Flyers Trade BC's Gauthier to Anaheim

It appears that Cutter Gauthier (Boston College) will not play for the Philadelphia Flyers after all.

The Flyers, who drafted Gauthier fifth overall in 2022, dealt his rights yesterday to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale. Multiple sources claimed that Gauthier ultimately did not wish to play for Philadelphia.

Gauthier, 19, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound left wing who was born in Sweden but grew up in Arizona, has not spoken publicly on the matter, although he reportedly would not meet with Flyers management. He is coming off of a Best Forward and All-Star team performance at the 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden, where he led the United States to a goal medal. He tallied two goals and a tournament-high 10 assists to tie for the event scoring lead with 12 points in seven games.

A product of the U.S. National Development Team program in Michigan, Gauthier is in his sophomore season at top-ranked BC where has tallied 29 goals and 31 assists for 60 points in 49 career NCAA contests to date, including 13-10—23 points in 17 outings so far this season. He is expected to turn pro at the conclusion of the Eagles' 2023-24 campaign, which resumes this weekend with a home-and-home series with Hockey East rival Providence.

Gauthier is the highest-drafted player ever at BC, along with former NHL skater and current Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who himself was tabbed fifth overall by the New Jersey Devils in 1989. Guerin won two Stanley Cups as a skater, one each with New Jersey and the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he later earned two more Cup rings as assistant GM with Pittsburgh.

BC's Guerin Named Minnesota Wild GM

Bill Guerin (Boston College) was named General Manager of the Minnesota Wild last week, making him the fourth GM in the franchise's history.

Guerin, 48, served the past five years as Assistant GM with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who won back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. He was also GM of the Penguins' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the past two years, and also spent three years as a development coach with Pittsburgh.

A first-round draft choice of the New Jersey Devils (fifth overall) in 1989, Guerin played 17 seasons as a forward in the NHL with New Jersey, Edmonton, Boston, Dallas, St. Louis, San Jose, the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh from 1991 to 2010. A 12-time 20-goal scorer, he collected 429 goals and 427 assists for 856 points to go with 1,660 penalty minutes in 1,263 career NHL regular-season outings. He added 39-35—74 points and 162 PIM in 140 Stanley Cup Playoff games, and won hockey's most coveted trophy twice, in 1995 with New Jersey and in 2009 with Pittsburgh. He also skated for the U.S. Olympic Team on three occasions, and won a silver medal with the Americans in Salt Lake City in 2002.

A junior hockey product of the Springfield (Mass.) Olympics program, Guerin played two seasons at Boston College and helped the Eagles to the NCAA Tournament both years (1990, 1991), including the 1990 Frozen Four in Detroit. He tallied 40-30—70 points in 77 career games, and was ultimately inducted into the BC Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017.

Mason, Guerin, Weight and Curley Among 2013 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Inductees

Four of the five inductees into the U.S Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth, Minn. this year have strong ties to the college game.

Ron Mason (pictured) won 924 games between 1966 and 2002 as head coach with Lake Superior, Bowling Green and Michigan State, and retired as the NCAA's all-time winningest hockey coach. A former St. Lawrence forward, he also won an NAIA national title with LSSU in 1972 and an NCAA championship with MSU in 1986. He led BGSU to three CCHA titles and three NCAA Tournament berths, and then guided MSU to 10 CCHA crowns and 19 NCAA berths. He then went on to a nearly six-year stint as athletic director with the Spartans, and now serves as a senior advisor to the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks.

Former Boston College forward Bill Guerin had 40 goals and 30 assists for 70 points with the Eagles from 1989 to 1990, and helped BC to a Hockey East title and two NCAA Tournament appearances. He then collected 429-427—856 points in 1,263 NHL games between 1992 and 2010 with the New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, Boston Bruins, Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, according to hockeydb.com. He added 39 goals in 74 points in 140 NHL playoff games, and won Stanley Cups with the Devils (1995) and Penguins (2009). A three-time U.S. Olympian (1998, 2002, 2006), he now works in the Pittsburgh organziation as player development coach.

Former Lake Superior State forward Doug Weight collected 50-94—144 points in two campaigns with the Lakers, while helping them to two NCAA berths and a CCHA championship. He then notched 278-755—1,033 points in 1,238 NHL outings with the New York Rangers, Edmonton, St. Louis, Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks and the Islanders from 1991 to 2011. He added 23 goals and 72 points in 97 NHL playoff contests, and won the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006. A teammate of Guerin's with Edmonton, the Islanders and the U.S. Olympic Team, he now serves as an assistant coach and a special assistant to the general manager with the Islanders.

