Ducks ink Gauthier to entry-level deal starting this season

The Anaheim Ducks got one of the top collegiate players under contract Sunday, signing Cutter Gauthier to a three-year, entry-level pact beginning this season.

Gauthier starred for Boston College in 2023-24, leading the nation with 38 goals – the most by an NCAA player since 1999-2000 – and tying for the most in a campaign in program history.

The 20-year-old winger was one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the top men’s college hockey player.

Anaheim acquired Gauthier in a shocking trade with the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick on Jan. 8. The Flyers drafted Gauthier fifth overall in 2022, but he later requested a trade. Philadelphia general manager Daniel Briere said Gauthier told the organization he didn’t want to be a part of it.

Gauthier helped top-ranked Boston College reach the national championship game Saturday, but the Eagles lost to third-seeded Denver.

Oilers acquire Henrique, Carrick from Ducks

The Edmonton Oilers acquired centers Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick along with a seventh-round pick from the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday, the teams announced.

Anaheim is receiving a 2024 first-round pick and a conditional fifth-rounder in 2025 that upgrades to a fourth if Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup. The Ducks are retaining 50% of Henrique’s and Carrick’s salaries.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are retaining an additional 25% of Henrique’s salary and received a 2025 fourth-round pick from the Oilers for brokering the deal. The Bolts also shipped Edmonton the rights to goaltender Ty Taylor.

Henrique and Carrick are both pending unrestricted free agents. After retention, Henrique will count for roughly $1.45 million on Edmonton’s books while Carrick will cost $425,000.

The Oilers had approximately $2.37 million in deadline cap space before the trade, per Cap Friendly.

Henrique has 42 points in 60 games this season, averaging 17 minutes per night and winning 52.9% of his faceoffs. His addition gives Edmonton more options down the middle, as Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins frequently bounce between center and wing.

Carrick has 11 points in 61 appearances in 2023-24 and will likely be used lower in Edmonton’s lineup down the stretch and into the playoffs. The 32-year-old is operating at 51% at the dot this season and is known for his physicality, posting 137 hits on the campaign.

Leafs reunite with Lyubushkin for pair of draft picks

Ilya Lyubushkin is heading back to Toronto.

The Anaheim Ducks traded the rugged defenseman to the Maple Leafs for a 2025 third-round pick, the teams announced.

The Ducks will retain 50% of Lyubushkin’s $2.75-million cap hit, while the Carolina Hurricanes will retain an additional 25%, bringing it down to $687,500. The Canes will receive a 2024 sixth-round pick from the Leafs for doing so. Toronto receives the rights to forward Kirill Slepets from Carolina.

Lyubushkin, a pending unrestricted free agent, played 31 regular-season contests with the Maple Leafs after a midseason trade from the Arizona Coyotes in 2021-22. He dressed in all seven of Toronto’s playoff games that campaign, too – often pairing with Morgan Rielly at five-on-five.

While he provides little-to-no offense, Lyubushkin posted strong defensive metrics during that 2021-22 campaign.

Evolving-Hockey

However, his play has plummeted this season. He ranks second-last among NHL defensemen with minus-8.8 goals above replacement, and his minus-6.6 defensive goals above replacement is the fourth-worst at his position.

Evolving-Hockey

The 29-year-old has produced just four assists in 55 games with the Ducks this season while averaging 17:09 per contest. He’s still providing plenty of grit, though, as he’s racked up 138 blocks and 112 hits.

Timothy Liljegren is the only right-handed shot among Toronto’s regular defensemen, but he’s missed the last two games with an injury. Mark Giordano also suffered a head injury on Thursday against the Coyotes, and there’s no timetable for his return. When fully healthy, the Leafs’ blue line could look as follows:

LD	RD
Morgan Rielly	Ilya Lyubushkin
T.J. Brodie	Jake McCabe
Simon Benoit	Timothy Liljegren

The retention on Lyubushkin’s contract gives the Leafs plenty of cap space to make further moves, but their trade assets are dwindling. Toronto still has its 2024 first-round pick but doesn’t have a second-rounder for the next three years. The team is notably without a pick until Round 5 in 2025.

Gauthier: Trade request wasn’t for ‘one specific reason’

Cutter Gauthier didn’t divulge the exact reason for his trade request from the Philadelphia Flyers, but he did shed some light on his decision.

“It wasn’t one specific reason why I asked for a trade,” Gauthier told reporters on a Zoom call Wednesday, including The Sporting Tribune’s Derek Lee. “It was multiple, re-occurring issues that I’d seen over the past year and a half, two years of being under the Flyers organization. It kind of hit me all at once, thinking ‘I can’t move forward with this’ and ‘I really need to step up for myself and see what’s best for my future’ and that’s what I did.”

