Cutter Gauthier was the name the Flyers had circled at No. 5 in the 2022 NHL Draft, and at the time it looked like a clean fit. In hindsight, though, a full re-do of that draft sends Philadelphia in a different direction - one that lands them another high-end scorer in St. Louis Blues winger Jimmy Snuggerud.
The top of the board stays familiar in this hypothetical. Juraj Slafkovsky still goes No. 1 to Montreal, Logan Cooley moves up from No. 3 to No.
2, Lane Hutson leaps from 62nd to third, and Gauthier rises from fifth to fourth. That leaves the Flyers without Gauthier available, so they pivot to Snuggerud, the 22-year-old winger who quietly put together a strong finish to the 2025-26 season.
Snuggerud was taken 23rd overall by the Blues in 2022 out of the U.S. National Team Development Program, then spent three years at the University of Minnesota before reaching St.
Louis at the end of the 2024-25 season. In college, he scored 20 goals and 50 points twice in three seasons.
For comparison, Flyers rookie Porter Martone posted 25 goals and 50 points in 35 games at Michigan State last season.
His first stretch with the Blues was uneven, but once he got past Feb. 1, the production came fast. Over his final 27 games, Snuggerud put up 12 goals and 18 assists, a 30-point run, and finished with a plus-23 rating. That kind of late surge is the sort of sign teams love to see from a young winger starting to settle in.
That’s why Snuggerud fits so naturally into this kind of Flyers exercise. Philadelphia already has a deep and intriguing group on the wing with Matvei Michkov and Porter Martone in the mix, along with Tyson Foerster.
Add Snuggerud to that group, and the Flyers suddenly have one of the league’s best collections of young wingers. It also opens the door for veterans like Owen Tippett and Travis Konecny to be used to fill other holes.
Of course, the real-world Flyers did not keep Gauthier. They moved him for defenseman Jamie Drysdale and a second-round pick that later became Jack Murtagh. In this version, there is no Gauthier-to-Drysdale swap, which changes the shape of the roster entirely.
That said, Drysdale has started to give Philadelphia something real. He’s now developing into a legitimately good two-way defenseman, which matters after years of comparisons to Gauthier hung over the move and made the whole situation harder than it needed to be.
Snuggerud’s rise also underscores the value of patient development. His strong stretch helped make Jordan Kyrou expendable in trade discussions for the Blues, and it gives the Flyers another example of what can happen when a young player finally finds his footing.
In Other News...
Flyers Fans Just Got Another Painful Draft Reminder
Another former Flyers second-round pick is taking the overseas route, as Samu Tuomaala continues his career in Sweden after injuries slowed his climb through the organization. Philadelphia drafted the winger in 2021, and he never really got the kind of runway teams hope for from a prospect taken that high, with his development interrupted early and his North American pro track never fully finding traction.
After a limited stretch in the AHL and a later move into the Dallas organization, Tuomaala has now landed with Linkoping HC in the SHL, where the clubs general manager is already talking up what he might bring. For Flyers fans, it is another reminder of how quickly draft value can slip away when injuries get in the way, especially when the names taken around a player start to look a lot more familiar in the NHL. [Read more 🡒]
Flyers Fans Wont Love How Much Spotlight The Capitals Are Getting
The leagues spotlight is leaning hard toward Washington again in 2026-27, with the Capitals landing 17 nationally televised games across TNT, ESPN, ABC, ESPN+, Hulu and Disney+. A big share of that attention comes from familiar marquee matchups, including the kind of rivalry dates the NHL knows it can sell on name recognition alone, and the broadcast slate even has a heavy dose of Pittsburgh built in with every meeting against the Penguins set for national air.
For the Flyers, the part that stings a little more is how one of those nationally featured dates falls on April 10 in Philadelphia, a game being framed as a possible farewell stage for Alex Ovechkin. Between the Ovechkin angle and the broader industry obsession with Washingtons biggest stars, the Flyers keep finding themselves on the edge of someone elses celebration, and this one could carry a little extra weight in a building that has seen plenty of those nights already. [Read more 🡒]