Cindy Curley starred at Providence College from 1981 to 1985, where she tallied 110-115—225 points with the Lady Friars. She ranks among PC's top five in all three categories, according to Providence's 2012-13 media guide, and also played in three IIHF World Championships with the U.S., including the inaugural women's tournament in 1990. She has since worked in a number of administrative capacities with USA Hockey.

The fifth and final inductee this year is Peter Karmanos, Jr., owner of the NHL's Hurricanes and OHL's Plymouth Whalers, who has also long sponsored the Compuware youth hockey organization in Michigan.

More on each of the inductees can be found here on the USA Hockey site.

... And It Goes On ...

The exodus from the Division I college ranks continues. About 30 players in all so far this summer have moved on to the major junior or professional ranks, with some or even all of their NCAA eligibility still remaining. The latest is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute rising sophomore forward Jerry D'Amigo, who last week passed up his final three (possible) collegiate seasons with the Engineers to sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, who drafted him in 2009 in the sixth round.

D'Amigo's a nice kid and a good player, and I found that out firsthand when I interviewed him earlier this year for a story that ran in USA Hockey Magazine:

http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2010-04/jerry-d%E2%80%99amigo

He averaged nearly a point a game in college, and almost everyone knows how he helped the U.S. to a first-place finish in the World Junior Championships in Saskatchewan in January. Would he have been better served by sticking with RPI for another year, though, if not all three? Most likely - but pro teams nowadays seem to want to get their prospects signed and into their own systems ASAP, as if leaving them in school is such a terrible thing.

Never mind that players in college tend to be older and stronger, and you're playing against young men instead of still-developing teenagers. Weight training and off-ice conditioning in college also helps those players, or student-athletes, as they physically mature. And they’re working towards a degree - it might not be in plasma physics, but they’re getting their education, and have quite a bit of academic support to assist them. Some may not take advantage of all that is offered to them; but it is there, and it’s a lot easier when you have people assisting and even cajoling you to get things done. I’m not sure that happens in the CHL ranks, at least not to the extent of the college academic system.

Some say major junior is better because they play more games, but how much skill development really occurs in games? More often than not, players will just try not to make mistakes in a contest, whereas in college there are three or four practices a week where players can strive to better themselves and even try different tactics without the pressure that accompanies an actual game.

Some want the NHL to step in and perhaps establish a calendar moratorium on when players still in college can be signed away. I don't see that happening - the pros are a business, and to a lesser extent so is major junior, and of course they want to get the best players possible on their rosters. This plundering of the college system isn't good for the NCAA, though, and there's been strong words on both the college and junior sides about the spreading of falsehoods and the utilization of underhanded tactics and the like.

Just because a player is enrolled in school or has signed a letter of intent hasn’t kept the junior clubs from pursuing them until they wrest them away. College Hockey Inc. executive Paul Kelly supposedly wasn't even invited to the upcoming World Hockey Summit in Toronto - an oversight?

The truth is that players can stay in college all four years and still make the NHL - and do well. Montreal's Brian Gionta readily comes to mind, and he won an NCAA title with Boston College in 2001 and a Stanley Cup with New Jersey just two years later. He also has his bachelor's degree, has played in more than 500 NHL games, and has fashioned a half-dozen NHL campaigns of at least 20 goals apiece. Ryan Malone played four seasons at St. Cloud State and averaged almost a point per game, and has skated in more than 400 NHL outings, plus the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals with Pittsburgh. Rem Murray tallied more than 50 points in each of his four seasons at Michigan State while studying civil engineering, and went on to play in 560 NHL games. He also recovered from a debilitating muscular condition to help Edmonton to Game Seven of the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.

You could argue the other side of the coin with a player like Bill Guerin, who has collected two Stanley Cup rings and more than 850 points with eight NHL clubs. He left Boston College after just two seasons - but he was also drafted fifth overall in 1989. So odds are he was going to make it. The same can’t be said of the kids who have just jumped from college after playing one or two years, and weren’t drafted nearly as high as Guerin, and are nowhere near as big or strong as he was at that age. (I felt like he was going to break my hand just from a simple handshake when he was a freshman at BC and I was a junior and a staff writer for The Heights student newspaper.)

How many of these kids who signed away their eligibility this summer will stick in “The Show” remains to be seen, but I'll wager none will make an impact or possibly even suit up in the NHL this season. And some may never get there.

Obviously major junior has been the feeder system to the NHL for a long, long time, and no can deny the talent of the truly elite players who have come out of the CHL, from Wayne Gretzky on down. Still, when you consider the benefits of increased practice time, off-ice conditioning, and allowing time for physical, mental and personal development, well, staying in school for the kids who aren’t quite Gretzky really isn't such a bad thing.