Flyers sign center Jacob Gaucher to an NHL contract
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Gaucher, 23, has 10 goals and 15 points in 23 games this season with the Phantoms.
It’s no secret that the Flyers are in the market for centers.
On Thursday, they added one to the fold ... kind of. The Flyers announced that they signed Lehigh Valley Phantoms center Jacob Gaucher to a two-year, NHL entry-level contract.
Gaucher, who is in his third season with the organization, had been playing for the Phantoms on an AHL-only contract. He has tallied 10 goals and 15 points in 23 games for Lehigh Valley. Last season, Gaucher totaled eight goals and 16 points in 59 games for the Phantoms, one year after he posted 22 and 61 in 71 games for Reading (ECHL). He has participated in the Flyers’ last three training camps.
While not considered a high-end prospect, the undrafted Gaucher does have a few things going for him as he pushes to crack the NHL one day. First and foremost, he has good size at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds. He also kills penalties, is good in the faceoff dot, plays with grit, and can ship in some offense, all attributes that are valued in bottom-six forwards.
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Gaucher, 23, is a bit of a late bloomer, according to Phantoms coach Ian Laperrière, who has seen his growth firsthand. Laperrière praised Gaucher for sticking with it after he scored the playoff series-clinching goal in overtime last season against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
“When we beat Wilkes-Barre in overtime, that was one of the best feelings I’ve had here,” Laperrière said. “I’m talking about it now and I have goose bumps. It was just a great feeling to see ‘Gauch,’ who, nobody saw it there. I didn’t even see it. At the beginning of the year, I didn’t even know what he was doing here because we had so many guys in front of him. I even felt he should have gone to Reading, but thank God he didn’t because he was a big part of what we did towards the end of the year.”
Gaucher will remain with the Phantoms for the time being, but we’ll see if he gets an opportunity with the big club at some point this season. His brother, Nathan, a 2022 first-round pick of the Anaheim Ducks, also plays in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls.