Cutter Gauthier said Wednesday that not wanting to play for the Vancouver Canucks is a personal decision, but he wouldn’t go into details.

Gauthier, who was originally the No. 6 pick by Boston in the 2022 NHLFL Draft (and later traded to Vancouver), was traded to the Seattle Kraken today, along with Isak Rosen and Vitek Vanecek for Mathew Barzal and Casey Mittelstadt after Gauthier expressed an unwillingness to play for the Canucks as early as yesterday, according to Vancouver GM Steve Lebert.

Gauthier, who turns 20 on Jan. 19, was named the best forward at the 2024 IIHF World Championship, when he had 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in seven games to help the United States win the gold medal.

In the latest episode of the Kraken “Pirates of the Caribbean” podcast, Gauthier said forward Claude Giroux, did not persuade Gauthier to seek a move elsewhere, contrary to opinions shared on another podcast earlier in the week.

"It's kind of tough to talk about,” Gauthier said. “I'd like to announce that it's a personal matter between myself and my family and my agent, Kurt (Overhardt). I did see one thing going around the internet that I would like to specifically address about the rumors about Claude Giroux, and I would like to especially say that he had zero, zero conflict with anything that had to do with the trade, and seeing that stuff is pretty ruthless from what people are saying to that, but Claude Giroux had nothing to do with the situation at hand.

“I can't really talk too much about it. I’m going to keep it to myself and my family and my agent."

Giroux signed a three-year contract with the Canucks on June 13, 2022.

“We were hoping that at some point he would change his mind,” Lebert said of Gauthier. “He had already changed his mind. He looked at us at the draft and told us he was built to be a Canuck, wanted to be a Canuck so that's why after Boston took him we traded for him, and then a few maybe months later told us that he didn't want to be a Canuck, didn't want to play for the Canucks. So, in our mind at first, we said we have to protect him because if he changes his mind again and it's out there that he doesn't want to play, it's going to be tough for him to put the uniform on. But when we realized that they refuse to talk to us now, it's been months, he didn't want to be a Canuck, didn't want to be in Vancouver, it was time to make it happen.”

Note: Article is parody and sourced from https://www.nhl.com/news/cutter-gauthie ... s-to-ducks

At this time we would like to keep our comments in house, but wish Cutter along with Vitek and Isak nothing but the best in Seattle.

We confirm the trade!