December 20, 2023

Flyers prospect check: Cutter Gauthier, Oliver Bonk are headed to World Juniors

Cutter Gauthier, who's been surging for Boston College, will skate for Team USA. Oliver Bonk, soaring for London in the OHL, will represent Canada.

By Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

Christmastime annually brings the biggest stage in junior hockey along with it, and this time with two big-name Flyers prospects set to skate into the spotlight.

Prized forward Cutter Gauthier will represent Team USA and 2023 first-round defenseman Oliver Bonk will go for Team Canada when the puck drops on the 2024 World Junior Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden next Tuesday, December 26.

Gauthier, the fifth overall pick by the Flyers in the 2022 draft, will get another shot at going for gold after putting up 10 points (seven goals, two assists) in last winter's tournament but with the U.S. ultimately finishing in third.

“I’ve never had the honor of winning gold yet,” Gauthier told Chris Jurewicz in an interview for the IIHF with the tournament looming. “I still haven’t had an opportunity to win a gold medal. That’s something I have my eyes on and the group that has been chosen is willing to do whatever it takes. It’s just a matter of how fast we can come together and build collectively as a group and move forward to the end goal.”

Bonk, the 22nd overall pick and the second of the Flyers' two first-rounders earlier in the summer, will be making his debut on the international stage.

Winger Alex Čiernik, a 2023 fourth-rounder, will also be going to the tournament for Slovakia but will do so trying to work his way back from a concussion.

This year's seventh-overall pick Matvei Michkov, or any Russian prospect for that matter, won't be appearing in World Juniors as the IIHF has the country banned indefinitely from international play because of its invasion of Ukraine.

Still, with Gauthier, Bonk and possibly Čiernik set to play, there's real opportunity for the Flyers as an organization to make a strong statement these next couple of weeks.

The NHL team that's here right now is playing well and holding a playoff spot, which caught the whole league by surprise and could send a message that this rebuilding squad is very much for real if it keeps up. And if their three prospects put on a show at Worlds, with Gauthier likely on the doorstep of a call-up after the collegiate season, that could put the entire hockey world on notice that Philadelphia is only going to get better – and maybe a bit faster than originally thought.

One step at a time though.

Here's a look at how the farm's been doing...

• Every passing game for Boston College seems to bring a new Gauthier highlight along with it. The Eagles went on their holiday break December 9, but not before notching a 5-4 win over Providence where the 19-year-old rifled home a tying goal in the third.

Friars didn't lead for long ✂️

📺 @NESN
🇨🇦 TSN2
💻 https://t.co/6hEFdiCaU0 pic.twitter.com/fHNBkuaA9m
— BC Men's Hockey (@BC_MHockey) December 9, 2023

There is just so little time to react to that shot.

Through 17 games, Gauthier has tallied up 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points to help Boston College surge to a 13-3-1 record.

The hope is that he'll join the Flyers late in the season, but that will likely be after a run in the NCAA tournament at this rate.

• Bonk and third-round center Denver Barkey have been soaring for London over in the Ontario Hockey League. Bonk is up to 30 points (six goals and 24 assists) through 28 games on the back end, and Barkey has reached 44 points (17 goals and 27 assists) through 30 contests.

And both have made it look easy.

CC: @NHLFlyers, you up? 👀

2023 draft picks Oliver Bonk and Denver Barkey led the way for London, each scoring a pair of goals in a 5-2 road victory in Guelph 📽️@LondonKnights | #LetsGoFlyers pic.twitter.com/qCvyDEE9aw
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) November 16, 2023

Barkey was on the bubble of making Team Canada's roster for World Juniors but fell just short of the final cut.

• Before his concussion, Čiernik put up four goals and 12 points in 19 games for Västerviks IK, an impressive line for a 19-year old in tier-2 Swedish pro hockey.

• Michkov has put in a phenomenal season for HC Sochi over in the KHL with 11 goals and 15 assists through 29 games. He hasn't played since December 1, however, due to a reported illness (believed to be pneumonia) that will keep him sidelined for a bit.

