ive been touring stateside !!

2019 the absolutely terrible anaheim ducks draft trevor zegras at 9OA

2020 the absolutely terrible anaheim ducks draft jamie drysdale at 6OA

Trevor and Jamie become inseperable best friends. This is relevant for later. Trevor's flashy hockey style and hot head attitude make him an Anaheim fan favorite but also has him clashing a lot with the Anaheim coaching staff and front office.

2020 - 2023 Trevor and Jamie are the best of friends and Anaheim finally starts looking to improve their team and get a real rebuild going by drafting Mason McTavish at 3OA in 2021 and Leo Carlsson at 2OA in 2023. The Carlsson draft is #scandalous. No one had him going that high in the draft but GM Pat Verbeek (PVB) thought this was HIS GUY!!! #trust

However ☝️ in 2023 the PHILADELPHIA flyers draft BC legend, known Will Smith Hockey harem member, Cutter Gauthier at 5oa. Ok cool nice good job philly.

Then something weird happens.

Cutter does not attend development camp. He tells the Flyers he Does Not Want To Sign With Them. To this day, the public has no idea why. Cutter then ghosts the philly front office, doesn't attend 2023 rookie camp and refuses to negotiate. This drags in for all of 2023 and into 2024.

Meanwhile the summer of 2023 Zegras and Drysdale contract negotiations are a nightmare and drag into OCTOBER, even though bros were some of the best on the team but the Anaheim FO is notoriously cheap as hell!! This is also relevant for later!

BUT ☝️ they get it done.

Now it's early 2024 and Philly is like what the fuck do we do with Cutter Gauthier because we don't want to just let him rot and not sign him and get NOTHING, so they think aha ☝️ we will trade him!

Philadelphia trades Cutter Gauthier to Anaheim in exchange for Jamie Drysdale in January of 2024. To this DAY no one is quite sure why Cutter refused to sign with Philadelphia.

The meltdown begins.

It's the start of the 2024 season and Leo Carlsson is in Year 2 and he's fucking great. Trending upwards to be a wonderful franchise player. Cutter Gauthier is also here now!! He's a rookie and he's great for a rookie but not exactly putting up Calder numbers so atp everyone is thinking the Drysdale trade is just an ok trade on both ends.

But Philadelphia does not forget.

After Jamie's trade, Trevor Zegras, who atp is widely beloved by Anaheim fans and sells the most jerseys and has all the best highlight clips and blah blah starts to fall into a slump. Bro is depressed and lonely and it's making him bad at hockey. And then he gets injured. Trevor gets injured and he's sucking and known hockey terrorist Anaheim Head Coach Greg Cronin doesn't like him and they aren't vibing and Trevor is miserable and the Ducks!! STILL!! SUCK!!! AT!! HOCKEY!! They fire Cronin before the season ends in April of 2024.

Ducks go fuck it we're blowing it all up. In the offseason preceding the 25-26 season, they hire Head Coach Joel Quenneville, and they trade Trevor Zegras to Philadelphia (hey remember when we hooked you up with Jamie Drysdale when you wanted to offload Cutter well can you help US out now??) in exchange for Ryan Poehling and some picks.

Rumor has it the Zegras / Anaheim bridge was officially and totally burned. The Cutter drama AND the Zegras drama cement Anaheim and Philly as rivals whose games end in high penalty minutes and with fans who can't stand each other.

2025-2026 Season

In Philly: Trevor does really great in Philly. He heals and reunites with Jamie and clicks with the team style and system more than he did in Anaheim and they're happy.

In Anaheim: Leo Carlsson is clearly incredible. He's one of the ducks' most productive players and cements himself as their cornerstone piece.

Then Something Funny happens AGAIN. Cutter Gauthier, expected to be a top-6, really great player, absolutely EXPLODES in his softmore year. He is ELCTRIC. By the second half of the season Cutter is practically a goal-per-game player. He ends up with the highest amount of goals scored in a single season in franchise history at 41 goals. He's a monster.

Both the Ducks AND the Flyers exceed expectations and run-and-gun-hockey their way into the second round of a playoffs no one expected them to even touch.

They both exit the playoffs with fans pretty satisfied with how far they've both come.

2026 OFFSEASON

It comes out in the media that Anaheim isn't worried that they haven't come to a deal with RFAs Leo and Cutter because they'll "match any offer" for Leo. He's their guy. Their favorite child. Their extra special boy.

But, remember, Philadelphia does not forget.

Capitalizing on the fact that Ducks GM PVB always drags his feet in contract negotiations, and who had yet to sign his two best players: beloved franchise darling Leo Carlsson and new fan-fav Cutter Gauthier, Philly offersheets Leo a whopping 18mill x 5 yr contract. If Anaheim agrees, half their cap space is eaten, fucking over any money Cutter Gauthier and any other young Ducks talent might have asked for. If they refuse, they lose one of their best players they rebuilt around, setting back their now 7-year long rebuild, fucking over the franchise.

That very same franchise Cutter Gauthier chose to play for instead of Philadelphia.

Leo Carlsson (F)

Cutter Gauthier (F)

Pavel Mintyukov (D) - young forward. headed into 3rd year in nhl. trending upward. great player.