Flyers Coach Bluntly Dismisses Prospect Who Didn’t Want to Play for Team: ‘We Don’t Want You’

John Tortorella had one message for Cutter Gauthier after Philadelphia traded the forward to the Ducks.

The Philadelphia Flyers executed a simple trade on Monday, trading prospect Cutter Gauthier to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick. However, the reasoning for the trade is anything but simple, as the Flyers revealed that Gauthier told the team he didn’t want to play in Philadelphia.

Gauthier was the fifth pick in the 2022 NHL draft and is currently in his second year at Boston College. After the trade, the Flyers’ brass spoke with the media about the situation, but coach John Tortorella declined to talk about Gauthier by using a notable sound bite.

“We don’t want you,” Tortorella said after Philadelphia lost 4–1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. “I don't know Cutter from a hole in a wall, I’m not too interested in talking about him. I’d rather talk about Jamie, he’s the guy who’s coming here.”

"I don't know Cutter from a hole in a wall. I'm not too interested in talking about him."

- John Tortorella pic.twitter.com/iUKeip7KT1

— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) January 9, 2024

Flyers general manager Daniel Briere discussed more about what happened, revealing that Gauthier decided to request a trade “a few months” after the team drafted him. The team kept it quiet, hoping they could get Gauthier to change his mind, but that never came to fruition.

“We tried to but they would not engage as far as a reason why,” Briere said, via Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia. “We just wanted to be able to present our case and tell him what we were doing here and where this organization is going. Unfortunately we never got the chance.”

Gauthier was a member of the United States junior team that won a gold medal at the IIHF world junior hockey championship last week. The 19-year-old had 12 points through seven games, tied for the most in the tournament.