Philly cheesesteak place piles on former first-round pick

Cutter Gauthier shakes hands with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after being selected as the number five overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2022 NHL Draft at Bell Centre. Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Philadelphia cheesesteak place piles on former first-round pick who wouldn't sign with Flyers

By Adam Gretz | Last updated 1/10/24

Former first-round draft pick Cutter Gauthier is finding out the hard way that Philadelphia sports fans are the wrong people to reject.

Even the cheesesteak places are turning on him.

The Philadelphia Flyers shockingly traded Gauthier, a first-round pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round draft pick. It was a stunning trade because Gauthier figured to be a long-term piece of the Flyers' rebuild and is one of the top forward prospects in the entire NHL.

The only problem was he did not want to play for the Flyers and began to cut off all contact with the front office, including general manager Danny Briere when he traveled to Sweden to try and talk to him at the recent World Junior championships.

Gauthier's unwillingness to sign with the organization prompted the shocking trade, and the fallout has been swift and harsh.

That includes one of Philadelphia's many cheesesteak locations, Delco Steaks, who sent out this post on social media on Tuesday.

For Immediate Release: Regarding the Cutter Gauthier situation pic.twitter.com/YXTd0V1hFb
— Delco Steaks (@delco_steaks) January 9, 2024

When the Flyers announced the trade on Monday night, Briere seemed taken aback by Gauthier's refusal to meet with him and sign with the team, while team president Keith Jones was a little more direct and said if you don't want to be a Flyer, you won't be a Flyer.

All of this is only a fraction of what might await Gauthier if ever has to play a game in Philadelphia as a visitor.

Philadelphia fans are not always the most welcoming group of sports fans, to begin with, and that is especially true when somebody doesn't want to be one of them. Former Major League Baseball player J.D. Drew found that out when he refused to sign with the Phillies and was greeted with batteries when he made his first appearance as a visiting player.

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