Legendary Broad Street Bully Hopes Ducks Cutter Gauthier Gets Booed Hard In Philly Debut

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I'm not sure how your Saturday is going, but I'm pretty confident in saying it's more enjoyable than what Anaheim Ducks rookie Cutter Gauthier will deal with when he makes his Philadelphia debut.

Gauthier, as you may recall, was a Philadelphia Flyers first-round pick in 2023, but by early 2024, it was clear to the team that he wasn't willing to wear orange and black… at least not Flyers orange and black.

So, Gauthier was dealt to Anaheim for D-man Jamie Drysdale. A couple of weeks ago, the Flyers visited the Honda Center where Gauthier was shown with boos from Flyers fans in Southern California, but there will be a few more of those fans on Saturday at Wells Fargo Center who I'm sure will be all-to-eager to let him have it.

Legendary Flyer Bob "The Hound" Kelly — who was on both Cup-winning squads in the Flyers' Broad Street Bullies heyday, even scoring the Cup-sealing goal in 1975 — said he hopes the fans bring it.

"I hope he gets lots of boos," Kelly said, per The Hockey News. "There are certain things you say and certain things you don’t say when you’re representing a team and a franchise and they’re trying to do something. You don’t need to bring attention to yourself."

Flyers legend Bob "The Hound" Kelly hopes former Flyers draft pick Cutter Gauthier (pictured) gets plenty of boos in his Philly debut. (Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images)

Kelly said that Gauthier's decision was something the entire city takes umbrage with, and he also wondered if the 20-year-old might come down with a case of the "Philly Flu" that was prominent back in the Broad Street Bullies era.

"That throws a stone at everybody, (including) businesses," he said. "Here’s a kid who doesn’t want to come. Maybe he’ll be sick or hurt or something by the time he comes here."

Gauthier was on the receiving end of some chirps from Flyers forward Travis Konecny during the two teams' first meeting this season, and I think we should see a bit more of that, in addition, to the chorus of boos Kelly is calling for.