IRVINE, Calif. — The hottest stick in the NHL is a CCM Tacks Recharge Pro Supercharged MK, or mid-kick, that Cutter Gauthier swears by. He’s been loyal to the brand since he was 10, when he moved from Arizona to Michigan for his competitive development.
“I’ve always used them,” the Anaheim Ducks winger told The Athletic. “I like them a lot, and that’s the one that I feel most comfortable with. I’ve used the same curve and same flex and stick pretty much my whole career, so I know exactly what it does in every situation. Just stuck with it.”
Master craftsmen in any discipline are loyal to the tools they use to ply their trade. It can feel the same way for hockey players. The right equipment matters, and for the 22-year-old Anaheim Ducks star, the right tool is essential to maximizing his physical ability.
Especially when he’s on track to become one of the NHL’s finest goal scorers.
“You feel it right away if you’re not using the right stick, or something’s wrong with it,” Gauthier said. “They send you a bad batch or they send you a good batch or something like that. You hold a hockey stick in your hands for two to three hours every single day of your life, and you know when just the littlest things are off. It’s a definite feel.”
It helps to have natural talent that’s been cultivated over time. Gauthier’s proclivity for scoring goals has made him a star at the age-group level, the U.S. National Team Development Program and in the NCAA at Boston College. Now that sniping expertise is being executed against NHL opposition.
Around the NHL: Kucherov’s natural hat trick, Gauthier extends goal streak
With his finish Wednesday against the Nashville Predators, Gauthier will carry a seven-game goal-scoring streak into the Ducks’ home game Saturday night against the New York Islanders. It is the longest such streak in franchise history since Corey Perry scored in seven straight games during the 2013-14 season. A goal Saturday would tie him with Teemu Selanne, who scored in eight straight for the Ducks in 1998-99. (Selanne holds the team record with an 11-game goal-scoring streak in 1997-98).
Gauthiers’s goal explosion has moved him into historical territory. He has scored 14 times in the seven games, making him the first to rack up that many in a similar stretch since Mario Lemieux did it for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alexander Mogilny accomplished that for the Buffalo Sabres. Part of that has been three hat tricks in a five-game span, making Gauthier do something only six others in league history have done in the league’s modern era (since 1943-44).
One of those six is Wayne Gretzky. Gauthier also joined Bernie Nicholls, Auston Matthews and Mike Bossy as the only NHL players over the last 100 years to record three hat tricks within the first 17 games of a season. With this scoring binge, Gauthier has, in a current statistical sense, put his name among some Hall of Famers.
“It’s obviously really cool,” Gauthier said. “Something you dream of as a kid. It’s cool that it’s happening for sure. I definitely got to stay level-headed. They did this for many, many years, and this is my first time doing it. I got to keep this going if I want to actually be with them — the greats — at the end of my career.”
Right now, Gauthier has vaulted into the Rocket Richard Trophy race. His 16 goals are tied with Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor for third in the league, tied behind the Minnesota Wild’s Kirill Kaprizov and all trailing Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, who has 18.
Could Gauthier join the ranks of the best goal producers? Evidence shows that this may be more than an early-season heater. While it’s logical to think that he might not sustain his 20.3 percent shooting, Gauthier’s success rate is lower than Kaprizov’s (25.4 percent) and Draisaitl’s (23.1 percent). Gauthier’s 79 shots on goal are among the league leaders and project to 349 over the full 84-game season. That’s not a far-fetched number to reach, given that his 286 shots on goal last season were the sixth-most in the NHL.
If he keeps up this pace, Gauthier could become the Ducks’ fourth 50-goal scorer and challenge for the franchise’s single-season record. Selanne scored 51 goals in 1996-97 and followed up with a team-record 52 in 1997-98. Paul Kariya scored 50 in 1995-96, and Perry had 50 in 2010-11 as part of his Hart Trophy-winning campaign.
“It’s honestly incredible,” Ducks right wing Troy Terry said. “We know how good of a goal scorer (Gauthier) is. … He’s also one of these guys that the game could not be finding him for 59 minutes and 59 seconds of it, but he is just one of the guys that he’s ready at all times, and if he gets one chance, he’s going to bury it.
“Everyone talks about his goal scoring,” Terry added, “but he’s such a good hockey player, and he does so many things for our team more than even just scoring.”
Does the puck have a way of finding the great goal scorers? Gauthier’s last goal is an example of that. Against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, Anaheim forward Beckett Sennecke made a move into the slot area on the offensive end and was challenged by multiple defenders. Sennecke managed to throw the puck behind him to hopefully find a teammate.
He did. Mikael Granlund was there. But so was Gauthier, who got the puck in stride and fired it past Predators goalie Justus Annunen. Those things can happen when a player is white-hot on offense. But there is more to the art.
“You definitely get good puck luck and good bounces more games than not,” Gauthier said. “But goal scorers know where to put themselves. They know when to get in the open slot. They know how to read the play really well — a step ahead — and where the open ice is. A lot of it’s just instincts. And I think goal scorers have a really good eye to find open space and kind of know where the puck is going to go based off a shot or a rebound or something like that.”
The Ducks look for their sharpshooter on every power-play opportunity, and Gauthier’s NHL-leading 10 goals with the man advantage is one reason why Anaheim is cooking at an NHL-best 36.8 percent. Teammates are marveling at Gauthier, who is enjoying the kind of blistering stretch few in hockey history have ever had.
“I know what it is, and it’s the greatest feeling you can have in a hockey game,” Granlund said. “Sometimes, it goes that way. Pucks keep finding him, and obviously you’re doing something right when that happens.
“It’s impressive,” Granlund added. “I haven’t seen that. Obviously, the whole league hasn’t seen that kind of little stretch he’s been having. He’s playing really good.”
Has Gauthier arrived as one of the game’s top scorers? Well, he did lead Anaheim with 41 goals last season — the most since Perry scored 43 for the Ducks 13 years ago. In his third full NHL season, Gauthier has only become more prolific.
“Obviously, I want to be one of those guys, and it’s definitely a process to get to that point, but I have a lot of work to do,” he said. “Put the work in, and see what happens.”
