Photo Credit: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Cutter Gauthier will be one of USA’s key returnees in the winter at the WJC tournament. His maturity and strength were noticeable at the WJSS.
Gauthier is a confident player so he plays the game hard every shift, and was a noticeably good skater. He’s always looking to score, which makes him an additional threat with and without the puck.
It appears that Gauthier has a competitive edge to his game now, and that was something I personally haven’t seen in the past. He does lose many puck battles, and Gauthier is a creative hockey player when he has the puck. Believe it or not, Gauthier played both Center and Wing and it doesn’t bother him to which position he plays. Either way, he made an impact on his team, with four goals and an assist in the showcase.
The young man in Gauthier was the guy the Flyers wanted from day one, they love his shot, size, and his skating abilities for being a more sizeable prospect in the pipeline. They love what he can eventually become, especially with his candidness to shoot the puck. The Flyers are now targeting shoot-first players, and it’s become evident with the past two drafts. For instance, Tyson Foerster’s best ability is his shot, while Samu Tuomaala, although struggling in the Liiga League, is a first shot mentality player. The Flyers are really trying to find a sniper(s) to wreak havoc on their opponents in the future.
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What I love about Cutter Gauthier is he is not afraid to rip it from anywhere. It’s been a long time since the Flyers had a player like this. Following Gauthier’s goal again yesterday, he now has seven goals and two assists for the tournament. He scored on a beautifully placed snapshot/wrist shot with traffic in front.
