Flyers Draft Intriguing Cutter Gauthier Alternative In 2022 Nhl Draft Re-do

Cutter Gauthier was never the wrong choice for the Philadelphia Flyers with the fifth pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, but things never worked out that way, and in hindsight, Gauthier never would have made it that far to begin with.

Gauthier, 22, scored 20 goals, 24 assists, and 44 points in 82 games during his rookie year with the Anaheim Ducks in 2024-25, but exploded in a big way last year, erupting for 41 goals, 48 assists, and 69 points in only 76 regular season games.

The former Flyers draft pick was equally productive in the playoffs, producing 12 points in 12 games as the Ducks surprisingly advanced to the second round before being quelled by former Flyers head coach John Tortorella and the eventually Stanley Cup runners-up Vegas Golden Knights.

Of course, the Flyers went on to exchange the previously disgruntled Gauthier for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick that later became Jack Murtagh, but if we re-did the 2022 NHL Draft all over again today, things would be a bit different.

The Athletic prospects expert Corey Pronman recently released his re-ranking/re-draft of the 2022 draft class, and there no controversies atop the list this time.

Juraj Slafkovsky remained No. 1, where he went to Montreal, while Logan Cooley jumped from No. 3 to No. 2.

Below them, Lane Hutson jumped from 62nd to third, and Gauthier bumped up to fourth from fifth.

So, with no Gauthier on the board here for the Flyers, Philadelphia ends up with another power forward who quietly made major strides to finish out the 2025-26 season: St. Louis Blues winger Jimmy Snuggerud.

And yes, this would mean that Pronman and the Flyers passed on Shane Wright, Simon Nemec, Denton Mateychuk, Conor Geekie, Noah Ostlund, and Marco Kasper, who are all centers or defensemen.

Snuggerud would be one of the Flyers' best wingers

For those who may be unfamiliar, Snuggerud, 22, was drafted 23rd overall by the Blues in 2022 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program and spend three years with the University of Minnesota in the NCAA before joining St. Louis at the tail-end of the 2024-25 season.

Snuggerud twice scored 20 goals and 50 points twice in his three years with Minnesota; for reference, Flyers rookie Porter Martone scored 25 goals and 50 points in 35 games with Michigan State last season.

The 6-foot-1 winger had a so-so rookie year with St. Louis last year until around midseason. In the 27 games he played after Feb. 1, Snuggerud posted a sizzling 12-goal, 18-assist, 3-point stat line with an impressive +23 rating.

Much like Matvei Michkov with the Flyers post-Olympic break, this was indicative of a player who was finally starting to figure things out and got his legs underneath him.

Including the likes of Michkov and Martone, the Flyers already boast a robust group of wingers, both young and old, but it's easy to picture Snuggerud's fit in Philadelphia in a hypothetical re-draft.

He, along with Tyson Foerster, Michkov, and Martone, would give the Flyers one of the very best groups of young wingers in the entire NHL, and would subsequently allow them to move veterans like Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny to address other needs; remember, without Gauthier, there is no Drysdale here.

Fortunately for the Flyers, things are beginning to take a bright turn with Drysdale finally developing into a legitimately good two-way defenseman, as the last few years subjected the rearguard to endless and unreasonable comparisons to Gauthier with the Flyers attempting to navigate an impossible situation.

Snuggerud's continued development made it possible for a team like the Blues to make Jordan Kyrou expendable via trade, which only further proves the value of what the Flyers are doing with the development of their own young players.