He added: “I haven’t seen one thing that’s been remotely close to the reasons that I decided.”

Gauthier was selected fifth overall by the Flyers in 2022. He was shipped to the Anaheim Ducks in a shocking blockbuster trade on Monday that sent 2020 No. 6 pick Jamie Drysdale and a second-rounder back to Philadelphia. Gauthier didn’t intend to sign with the Flyers and could’ve become an unrestricted free agent in 2026 after playing out his NCAA eligibility.

Gauthier, who currently plays at Boston College, also squashed the rumor that former Flyers forward and BC alumnus Kevin Hayes convinced him to spurn Philly.

“I haven’t spoken to (Hayes) in a long time,” Gauthier said. “I wanted to clarify it so it’s not just his words against everyone else’s. I wanted to make sure (it’s known) that he definitely was not involved in this whatsoever. It’s kind of disrespectful to his name that he was being brought up.”

Hayes said Tuesday that the report is “complete bullshit.” The current St. Louis Blues forward added that he’s received death threats and messages from people saying they were happy his brother is dead. Flyers coach John Tortorella called out the reporter Wednesday for creating the rumor.

Speaking of Tortorella, Gauthier said the hard-nosed coach wasn’t the reason for his request, either.

“All those rumors saying I was scared of Torts, that’s not the case at all,” Gauthier said. “I’ve had many hardo coaches throughout my whole life and I think that any coach I play for would love to have me on their team. I want to do whatever it takes to win and if they’re a hard, yelling, screaming kind of coach, I’ll roll with the punches.”

He added: “I actually met Torts during dev camp two years back. I was super excited and thrilled to meet him and obviously being a big name in hockey and the coaching staff industry, definitely was not against playing for him whatsoever.”

Gauthier said he’s also received death threats due to the trade request.

“My DMs on Instagram right now are kind of pretty crazy of what people are saying right now,” he said. “There’s been thousands and thousands of messages. I’ve been getting some five, 10 minutes ago. 19-year-old kid getting a lot of death threats and a bunch of thousands and thousands of people reaching out and just saying some pretty poor things that I wouldn’t wish among my worst enemy. It was pretty tough to see.”

Gauthier recently helped the United States win gold at the 2024 world juniors, leading the team with 12 points in seven games.

Teams believe Ducks’ Zegras is available

Anaheim Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek has brought up Trevor Zegras to other organizations this season, and teams believe the talented forward is available, sources told Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.

A trade doesn’t seem imminent, and it’s unclear how far conversations have progressed, Seravalli added. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Tuesday night that the Ducks aren’t actively shopping Zegras.

The 2019 ninth overall pick departed Tuesday’s contest against the Nashville Predators with a lower-body injury after taking an awkward fall into the boards.

Trevor Zegras will not return to the game after sustaining a lower-body injury. pic.twitter.com/7YtN6H3VnA

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 10, 2024

Zegras has struggled to start the 2023-24 campaign, mustering just four goals and seven points in 19 games heading into Tuesday’s action. He missed all of training camp and the bulk of the preseason as his contract negotiations dragged into the fall, but he ended up signing a three-year, $17.25-million bridge deal as a restricted free agent before the Ducks’ first game of the regular season.

The 22-year-old also missed around six weeks with a lower-body injury, an issue which head coach Greg Cronin said had been bothering the player “for a while.” Zegras recently showed flashes of his usual show-stopping self, though, scoring a Michigan goal in his return from that ailment on Dec. 23.

Known for his creativity and skill, Zegras has eclipsed the 60-point mark in each of the last two seasons and is coming off back-to-back 23-goal campaigns. He was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy, honoring the league’s top rookie, in 2022.

The Ducks made waves on Monday when they traded defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for the rights to top forward prospect Cutter Gauthier.

Ducks add Gauthier, deal Drysdale to Flyers in shocker

The Anaheim Ducks traded defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the signing rights to prospect Cutter Gauthier on Monday.

Drysdale, 21, was drafted sixth overall by the Ducks in 2020. He’s played just 18 games over the past two seasons due to injury. Drysdale is in the first season of a three-year contract with a $2.3-million cap hit, which was signed in October after a difficult negotiation as a restricted free agent.

Gauthier, 19, starred with the United States at the recently completed World Junior Championship. He co-led the tournament with 12 points and was named to the media All-Star team. The 2022 fifth overall pick is currently playing at Boston College, where he has 13 goals and 23 points in 17 games.

“This is a trade we felt we needed to make, as a player with Cutter’s dynamic skill set are not available often,” Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek said in a statement. “We see Cutter as a long-term, high-end player who produces in big moments.”

He added: “We also want to thank Jamie for his four years in Anaheim. It is a difficult trade to make, as he has a great future in front of him both on and off the ice.”

