"Sports is better when there is hate": Elliotte Friedman issues bold take on Cutter Gauthier's raucous welcome by Flyers fans

The Philadelphia Flyers picked Cutter Gauthier fifth in the 2022 NHL Draft. However, he refused to sign and created a massive dispute in the organization. Eventually, GM Daniel Briere was forced to trade Gauthier and sent him to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a 2025 second-round pick.

Gauthier recently returned to Philadelphia, and he was met by chants filled with expletives. The Philadelphia fans didn't shy away from letting him know how they felt about him.

On his 32 Thoughts podcast (15:00), NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman said that Gauthier is more than welcome to express his desire to go elsewhere and do so, but he's not free from the way the Flyers fanbase will perceive him afterward:

"He also has to accept that if he's not going to give the exact reason, then you can't expect the Flyers fans to feel any differently, like nobody's in the wrong here. Everybody is free to do as they wish. I have no problem with any of this. Sports is better, though, when there's hate, and that game had a lot of hate around it."

The analyst went on to say that Flyers players probably don't appreciate what Gauthier did, either:

"If I have any pride in wearing that jersey, and you can only imagine, like Ed Snyder in the week of his birthday, just spinning in his grave at all this stuff. If, if, if you have any pride wearing a Flyers jersey, you almost have to manufacture that I'm not even if, deep down, I believe it's a business and the kid is free to do what he wants."

He believes the Flyers had to make it clear that they didn't appreciate how Gauthier acted and that they did just that.

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Flyers star addresses Cutter Gauthier

The Philadelphia Flyers and their fans made sure Cutter Gauthier didn't feel welcomed home by the team that selected him in the 2022 NHL Draft. In the second period, Travis Konecny was interviewed about it all.

The Flyers didn't welcome Cutter Gauthier back (Imagn)

He said via Broad Street Hockey:

“Yeah, I mean the crowd is doing it all. It’s been a lot of fun playing tonight. I mean, I don’t know the kid. We’re just giving him a hard time. When you come and by a Flyer, you don’t really understand until you’re here, it means a lot. It’s his loss. On to the next one, we don’t really care.”

The Flyers didn't take it personally, but everyone in the building was pretty hostile toward Cutter Gauthier.