A potential trade between the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche almost happened in early January 2024.

This was when the Flyers were looking to exchange Cutter Gauthier after he told the organization he would not play for them. 

According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, Philadelphia was interested in Colorado defenseman Bowen Byram as its preferred return. They tried pushing for a straight swap between the two former first-round picks. 

Seravalli reported that the Flyers directly asked Colorado for a Gauthier and Byram swap, straight up. 

Gauthier was the fifth overall pick in 2022, while Byram was selected fourth overall in 2019. With that in mind, it does feel like an almost “equal” exchange. But Colorado did not agree to move Byram on those terms. 

According to Seravalli, the Avalanche said they wanted more than just Gauthier in return. And they were not willing to move Byram without additional assets.

At the time, the Flyers were fully unwilling to add assets beyond Gauthier. With neither side able to compromise, the deal was called off.

Philadelphia ultimately completed the trade with the Anaheim Ducks.

On January 8, they sent Gauthier to Anaheim in exchange for defenseman Jamie Drysdale, who was a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Coming to Byram, Colorado eventually traded him to the Buffalo Sabres on March 6, 2024, for center Casey Mittelstadt.

Both the players who were eventually meant for a swap ended up in different teams on different terms at the end.

Why Gauthier's Philadelphia Exit Became Inevitable

This failed trade started off due to the bumpy relationship between Gauthier and the Flyers, which was disrupted beyond repair. The Flyers GM Danny Briere said publicly that Gauthier was unwilling to play for Philadelphia as early as May 2023.

Briere explained how Gauthier had initially told the Flyers he wanted to stay. But he changed his mind a few months later.

"He looked at us at the draft and told us he was built to be a Flyer, wanted to be a Flyer," Briere recalled. "And then a few maybe months later told us that he didn't want to be a Flyer, didn't want to play for the Flyers."

Gauthier also talked about the situation after the trade. He revealed that the fallout happened due to a personal matter involving himself, his family, and his agent. Also, he kept declining to explain his reasons publicly and chose to be private. 

He also went on to add that former Flyers forward Kevin Hayes, Gauthier’s close mentor, had no involvement in this situation.

While Philadelphia ended up trading him to Anaheim, Seravalli's recent comments brought back the conversation on how different the situation was back then.

Read more at NHL Fan Central!

Written by

Aadhya Nalla

Edited by

Koushik Biswas