Flyers GM Daniel Briere confirmed Gauthier didn’t want to sign with the team. He has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining after the 2023-24 campaign, at which point Gauthier can elect for free agency rather than sign with the team that has his rights.

“If he didn’t want to be here, we’re happy to move on,” defenseman Travis Sanheim said after the Flyers’ 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall.

The Flyers engaged in trade talks with 18-20 teams that Gauthier would sign with in recent weeks, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports.

“I feel bad for Cutter – well, I don’t really feel bad for Cutter when he comes to Philadelphia,” Flyers CEO Dan Hilferty said postgame on the “Snow The Goalie” podcast. “It’s gonna be a rough ride here, and he earned it. ‘Cause you know what? We’re Philadelphians, and we want people who wanna be here with us.”

After a stellar World Championships last spring, Gauthier declined an invitation to Philadelphia’s development camp. At the time, Flyers GM Daniel Briere said, “We’re not too worried about that.”

Gauthier had reportedly been deemed the Flyers’ only untouchable player as recently as June.

Verbeek had coveted Gauthier dating back to the 2022 draft. Anaheim had the 10th overall pick, which was out of Gauthier’s range and used to select defenseman Pavel Mintyukov. Verbeek tried to add a high-enough pick to snag Gauthier, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, but was unsuccessful.

Should Gauthier sign with the Ducks, he’ll add to an array of exciting young forwards on the roster. Anaheim boasts top-five picks Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish, as well as the highly skilled Trevor Zegras and underrated Troy Terry.

Drysdale brings needed youth to a Flyers back end with only two other defensemen under the age of 26 in Cam York and Egor Zamula.

Ducks’ Carlsson out 4-6 weeks with MCL sprain

Anaheim Ducks rookie Leo Carlsson will miss approximately four-to-six weeks with an MCL sprain, the team announced Saturday.

Carlsson left Thursday’s contest against the Calgary Flames and didn’t return after opposing defenseman MacKenzie Weegar fell awkwardly on his leg.

Leo Carlsson left the game after MacKenzie Weegar fell on his leg#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/WSTM4SqlAM

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 22, 2023

The Ducks drafted Carlsson, who turns 19 on Boxing Day, second overall this past summer. He’s registered 15 points in 23 games throughout his debut season and has routinely been held out of the lineup for load management.

Anaheim entered Saturday’s action sitting 29th in the NHL at 12-20-0.

Ducks sign Drysdale to 3-year deal worth reported $6.9 million

The Anaheim Ducks signed defenseman Jamie Drysdale to a three-year contract, the team announced Thursday.

The pact carries an average annual value of $2.3 million, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.

A torn labrum limited Drysdale to only eight games last season. The 21-year-old was a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights and wasn’t eligible for an offer sheet due to a lack of professional seasons.

Drysdale, the 2020 sixth overall pick, tallied four goals and 32 points in 81 contests in 2021-22.

Anaheim signed its other restricted free agent, Trevor Zegras, to a three-year contract with a $5.75-million cap hit on Oct. 2.

Ducks sign Zegras to 3-year deal with reported $5.75M AAV

The Anaheim Ducks and star forward Trevor Zegras agreed to a three-year contract, the team announced Monday.

Financial terms of the pact weren’t disclosed, but the deal carries an annual cap hit of $5.75 million, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

Zegras wasn’t with the Ducks through training camp or the preseason up to this point as the two sides negotiated. The 22-year-old became a restricted free agent this past offseason when his entry-level contract expired.

Ducks RFA defenseman Jamie Drysdale is still unsigned with the regular season set to begin next week. Anaheim has approximately $10 million to work with after signing Zegras, according to CapFriendly.

Zegras led the last-place Ducks in scoring last season with a career-high 65 points in 81 games. He also set personal bests in assists (42), even-strength goals (19), shots (184), and average ice time (18:50).

Anaheim drafted Zegras ninth overall in 2019. He broke into the NHL toward the end of the 2020-21 campaign and was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy the following season. He’s notched 139 points in 180 career games.

Ducks’ Killorn out 4-6 weeks with fractured finger

Anaheim Ducks forward Alex Killorn is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after sustaining a fractured finger in preseason action against the San Jose Sharks, the team announced Saturday.

The Ducks signed Killorn to a four-year, $25-million contract on the opening day of free agency in July.

The 34-year-old scored a career-high 27 goals and 64 points last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Killorn hasn’t missed a game since the 2019-20 campaign.

Killorn’s lined up alongside 2023 second overall pick Leo Carlsson throughout Ducks training camp.

Anaheim’s already without Isac Lundestrom to start the season, and the team has yet to sign restricted free agents Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale.