 2022 and, by all accounts, Gauthier seemed raring to go. He expressed his excitement on being drafted by the Flyers on multiple occasions, even going on record as saying that he was built to play in the city of Philadelphia. However, by May of 2023, Gauthier had informed Flyers GM Danny Briere and president of hockey operations Keith Jones that he no longer wanted to be part of the organization. Briere confirmed that Gauthier and his team repeatedly ignored himself and Jones, giving no explanation behind the young player's decision and not engaging with the pair when they attempted to meet and discuss Gauthier's decision.

The bomb was dropped during the Flyers/Penguins game on Jan. 8 that Gauthier had been traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for 21-year-old defenseman Jamie Drysdale and second round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Chaos ensued. Briere calmly but firmly explained why Gauthier was traded, highlighting that the organization was not going to entertain the antics of a player who made it clear he didn't want to be a Flyer. Fans quickly rallied around Briere and Jones, made Drysdale the most-loved athlete in the city before he even touched down at the airport, and made sure Gauthier knew he was in for trouble the next time the Ducks came to town. At least by Philly fan standards, it was about as happy of an ending as one could ask for.

Except that this saga was nowhere close to being over.

Social media, in particular "Flyers Twitter" (the community of Flyers fans on what is now X, not to be confused with the officials Flyers team account) weren't satisfied with not having a solid reason as to why Gauthier wouldn't want to play for the Flyers. Philadelphia is a large, influential sports market with one of the most notorious (positively or negatively, depends on who you ask) team fanbases. Earning the respect of a city that lives and breathes its sports team wouldn't be easy, but Flyers fans were already planning the parade down Broad Street for when Gauthier and fellow top prospect Matvei Michkov would surely bring the Stanley Cup back to Philly for the first time in almost 50 years. Who would be crazy enough not to want that?

It was a blame game for the books: Was it because he grew up a Pittsburgh Penguins fan with a deep admiration of Sidney Crosby? Was he scared to play under John Tortorella's tough coaching? Did the explosion of his hype in World Juniors get to his head and he thought he could be more of a star elsewhere?

It could've been any one of those reasons, but fans decided to blame former Flyer Kevin Hayes instead.

A report from media outlet Crossing Broad said that Hayes' "fingerprints are all over" Gauthier's decision, citing their source as someone within the Flyers organization. There has been no corroboration for Crossing Broad's report.

"It's completely false...I took that kid golfing once. The coach at Boston College asked me to take him golfing just to chat with him," Hayes told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He played nine holes, and he went home. I sent him a text after he won World Juniors saying, 'Congrats.' I told him if he ever had any issues or problems, when I was with Philly, I felt like I was doing Philly a good service by helping out their fifth overall pick. Never once said a negative thing about Torts. Never once said a negative thing about the organization. I reached out to Danny B last night, told him exactly what I'm telling you.

"...Who the [expletive] am I to have influence on if a kid plays for an NHL team or not? I don't have that influence...You can ask Cutter about it; you can ask that idiot reporter if he wants to ask me questions about it. I'll answer any questions he has."

Hayes went on to insist that he as no bad blood with the Flyers organization, despite not leaving the team on the best terms.

He said: "I enjoyed all four years in Philly. It's a class-act organization. I had an absolute blast there. I wish the results were better at the end, but they weren't. All of a sudden, I get traded, which I'm not mad at them about at all. It's their opinion. We're in a professional business where they make decisions on who they want on their team. I wasn't one of them.

"I totally respect everything they've built there. I still have really close friends there. I think it's insane how an 18-year-old kid not going to a team is somehow my fault."

The St. Louis Blues center also revealed that, as a result of the accusations made against him, he's received a torrent of abuse on social media.

"Yeah, I think it's complete [expletive], honestly," he said. "...Now, I'm going to bed and waking up with death threats and people want my family dead and people that are happy that my brother's dead. I think it's completely insane..."

If that didn't—as Jamie Drysdale would say—put your head in a blender, Gauthier's agent, Kurt Overhardt, jumped in with comments of his own regarding his client's behavior.

Speaking to Pierre LeBrun on TSN's Insider Trading, Overhardt stated, "It's a private issue between the player and his family. We definitely had conversations with Philadelphia, we had very respectable conversations with Philadelphia about it. We've chosen just to take the high road and leave all that information private."

On the Anaheim Ducks' Light the Lamp podcast, he doubled down on his agent's statements, saying, "It's tough to talk about. I'd like to announce that it's a personal matter between myself, my family, and my agent Kurt.

"I did see one thing going around the Internet that I'd like to specifically address about the rumors about Kevin Hayes, and I'd like to officially say that he had zero conflict with anything that had to do with the trade. Seeing all that stuff is pretty ruthless. Kevin Hayes had nothing to do with the situation at hand. Can't really talk too much about it, going to keep it to myself and my family and my agent.