On Sunday, Aug. 2, the NHL Network released their list of “Top 20 Wings in the League Right Now” as the first in a nine-part series ranking top NHL players at each position and overall. Anaheim Ducks forward Cutter Gauthier cracked the list, coming in at #19, sandwiched between Lucas Raymond of the Detroit Red Wings at #20 and Brady Tkachuk of the Florida Panthers at #18.
NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp said of Gauthier, “He’s going to be in the ‘Rocket Richard’ conversation for years to come. He shoots the puck from absolutely everywhere.”
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Atop the list were veteran names like Nikita Kucherov, David Pasternak, Kirill Kaprizov, and Mitch Marner at 1-4, respectively. Gauthier was the youngest player on NHL Network’s list.
The 2025-26 season was Gauthier’s second full season in the NHL, one where he tallied 69 points (41-28=69) in 76 games, leading the Ducks in both points and goals en route to the franchise’s first playoff appearance in eight years and their first trip to the second round in nine.
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In the 2026 NHL Playoffs, Gauthier again led the Ducks in scoring with 12 points (4-8=12) in 12 games. They lost to the eventual Western Conference Champion Vegas Golden Knights in six games during their second-round series after defeating the reigning Conference Champion Edmonton Oilers in six games in the first round.
Gauthier was originally a draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers (5th overall in 2022) and was acquired by Anaheim in Jan. 2024 in exchange for defenseman Jamie Drysdale (6th in ’20) and a 2025 second-round pick (Jack Murtagh). He made his NHL debut in the Ducks’ last game of the 2023-24 season and scored 44 points (20-24=44) in 82 games in his rookie year (2024-25), before breaking out as a sophomore.
Rupp was completely correct in his evaluation of Gauthier’s biggest strength: his shot and his ability to get his shot off. Last season, Gauthier led the NHL in shot attempts per 60 minutes (25.58) by a significant margin, eclipsing second-place Dylan Guenther (23.14) by over two shot attempts/60. Gauthier finished second in the league in SOG/60 (12.95) and goals/60 (1.88) while his 41 goals were good enough to tie for 11th.
One can’t help but believe Gauthier is just scratching the surface of his goal-scoring potential, as he accomplished what he did in just his second professional season with the least TOI/G (17:15) and the third-lowest shooting percentage (14.4%) among the NHL’s top-25 goal-scorers.
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It’s also expected he’ll play a more significant role for the Ducks moving forward, and as he continues to develop, both at 5v5 and on special teams. He played just the fifth-most minutes among Ducks forwards at even strength (14:08 TOI /G) and on the power play (2:48 TOI/G) in 2025-26.
He’s established himself as the NHL’s best young scorer and a cornerstone core piece of the present and future of the Anaheim Ducks organization. He’s currently without a contract and is projected to receive a sizable payday, preferably before the start of Anaheim’s 2026 training camp in Sept.
The Ducks are in a predicament where they will be forced to rely on the entirety of their youthful core (Leo Carlsson, Gauthier, Jackson LaCombe, Beckett Sennecke, Lukas Dostal) to take another considerable step in their progressions as star players at their respective positions. Gauthier provides the Ducks with the most difficult attribute to attain in the NHL (goal-scoring) and will be continuously relied on to provide the lineup with game-changing, instant offense for the foreseeable future.
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