• Staying over in Russia and with a couple of goalies within the Flyers' system: 21-year-old Alexei Kolosov, a 2021 third-rounder, is posting a 2.34 goals against average and a .909 save percentage for the KHL's Dinamo Minsk. Yegor Zavragin, 18 and a 2023 third-rounder, has the hot hand in the tier-2 VHL with a staggering .957 save percentage, a minuscule 1.11 GAA, and an undefeated 8-0-0 record.

.@NHLFlyers Yegor Zavragin with another great game for Yugra in VHL

Stopped all 19 shots he faced in 3-0 win

His VHL stats are silly

8-0-0
.957 sv%
3 SO

If keeps it up his .957 sv% is on track to be best in VHL history. (no-one with 15+ games has ever got over .956) #Flyers
— Alexander Appleyard (@avappleyard) December 19, 2023

Back to Canada and second-round pick Carson Bjarnason in the Western Hockey League, the 18-year-old has only a .900 save percentage and a 3.20 GAA through 23 games, but keep in mind that Canadian juniors are for the goal scorers, and that Bjarnason is pulling off saves like this:

Carson Bjarnason made this huge save on a breakaway in OT to keep the game tied - it's the @WestobaCU Save of the Game! pic.twitter.com/mILRn1ZqNo
— Brandon Wheat Kings (@bdnwheatkings) December 9, 2023

• Finally shifting to the Phantoms over in Lehigh Valley, the raw skill of Samu Tuomaala and how he honed it was something to keep an eye on after training camp broke, and of late, the 20-year old Fin seems to be putting the pieces together.

The right-winger is up to seven goals and 16 assists through 23 AHL games so far this season, including five points (two goals and three assists) in the past four contests.

SAMU. TUOMAALA. HIS 7TH OF THE YEAR.

THIS KID IS ONE OF THE BEST ROOKIES IN THE AHL. #FLYERS pic.twitter.com/gPZ5WUU6iS
— TLY (@TheLibertyYell) December 16, 2023

• Defenseman Emil Andrae appears to be finding his game down in the minors as well after his first run in the NHL proved overwhelming.

The 21-year-old scored in consecutive games last week and has five points in his last three.

Emil Andrae rips one high blocker side 🎯@LVPhantoms | #CLTvsLV pic.twitter.com/vCNKUDB0JV
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) December 14, 2023

For the AHL season, he's up to three goals and eight assists for 11 points. The minus-8 mark is a bit concerning for a blueliner, but he's still working on it, and his style of game prioritizes risk-taking to move the puck up ice to begin with. So maybe that's just to be expected.

• Elliot Desnoyers hasn't lit up the scoresheet too much with just four goals and 10 points so far this season, but has put in some solid play for the Phantoms, including this effort on the breakaway back on December 3:

🚨Desnoyers lights the lamp!🚨#LVvsPRO | #OurValleyOurHome pic.twitter.com/msUkTw2PCp
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) December 3, 2023

• Ronnie Attard has been steady on the blue line with 14 points and a plus-2 rating, and put away an overtime winner against Charlotte last Wednesday.

Ronnie Attard in overtime just rolls off the tongue. @LVPhantoms | #CLTvsLV pic.twitter.com/6ooCb6lGSo
— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) December 14, 2023

• And Louie Belpedio, though not much of a prospect anymore, returned to Lehigh Valley after putting in a solid stretch run up with the Flyers through late November. He was put back into the Phantoms' lineup Friday against Laval, then generated four shots against Springfield in a 4-2 loss to Springfield the next night.

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Nick Tricome
PhillyVoice Staff

nick@phillyvoice.com

Read more Flyers NHL Philadelphia Matvei Michkov Alex Ciernik Emil Andrae Phantoms AHL World Juniors Cutter Gauthier Oliver Bonk Denver Barkey Samu Tuomaala