Flyers United In Their Dismissiveness Towards Cutter Gauthier

The news that the Flyers were trading star prospect Cutter Gauthier was as shocking as it was confusing. And as we got more answers about how this all came down, it only got more confusing. We learned that Cutter did not want to play for the Flyers. Why? We have heard multiple reasons, but no clear answers. But one thing is clear,  the Flyers seem to have pretty united front on this one. Everyone from the players, the coaches, and the Front Office has shared pretty much the same message. "If he doesn't want to play for us, we don't want him either.

Cutter skipping Flyers development camp was a minor story at the time. It got brushed under the rug as him wanting a break after his busy summer. Looking back it might have been a major clue something was not right between him and the Flyers.  And apparently, it did not sit well with his teammates. The way Sanheim said this implies that it is far more than just him who felt this way about skipping camp.

Everyone from the Flyers has been very clear. They couldn't even get a meeting with Cutter. Keith Jones has said it multiple times. Danny Briere said the same thing. We don't know why Cutter wouldn't meet with them. Or why he was so against playing here. But the flyers have made it very clear how frustrated they were about the lack of communication from Cutter and his camp.

We all saw Cutter after the draft talk about being excited to be a Flyer. But apparently, 3 months later something changed. And at least according to the Flyers, he cut off nearly all communication with them. Briere even claims they were trying to protect him by not leaking that Cutter was doing this.

Did you expect anything else from Torts? One of the major rumors around Cutter's departure is that he just does not like Tortorella. And if that is true, Torts knows about it. But angry Torts is not much different from happy Torts. So this could be him with inside info that Cutter wanted him fired. Or it could just be Torts talking like he usually would.

We don't know the full story yet. No one but the Flyers and Cutter Gauthier know how and why this went down. But we at least know that the Flyers are not mincing words about the kid. Everyone from the players up to the coaches seems to be putting up a common front. And most Flyers fans seem to be right on board with them. The anger at the kid both inside and outside of the building is palpable. Which tells it it may go a bit deeper than we currently know. The front office and Torts you could see having good reason not to dislike him. But the players piling on too means something. It will be interesting to follow this story as it unravels and we learn more about why Cutter Gauthier was so dead set against playing here.

The Flyers are one of the most storied NHL franchises. They’re one step below the Original Six in the lure of hockey history. It’s tough to define underrated Philadelphia Flyers on such a high-profile team.

Underrated is a subjective term that can apply to many different players. What is the criteria the 97.5 The Fanatic lists of underrated players for each major franchise in Philadelphia sports history?

A specific group of people must underrate these players, or a widespread perception must redirect credit toward other players.

Philadelphia Flyers fans could make the case that Mikael Renberg is underrated, for instance. Eric Lindros and John LeClair get most of the glory, but the "Legion of Doom" gets enough recognition for the collective success. No specific group really undersells the folklore that Renberg fits into.

Certain Flyers like Sami Kapanen and Joffrey Lupul don’t come up in conversations very often. If you ask a devoted follower of the team though, you’d probably get a reasonable evaluation of their Flyers careers.

Flyers fandom, however, includes plenty of widespread narratives that don’t tell the comprehensive story of the franchise. The perception of the Broad Street Bullies as the perennial tough guys still exists today. The franchise still hasn’t completely ditched the infamous “Goalie Graveyard” narrative.

There were also stretches throughout their history when the Flyers prioritized acquiring players past their prime years who didn’t have enough left in the tank by the time they got to Philadelphia.

The list of underrated Flyers includes players who are exceptions to these common narratives. Who is on your list of most underrated Flyers?

97.5 The Fanatic Lists of Underrated Philadelphia Athletes

When the older generation of Flyers fans looks back at the Stanley Cup runs of the 1980s, they usually point to Tim Kerr, Brian Propp, or Mark Howe as the top stars. Dave Poulin doesn’t always get the most recognition. Defensive hockey wasn’t exactly the top storyline of the decade, but the long-time captain was part of the glue that held those teams together.

