New York Rangers: Who is Julien Gauthier?

The New York Rangers acquired right winger Julien Gauthier from the Carolina Hurricanes this week.  What are they getting in this young forward?

The New York Rangers have one organizational need, depth at forward. There’s also a shortage of size among the forwards in the pipeline. When the Blueshirts acquired 22-year old Julien Gauthier they got both.

Gauthier is a big boy. He is 6’4″ and 227 pounds, making him the tallest and heaviest player on the current roster.  He’s a righthanded shot who plays the right wing.  He is a native of Pointe-aux-Trembles in the province of Quebec.   His uncle, Denis Gauthier, was a defenseman who played 10 years in the NHL for Calgary, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Julien was drafted by the Hurricanes in the first round of the 2016 draft, going 21st overall.  He has played five games in the NHL, all this season and has one assist.

In his Rangers debut versus Chicago, Gauthier played 7:18 starting on the fourth line, but he was also moved up to the third line. He showed no reluctance to go to the net or to use his big body along the boards.  On one foray into the offensive zone, he drew a holding penalty on Olli Matta who had no choice but to foul him to prevent a breakaway.

Considering his lack of practice time with his new team, it was an impressive though brief showing.

Scouting reports

Gauthier has his fans among hockey experts. In their latest  assessment, The Athletic (subscription required) ranked Gauthier the ninth best prospect in the Hurricanes organization. While ninth best may not seem impressive, Carolina was ranked third among all NHL teams in terms of prospects so suffice to say he has a good ranking in an excellent prospect pool. The Athletic called him “one of the better scorers in the AHL”  whose game was to “get to the net to finish off plays or score from long range,” predicting that “he should thrive with a playmaking centre who can get him the puck.”

Dobber Prospects.com had this to say after his second full season in the AHL:  “Gauthier’s sophomore season in the AHL was a step forward for the former first round sniper, finishing in the top 20 in the league in goals with 27 markers…The wingers nine power play goals were tops on the team.   Gauthier will never be a Selke trophy candidate, but if he can be deployed into favorable offensive minutes with ample power play time, he can be effective in his career.”

This is what Dobber had to say about Gauthier after he was drafted: ” In need of a sniper, Carolina drafted hulking winger Julien Gauthier with their second first round pick. His 41 goals in 54 games were sixth in the QMJHL last season, following up a 38-goal effort for Val-d’Or the season before. Gauthier is not a player who will thrive if forced to be a playmaker, but if he is paired with skiled linemates he has proven he can put up high goals numbers. Armed with a lethal shot, he should be a power play weapon if his teammates can get the puck to him in high-danger situations. ”

And this is what Eliteprospects.com had to say about Gauthier before he was drafted: “Julien Gauthier has drawn well-deserved comparisons to current NHLer Rick Nash. He has an imposing frame, dazzling puck skills, and the drive to win. Learns from his past mistakes and implements new strategies to counteract them.”

His juniors career

Gauthier was a top scorer for Val-d’Or Foreurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.  His scoring peaked in his draft year when he scored 41 goals in 54 games.  It’s worth nothing he had only 16 assists that season.  As the experts said, he is not a playmaker.

He starred for Team Canada at the 2017 World Junior Championships, tying for the team lead in goals with five in seven games as Canada won the silver medal.

In the summer after he was drafted he signed an Entry Level Contract, but was returned to the QMJHL where he played one more year before turning pro.

The AHL

Gauthier turned pro after the 2016-17 season and has attended the Hurricanes training camp the last three Septembers, but was sent to Charlotte each year.  As a 20-year old rookie, he scored 16 goals and had 25 points.  In his second season he improved to score 27 goals and total 41 points.

This past September he had a good pre-season, but was victim of a numbers game in Carolina and found himself back in Charlotte. This season he has scored 26 goals in 44 games and added 11 assists for 47 points.  Those 26 goals were good for fourth in the league and he tallied eight of those goals on the power play. He was the leading goal scorer on the team after finishing second last season.

The Checkers put together a highlight video in a tweet when he was traded:

Dealing from strength

This was the first transaction for the Rangers this trading season.  Considering the depth of the defensive prospect pool, no matter the upside for Joey Keane, this deal makes a lot of sense for the Rangers.  Keane was not going to supplant Jacob Trouba, Adam Fox or Tony DeAngelo on the starting blueline corps and with Nils Lundkvist excelling in Sweden this year, the Rangers have a surplus of righthanded defense talent.

What it does mean is that DeAngelo will probably stay a Ranger though they will have a hard time coming up with the cap space to pay him what he wants after the career season he is having.

As for Gauthier, he gets to return to Carolina and should play Friday night in a chance to show the Hurricanes what they gave up on.