Two years ago this week, the Philadelphia Flyers and Anaheim Ducks were the talk of the league when prized prospect Cutter Gauthier headed west in exchange for promising young defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round draft pick. Flyers general manager Daniel Briere and his Ducks counterpart, Pat Verbeek, executed a rare swap of top-10 draft picks.
Verbeek must have found Briere to be an agreeable partner. Last June, Verbeek sent Anaheim fan favorite Trevor Zegras to Philadelphia for center Ryan Poehling and two draft picks. As Verbeek did in the prior deal, Briere saw an opportunity to inject his lineup with a young forward whose time with his first NHL organization seemingly wasn’t going to work out.
Zegras is atop the Flyers’ scoring list, and the team, surprisingly, is in a playoff position near the midpoint of the season. Gauthier entered Monday with a team-high 19 goals for an Anaheim squad that started strong but has wobbled in recent weeks.
Anaheim plays at Philadelphia on Tuesday, making this an opportune time to look at how the trades have panned out for both sides. Flyers beat writer Kevin Kurz and Ducks beat writer Eric Stephens assess and give a grade to each trade.
The first trade
Ducks get: Cutter Gauthier
Flyers get: Jamie Drysdale, 2025 second-round pick (Jack Murtagh)
Kurz: The last time we saw these teams on the ice together was last Jan. 11, in what was the most charged-up, playoff-like atmosphere in Philadelphia in several years. A series of chants — some of which weren’t so family-friendly — echoed throughout the arena, as the home fans made known their displeasure with Gauthier, who essentially forced his way out of Philadelphia a year earlier.
One of those chants — “Ja-mie’s bet-ter!” — turned out to be prescient, at least that night. Drysdale posted one goal and one assist in the Flyers’ 6-0 win. It was probably his best game with the club to date, and one that he was able to build off of in the ensuing days and weeks.
There probably isn’t anyone who would make that argument now, though. Gauthier’s 19 goals on the season (headed into the Ducks game on Monday) would lead the Flyers, and his 38 points would place him second. He seems to be developing into the kind of elite scoring winger the Flyers hoped he would when they made him the No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft.
To be clear, though, the Flyers are pleased with the way Drysdale has settled in as a top-four defenseman. Ironically, it’s more for the way he’s been defending than for his offense, which is what he had been primarily known for prior to the trade.
“All year I think he’s been very consistent (in) five-on-five defending,” coach Rick Tocchet said on Monday. “But in saying that, I think there’s more offense and we’re going to continue to work with him.”
If there’s one real blemish to Drysdale’s game, it’s that he hasn’t produced much on the power play, where he’s gotten ample opportunity to quarterback the top unit but has just two assists there.
So how do we grade it? Finding a top-four defenseman (on a team for which its defense core is arguably its biggest strength) is no easy task, so Briere has to be given credit for salvaging something from a difficult situation. We’ll also have to keep tabs on Jack Murtagh, who was selected by the Flyers with the second-round pick (No. 40 overall) they acquired in the deal. The 18-year-old left wing is currently a freshman at Boston University.
But the best player in the deal sure seems to be Gauthier, and when that’s the case, the trade can’t be considered an outright win.
Flyers grade: B
Stephens: If Gauthier was looking for a more direct path to full-time NHL work, he got it with this move. From his first game, when he was paired with future No. 1 center Leo Carlsson in an end-of-season game at Vegas, he has received quality ice time in situations where his skill set can flourish. And other than a short spell early last season when he had some struggles and was dropped from the top two lines, Gauthier has become the kind of top-flight scorer the Ducks envisioned when they acquired him.
Gauthier has always been able to shoot the puck. But what he has done since his rookie year is increase his volume while also improving his selectivity when it comes to quality. He is third in the league in shots on goal and is on pace for 316 — and he might reach 600 shot attempts. More ice time this season has helped, but the Ducks also have bumped up his usage on the power play. He’s already topped last year’s 82-game total with eight points (four goals) on the man advantage and he has the potential to do more damage.
What may be most impressive about Gauthier’s early Ducks career is that he’s shown to be an attentive and capable player in his own end. He’s not a one-way winger who only cares about scoring. His play-driving is much improved, and he’s starting to show that he has more elements to his game than rush chances. The Ducks don’t employ him as a regular penalty-killer but they’re comfortable giving him occasional shifts when short-handed.
