Trade grades: Evaluating the Cutter Gauthier-Jamie Drysdale deal

The Flyers and Anaheim Ducks made a major trade on Monday night, with the teams swapping top prospects in a three-piece deal. Highly regarded goal scorer Cutter Gauthier went to the Ducks in return for talented blueliner Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick.

The deal, which was facilitated after Gauthier informed the Flyers he did not want to play for them, figures to have major long-term ramifications for both rebuilding franchises. Here’s what our experts, Jackie Spiegel and Lochlahn March, think of the deal.

» READ MORE: Flyers trade No. 2 prospect Cutter Gauthier to Anaheim in shocking move

The Flyers brass made lemonade out of some very sour lemons and handled it incredibly well. Speaking to the media, general manager Danny Brière easily could have hurled Gauthier under the bus but took the high road by just stating the facts: that the Boston College sophomore said last May he didn’t want to play for the Flyers and would not communicate with the team even when the team’s brass schlepped to Sweden last week for World Juniors. The Flyers had to avoid an Adam Fox or Jimmy Vesey situation after his college years. And Brière had to state what happened because the questions would have echoed for decades if they had just traded him and not provided any context.

Drysdale is considered to be not only a high-end talent but also a good guy in the room. The Flyers have been preaching that the locker room is a family, and several veterans have said this group is the closest they have been a part of. Getting rid of someone who could have a bad attitude, be sour about being in Philadelphia, and may not have a team-first approach, is important. As Travis Sanheim said, he didn’t show up to development camp, and that set the tone — not in a good way. Reading between the lines, there was no turning back after that.

Monday night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins was yet another game that screamed that the Flyers need offense. But something had to be done with Gauthier, and what the Flyers got out of the deal was a smooth-skating and highly skilled defensive prospect who is just 21 years old. These guys don’t fall out of trees. Yes, Drysdale has had some injury issues — he missed most of last season with a torn labrum and a lower-body injury kept him out for a bit earlier this year — but the skill set he can bring when healthy is something the Flyers probably haven’t seen since Kimmo Timonen, or, if all plays out right, maybe Éric Desjardins. Tortorella said he’ll immediately join the power play, as he’ll use his quick feet and high hockey IQ to quarterback one of the units.

Grade: A-

The reality is Brière didn’t have a ton of leverage, especially given he’d been quietly shopping Gauthier around as far back as the 2023 draft. The alternative was calling Gauthier’s bluff, which could have resulted in him walking away in two years and leaving behind nothing but a second-round comp pick. Instead, Brière secured a second-rounder plus a young right-handed defenseman with top-pairing upside, filling a need for the Flyers. Yes, Drysdale has an injury history, but we’re talking about a torn labrum, not an underlying disorder. Plus, this addition gives Brière some room to potentially flip Sean Walker, who has been drawing trade chatter all season, for even more assets.

» READ MORE: Trading Cutter Gauthier is the Flyers’ first big setback in their rebuild

Of course, high-end scoring talent with an elite shot like Gauthier’s also was a need, there’s no denying that. But if he was never going to wear the Orange and Black anyway, there wasn’t much of an alternative. This is a team that has preached a ton about the importance of locker room culture, so whatever Gauthier’s personal reasons were, as Sanheim put it: “If he doesn’t want to be here, we’re happy to move on.”

Without a crystal ball, it’s hard to tell how much this move will pay off for either team, since it’s largely a measure of predicting the future of two young players. While Drysdale has played more than 100 NHL games, he’s still very young — he’s the youngest player on the Flyers’ roster right now, a few months younger than fellow 2020 draftee Tyson Foerster. Meanwhile, Gauthier hasn’t seen a second of NHL ice time yet. Projections can only take you so far, and it will be interesting to compare their careers 10 years down the line. But today, Brière did the best with what he had, which wasn’t a lot.

Grade: B+