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Quick Hits: Worlds, Hart, Flyers Daily, TIFH

May 29, 2023, 12:46 PM ET [58 Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Quick Hits: May 29, 2023

1) Congratulations to Scott Laughton and the rest of Team Canada for winning the gold medal at the 2023 IIHF World Championships in Tampere, Finland, and Riga, Latvia. In Sunday gold medal game against Germany, the Canadiens scored three unanswered goals in the third period to turn a 2-2 tie into a 5-2 victory. For the second straight day, Laughton tallied an empty net goal to seal the victory. He finished the tournament with eight points (3g, 5a) in 10 games.

2) It was a disastrous weekend for Team USA. Both on Saturday and Sunday, the Americans were unable to nail down a victory after leading in the latter stages of the third period (the final 83 seconds in the case of Saturday's semifinal against Germany). The result was a 4-3 overtime loss to Germany in the semis and a 3-2 overtime defeat by Latvia in Sunday's bronze medal game.

Cutter Gauthier starred through the first eight games. He racked up seven goals and nine points while leading all players in the tournament with 51 shots on goal. Gauthier was relatively quiet in regulation of the semifinal and throughout the bronze medal game. He did, however, have a couple scoring chances and three shots on goal in overtime against Germany. Gauthier played only 9:07 in the bronze medal game. He was on the ice for Rubins' OT goal. Gauthier's Team USA teammate, Flyers/Phantoms defenseman Ronnie Attard, dressed in four of the 10 games the Americans played. He did not play in any of the medal round games. Attard scored a goal against Finland in the preliminary round.

3) Flyers Daily: On the weekly "Mondays with Meltzer" edition of the Flyers Daily podcast, Jason Myrtetus and I lead off by discussing general manager Danny Briere's comments on being willing to listen to trade offers on Carter Hart. Honestly, it would have more surprising (and concerning) if Briere had said, "Carter Hart is untouchable. It would be a waste of time for any team to make an offer." Neither Jason nor I think there's more than a very small chance that Hart is traded this offseason but the Flyers, quite simply, are not in position to shut off any dialogue with other teams. There are NO players who are totally untouchable, and that's what Briere was saying. It's really a giant nothing burger unless there's any substantive discussion with other clubs. Otherwise, it's just standard due diligence.

Other topics covered: the World Championships, whether the Flyers would select Matvei Michkov if he is still on the board when the seventh overall pick of the 2023 Entry Draft comes up (Briere has said that he expects Michkov to be off the board by that point but, if he's unselected through the top six, Briere would not be scared off solely by the signability question that hangs over the player), and whether Peter Laviolette could help the New York Rangers get over the top. To listen to the podcast, click here.
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