Cutter Gauthier clarifies reason for missing Flyers development camp, Flyers submit to toll Ivan Fedotov contract

Even for a player who lives and breathes the game, there’s been too much hockey lately for Cutter Gauthier.

That’s why the Flyers’ fifth-overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft was noticeably absent from Flyers development camp at the beginning of July.

“Was a little bit too much hockey after Worlds,” Gauthier told NHL.com on Sunday. “Just too much for me. I wanted time with the family. So I figured it was best to stay home.”

Initially, there seemed to be some confusion over his absence. On July 3, general manager Danny Brière shared that Gauthier had declined the invitation to camp. However, Brière’s language indicated a lack of communication between parties.

» READ MORE: Development camp takeaways: Emil Andrae, Bobby Brink make their cases, Cutter Gauthier absent

“We’re assuming that it’s because he’s played a lot of hockey with the World Championship, lots of travel,” Brière said. “So we’re not too worried about that.

“We’ll find out a little bit more. We’re trying to figure out why he didn’t want to come, but at this point, I’m not too worried about that.”

In addition to playing his first season of NCAA hockey with Boston College, Gauthier also played in the U20 World Junior Championships at the end of December and the men’s World Championships in May.

There was also speculation that Gauthier did not attend because of a NCAA rule that players have to pay to go to their second development camp. However, neither the Flyers nor Gauthier mentioned costs being a reason. Several other Flyers prospects, including Hunter McDonald (Northeastern) and Devin Kaplan (Boston University) who play NCAA hockey, attended despite it being their second camp.

Gauthier returned to the ice Saturday to participate in the World Juniors Showcase, along with former NTDP teammate Kaplan. The two played on the USA White team against Finland while USA Blue, featuring Flyers prospect Cole Knuble, played Sweden.

Gauthier played on the top power play unit, and while he didn’t score, he still had a strong performance. That follows his impressive showing at the world championships, where he led the team with seven goals as the second-youngest player. He also tied for second-most goals in the tournament and led all players in shots on goal with 57.

Sunday, Gauthier cleared up why he didn’t attend development camp and shared that it wasn’t a popular decision. However, it won’t affect his plans to play one more season of college hockey before joining the Flyers.

“After talking to Danny, obviously it wasn’t his favorite thing, but it was best for me,” Gauthier said. “After this year, hopefully we get done pretty late there in April with the group we have, but overall that’s [joining the Flyers] the goal.”

» READ MORE: Five offseason priorities for the Flyers as they embark on Year 1 of their rebuild

The Flyers and the NHL have submitted to the International Ice Hockey Federation that Ivan Fedotov’s contract should be tolled, according to TSN.

The Flyers signed Fedotov to a one-year contract ahead of the 2022-2023 season, but Fedotov was detained in Russia for alleged evasion of military service. He was then sent to a base in Northern Russia to serve out his mandatory year of service.

» READ MORE: Flyers prospect Ivan Fedotov makes first public comments about his military service and future

As Fedotov’s time in the military neared its end, the Flyers announced they would apply his contract to the following season. Weeks later, Russia’s KHL determined Fedotov did not have a “valid and binding” contract with an NHL team and had to fulfill a new contract with his KHL team, CSKA Moscow.

The IIHF is considering the submission. JP Barry of CAA Sports, which represents Fedotov, put out a statement regarding the matter: “We spoke to Ivan today and his position is that he will abide by the ruling of the IIHF regarding which contract (Flyers or CSKA) is currently valid and binding. He simply wants to resume his career as soon as possible.”