Gauthier has the tools and offensive acumen to regularly hit the 30-goal mark. He’ll need to show that he can mix in greasy goals as well as those where he beats a goalie cleanly. Whether he’s paired with Carlsson or Mason McTavish as his center, Gauthier has shown the ability to produce with either. Only recently has he “slumped,” with three goals in his last 13 games, but that also mirrors the Ducks’ struggles of late.
It will be interesting to see how he handles this trip to Philadelphia. He could have been affected by the derisive chants he received last time, and it didn’t help that the Ducks weren’t competitive against the Flyers. This should be more of a business trip for the youngster — though he could be motivated by wanting to atone for last season’s poor showing.
Ducks grade: A
Cutter Gauthier has developed well for the Ducks. (Gary A. Vasquez / Imagn Images)
The second trade
Flyers get: Trevor Zegras
Ducks get: Ryan Poehling, 2025 second-round pick (Eric Nilson), 2026 fourth-round pick
Kurz: Tocchet bluntly mentioned in October that he challenged Zegras before training camp by asking him, “Are you doing stuff for clicks on social media or are you doing stuff to win hockey games?” Halfway through this season, the answer is evident. The Flyers wouldn’t be where they are right now — challenging for a playoff spot — without Zegras, who has been their most dynamic and productive player and who seems dedicated to rewriting the narrative on his career. Not only is Zegras leading the Flyers in goals (15), points (39) and power-play goals (5), Tocchet has consistently praised Zegras for how hard he’s been working in practice and off the ice. On Monday, Zegras was the last Flyers player off after practice, in fact.
All the while, Zegras has fit seamlessly into the Flyers’ dressing room, and into what they consider a healthy culture that is still in its building stages. “I’m familiar with Z more than anybody,” Drysdale said. “He’s got his swagger, his confidence, and his skill speaks for itself.”
While the Flyers missed Poehling earlier in the season — their fourth line was an utter black hole offensively through mid-December before changes were finally made — the trade has been a home run for Briere, who will almost certainly get Zegras locked up on a contract extension. While there could be some mild disappointment that Zegras seems more suited for the wing than center, a position the Flyers are still going to have to upgrade at some point, Zegras has provided the club with the kind of elite-level skill it had been seeking ever since Claude Giroux was traded in 2022.
Flyers grade: A
Stephens: Without question, Zegras was the most talented player in this trade. That usually wins out in this kind of swap. Too many negative things — injuries, usage, lack of development in all-round game, Verbeek’s lack of belief in him being a core player — led to Zegras running aground in Anaheim. Those opportunities to shine evaporated with the Ducks. Now he’s getting them in Philly and he’s taking advantage.
Could he have found some renewal under the offense-friendly, creativity-rewarding Joel Quenneville after stagnating under Greg Cronin? Maybe. But the acquisition of Chris Kreider effectively ended any hope of that. Verbeek had already made clear that Carlsson and McTavish were his top two centers and that the left wing spots had been filled. To further shape the kind of team he wants, Verbeek accepted a different kind of player in Poehling while getting draft picks to manage some kind of decent return when Zegras’s value was at its lowest.
On the surface, the Flyers clearly won. And that may still be the case when it’s all said and done. The Ducks drafted Michigan State freshman Eric Nilson, who played for Sweden in the World Juniors, with their extra 2025 second-round choice. They’ll have an additional fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. But the key to Anaheim getting some value out of the trade now is Poehling.
What makes Poheling, the 27-year-old Minnesota native, useful is his strong skating and ability to kill penalties. Poehling is alongside Alex Killorn in terms of Anaheim’s top forwards in short-handed ice time. The Ducks have an 80 percent success rate on the penalty kill, which isn’t great but it’s better than it has been in recent seasons. Poehling’s speed and length have come in handy there. He isn’t going to put up big offensive numbers but he has come around after a slow start, chipping in 12 assists to go with two goals.
More importantly, Poehling is an ideal 4C who can fill a gap if injuries require a move up in the lineup. He’s part of the reason why the fourth line has improved and, because of the pace he brings, he is now getting the kind of regular middle-six minutes that a struggling Ryan Strome should have.
Ducks grade: C+