Poulin won the Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward in 1986-87. The Flyers later fell one game short of defeating the Edmonton Oilers, a team with arguably the best roster in league history with a Hall of Fame cast surrounding prime-age Wayne Gretzky.

Poulin was one of many injured Flyers by the end of the run. Would he have made the difference?

The Flyers built a reputation in past eras for acquiring big-name former star players past their prime years. Paul Coffey, Adam Oates, and Tony Amonte didn’t have much left in the tank by the time they got to Philadelphia. Jaromir Jagr certainly didn’t spend the best years of his career with the Flyers.

Darryl Sittler built his legacy during his first 12 NHL seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Should he be lumped into the same category? The Flyers acquired Sittler at age 31. He scored 84 goals and added 94 assists in 171 games. He averaged over a point per game for the 1982-83 team.

Peter Forsberg and Simon Gagne were the stars at the top of the lineup coming out of the 2004-05 lockout. However, there are three players on an NHL line.

Mike Knuble spent four seasons with the Flyers from 2005-06 through 2008-09, and he returned for a cup of coffee in 2013. He provided the perfect complement to a crafty playmaker like Forsberg and a finesse star like Gagne. He scored a career-high 34 goals in his first season in Philadelphia and followed it up with 24, 29, and 27 goals in the next three seasons, respectively.

Knuble knew his role as a garbage goal-scorer, and he played it damn well. He added 14 points in 24 playoff games with the Flyers, including an overtime game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals in 2008.

The NHL still associates the Broad Street Bullies mentality with the Flyers. Players like Chris Pronger feed into the identity of the fan base. The 6-foot-6 defenseman resonated with the fans perfectly as a fearless, powerful defenseman who became the workhorse on the Philadelphia blue line during the run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final.

Kimmo Timonen didn’t have the same reputation. The Finnish puck mover was more of a classy guy off the ice who didn’t bring as much grit as Pronger, but he actually had a longer run as the top blueliner in Philadelphia.

The Flyers acquired Timonen as part of a series of trades with the Nashville Predators that pulled them out of the disaster of the 2006-07 season. He averaged over 20 minutes of ice time in each of his seven playoff series wins with the Flyers. Only Mark Howe and Eric Desjardins scored more points among defensemen in franchise history.

Hockey in the late 1990s and early 2000s required more physical defensemen while modern roster construction prioritizes puck movers on the blue line. The Flyers acquired 6-foot-3, 220-pounder Dan McGillis in 1998 during a window of Stanley Cup contention. 

McGillis played 380 regular-season and playoff games in orange and black. He was the physical presence a contending team needed, but you won’t see his name in the franchise record books too often.

Stay-at-home defensemen are harder to glorify than offensive catalysts. McGillis recorded a career-high 49 points in 2000-01, and it’s no coincidence that it was the only one of his nine NHL seasons when he received Norris Trophy votes.

Anyone who follows the Flyers knows the notorious reputation of the “Goalie Graveyard” in Philadelphia. The revolving door of goaltenders reached its peak with the Ilya Bryzgalov nightmare that ended in 2013, right around the time the Flyers really started to lose popularity in the Philadelphia sports landscape.

Coincidentally, the Flyers acquired Steve Mason in 2013. He spent four seasons as the top option between the pipes for forgettable Flyers teams that never won a playoff series.

Mason wasn’t some Vezina Trophy winner who would reverse the “Goalie Graveyard” narrative. He was never going to demand the attention of casual hockey fans in Philadelphia who were only interested in a contending team, but he was the type of solid goaltender for a good period of time that the Flyers haven’t usually had.

It’s tough to identify any reason why Daymond Langkow is underrated. Like Joffrey Lupul and Sami Kapanen, he doesn’t seem to come up in conversations about the Flyers too often. The NHL journeyman notched at least 50 points in each of his two full regular seasons in Philadelphia.

He helped the Flyers advance to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final in 2000 with 10 points in 16 games during the playoff run.

The Daymond Langkow trade tree had remarkable ripple effects on the franchise. The return package acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes in 2001 indirectly led to the acquisitions of Jeff Carter, Jakub Voracek, Sean Couturier, Cam Atkinson, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul, and Chris Pronger.