On Monday, the Ducks and Flyers swapped a couple of big-name youngsters. The effects of this trade may not be felt immediately, but they will be significant.  

Philadelphia acquires Jamie Drysdale, a 21-year-old defender who was drafted sixth overall in 2020 because of his strong skating ability and offensive instincts. They also get a second-round pick in 2025. Heading to Anaheim is Cutter Gauthier, a 19-year-old forward who was drafted fifth overall in 2022. Gauthier is one of the league's top prospects, highly touted because of his strong shot and size. His playmaking skills have come a long way and were on full display during the 2024 World Junior Hockey Championships, where he racked up eight assists through seven games.

Rarely do we see such high-quality young players traded, but it seems the motivation for this move came from Gauthier not wanting to play in Philadelphia. I hope he isn't scared of ghosts, because the boos will be loud whenever he visits the Wells Fargo Center.

As I alluded to initially, the fantasy implications of this move aren't entirely evident right now, but I'll try to break things down with the information we have.  

Gauthier hasn't made his NHL debut yet. Based on my understanding, he's expected to turn pro after this season at Boston College. That timeline puts him on track to play his first game for the Ducks at some point in March/April. He joins an incredible young core in Anaheim that features forwards like 22-year-old Trevor Zegras – the ninth overall pick of the 2019 draft, 20-year-old Mason McTavish – the third overall pick of 2020, and 19-year-old Leo Carlsson – the second overall pick of 2023. The offensive talent in the Ducks' organization greatly overshadows Philadelphia's right now. The Flyers' only real high-end prospect Matvei Michkov isn't expected to play in the NHL for another two and a half years as he's still on contract in Russia. From a fantasy perspective, moving to Anaheim will allow Gauthier to play with more elite players, helping him put up more offense. There aren't too many talented forwards that Gauthier would have trouble cracking the top power-play unit in his prime (assuming he lives up to his potential), but there are also enough talented forwards to make that top unit successful. A perfect balance.

Although he's featured in four seasons already, Jamie Drysdale has been limited to just 123 games because of injuries, so we haven't really seen all that he can do. He's had some looks on the power-play, but he hasn't really had the high-volume of opportunity over a large sample that I'd want to see before making conclusions.

The Ducks were able to trade Drysdale because they already have a couple of highly touted 20-year-old offensive defenders in Pavel Mintyukov (10^th overall in 2022) and Olen Zellweger (34^th overall in in 2021). Zellweger has 22 points in 29 games down in the AHL, while Mintyukov has 18 points in 39 games as a rookie with the Ducks this year. Mintyukov had seen a 50.5% share of Anaheim's power-play time before Drysdale returned from injury on December 21^st. His role with the man advantage evaporated once Drysdale returned and he posted just one point through eight games. Now that Drysdale's out of the picture, Mintyukov should start seeing more power-play time again.

Drysdale joins a Flyers' team that currently has the league's worst power-play, converting on just 10% of their chances. Although he should get a shot running that unit at some point, I don't think it'll happen immediately. Egor Zamula has been running the top unit for the past three games and already has two points with the man advantage. Coach John Tortorella likes what he's seen from Zamula, so he may let the 23-year-old blueliner ride this hot streak. I think it's fair to say that Drysdale projects to be the better power-play quarterback, but Tortorella is the type to make his players earn their opportunity. If Drysdale makes a good impression on Tortorella, he could take opportunity away from Zamula, as well as Cam York and Travis Sanheim. Drysdale has the potential to improve Philly's power play. If he does, this move will have a positive impact on Philly's top power-play forwards – Travis Konecny, Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, and Owen Tippett – in the short term. I think that the quality of competition that Drysdale faces in Philadelphia is far less than he would've faced in Anaheim, so this move could lead him to a more favourable role and better fantasy outlook.

Players this could help:

Cutter Gauthier

Pavel Mintyukov

Jamie Drysdale

Players this could hurt:

Egor Zamula

Cam York