SI:AM | The Blockbuster Trade That Shocked the NHL

Plus, the Titans’ stunning decision to fire Mike Vrabel.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. It was a pretty eventful night in college basketball, but let’s get into some stunning hockey news.

In today’s SI:AM:

🏒 Top NHL prospect dealt

🏈 Titans fire Vrabel

🏀 The new team atop our NBA power rankings

It’s Eric Lindros all over again

One of the top prospects in the NHL was traded this week in a move that truly came out of nowhere.

The Philadelphia Flyers traded Cutter Gauthier, the No. 5 pick in the 2022 draft, to the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night in exchange for Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick.

What makes the trade so newsworthy are the details that have come out since. Flyers general manager Daniel Brière said Gauthier told the team over the summer that he was not going to play in Philadelphia and would not sign a contract with the franchise. (He’s currently playing his second season for Boston College.) The team first “tried to give him space,” Brière said, before making attempts to re-engage with Gauthier and his representatives. But Gauthier and his advisers didn’t even respond to the Flyers’ messages. Philadelphia’s last attempt to sway Gauthier was to send Brière and president of hockey operations Keith Jones to Sweden last week to try to meet with Gauthier during the IIHF World Junior Championships. They couldn’t even get Gauthier to speak with them.

“Nothing happened,” Brière said. “We tried to, but they would not engage as far as a reason why. 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.”

That tournament helped cement Gauthier’s status as one of the top prospects in hockey. He tied for the tournament lead with 12 points in seven games (two goals and 10 assists) as he helped lead the U.S. team to the gold medal. Unable to convince Gauthier to give the Flyers a chance, the team decided to capitalize on his breakout tournament and deal him.

It stings for Philly to have to relinquish such a promising player, but at least the team got a decent return. Drysdale was the No. 6 pick in the 2020 draft and made an immediate impact as a 19-year-old in the ’21–22 season when he played 81 games for Anaheim. But injuries have taken some of the shine off him. He missed all but eight games last season due to a shoulder injury and missed 29 games earlier this season with a lower-body injury. Still, he’s only 21 and has shown plenty of promise. It’s not as though the Flyers were forced to dump Gauthier for pennies on the dollar.

The strangest thing about this saga is that Gauthier never gave the Flyers any indication why he didn’t want to play for the franchise.

“We never got an answer. I don’t know much more than that,” Brière said. “He didn’t want to be a Flyer. Didn’t want to be in Philadelphia.”

The lack of information about exactly what Gauthier’s problem with the organization was has led to all sorts of speculation. One rumor that caught fire is that former Flyers forward Kevin Hayes is somehow to blame. Anthony SanFilippo of the Snow the Goalie podcast said he was told “Kevin Hayes’ fingerprints are all over this.” SanFilippo’s cohost, former Flyers player Chris Therien, replied, “Absolutely.” Hayes, who now plays for the St. Louis Blues, said the false rumor has led to all sorts of abuse from fans.

“It’s 100% false,” Hayes told The Athletic. “I don’t know where [SanFilippo] got his information from. At first, it didn’t really seem like a big deal. But just the s--- that’s come from the aftermath, people with death threats, people want my family dead, people happy my brother’s dead, it’s just crazy stuff coming out. … Not a single aspect of what I’ve done had any implications on this kid’s decision.”

Losing Gauthier is a blow to the Flyers’ ongoing rebuild. After missing the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, Philadelphia is now third in the Metropolitan division. Drysdale is expected to immediately slot into the team’s lineup and should provide a boost, but Gauthier has the higher ceiling and will come at a lower cost than Drysdale, who’s in the first year of a three-year, $6.9 million deal. The Flyers, though, aren’t dwelling on what they’ve potentially lost with Gauthier.

“I don’t know Cutter from a hole in a wall,” coach John Tortorella said. “I’m not too interested in talking about him. I’d rather talk about Jamie. He’s the guy that’s coming here.”

The best of Sports Illustrated

Vrabel’s dismissal was the most surprising move of the NFL’s coaching carousel.  :: Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports

• Conor Orr argues that the Titans will come to regret their shocking decision to fire coach Mike Vrabel.
• Albert Breer has the inside scoop on why Tennessee decided to let Vrabel go.
• The Thunder took over the top spot in Chris Mannix’s NBA power rankings.
• Bob Harig reports from the Sony Open in Hawai‘i, where Gary Woodland spoke with reporters about his brain surgery four months ago.
• Kevin Sweeney breaks down where things went wrong for Mick Cronin and the UCLA men’s basketball program. The Bruins are a disappointing 6–9 this season after reaching the Sweet 16 last season.
• Clare Brennan spoke with some dedicated Lions fans about their long wait for a home playoff game in Detroit.
• Defensive coordinator Don Martindale’s expected departure from the Giants is reportedly getting messy. 
• Houston’s loss to Iowa State means there are no undefeated teams left standing in men’s college basketball.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Nebraska fans storming the court after knocking off No. 1 Purdue.

4. Connor McDavid’s deke for a breakaway goal.

3. The Lakers fan who hit a half-court shot for $100,000.

2. Max Abmas’s late game-winner for Texas against Cincinnati.

1. Raptors coach Darko Rajaković’s rant after the Lakers got 23 fourth-quarter free throws in their one-point win over Toronto.

SIQ

Who is second on the NBA’s all-time blocked shots leaderboard behind Hakeem Olajuwon? (Today is the anniversary of when he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.)

• Patrick Ewing
• Dikembe Mutombo
• David Robinson
• Ben Wallace

Yesterday’s SIQ: Jan. 9 is the anniversary of the only time an NBA team failed to make a single free throw in a game. What year did the game occur?

• 1949
• 1972
• 1996
• 2012

Answer: 1996. It was the expansion Toronto Raptors in a 92–91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Toronto went 0-for-3 from the line, while Charlotte went 24-for-41 on its free throw attempts. The previous record for fewest free throws in a game was one, by the New Orleans Jazz in November ’77.