Flyers Tried & Failed to Make Cutter Gauthier an Enemy

Now, let’s make one thing clear: there is no obligation for management to share why Gauthier “didn’t want to be a Flyer.” Something very obviously happened between the two sides, but even still, the team is within its rights to plead ignorance.

That said, this definitely created an immediate villain narrative around Gauthier. Then, head coach John Tortorella was asked about the matter.

“We don’t want you,” Tortorella exclaimed when asked about the youngster’s objection to playing in Philadelphia. “I don’t know Cutter from a hole in the wall. I’m not too interested in talking about him. I’d rather talk about Jamie. He’s the guy that’s coming here,” he continued.

Tortorella gave the media two passionate, fire-me-up quotes before saying, “Let’s talk about the player we got.” Perhaps that wasn’t intentional, but regardless, he fanned the flames.

President of hockey operations Keith Jones joined in on the fun, too. “If you don’t want to be a Flyer, you’re not going to be a Flyer,” he said. The propaganda machine was in full swing that night.

Additionally, you had team governor Dan Hilferty commenting on the matter. “I feel bad for Cutter… well, I don’t really feel bad for Cutter when he comes to Philadelphia. It’s gonna be a rough ride here, and he earned it. We’re Philadelphians, and we want people who want to be here with us.”

Even the players chimed in. Travis Sanheim echoed a similar “If you don’t want to be here, leave” sentiment and followed up by saying that Gauthier’s refusal to show up to training camp stuck with the team.

Lastly, something that really riled people up was that Gauthier didn’t want to speak to special advisors to hockey operations, John LeClair and Patrick Sharp.

The Flyers could have easily kept that detail private. But they didn’t, and it worked in their favor. On paper, it doesn’t sound good for Gauthier—who is American—that he refused to speak to LeClair, one of the greatest American hockey players of all time. It doesn’t help when that player was a longtime Flyer.

Was the team justified in going about things the way that it did? Maybe. But whether right or wrong, the propaganda machine was certainly churning.

At the start, the propaganda had its desired effect. Few people held the team accountable for losing such an important asset. In fact, you could argue that fan pride improved dramatically during this time period.

Flyers Fans Are Waking Up

Unfortunately for the Flyers, the whole fan pride thing was short-lived. People are starting to question the upside of what the team is building, and when they look at Anaheim, they’re left wondering what could have been. Gauthier has 29 goals and 24 assists in 59 games this season.

Over an 82-game span, that’d be 40 goals and about 74 points. Considering the last time a Flyer reached the 40-goal mark was Jeff Carter in 2008–09, and Gauthier turned just 22 years old in January, some folks are not happy.

If the team can prove to fans that it has a real chance of winning the Stanley Cup someday, Gauthier won’t be on anyone’s mind. But with how things are going, he’ll be at the forefront as long as he continues to shine.

They may tell you otherwise, but the Flyers pumped out the propaganda when Gauthier was traded. They tried to make him an enemy in the city of Philadelphia. But just over two years later, those efforts seem futile.