Quick Hits: May 22, 2023

1) Cutter Gauthier has won Best Player honors for Team USA (6-0-0) in each of the last two games of the IIHF preliminary round. After scoring the game-winning third period goal in Friday's 3-0 win over Denmark, Gauthier racked up a hat trick and an assist for a four-point performance in Sunday's 9-0 rout of overmatched Team France. On Tuesday, Team USA will play Team Sweden for first place in preliminary round Group A. The medal round starts on Thursday.

Ronnie Attard returned to the Team USA lineup against France. He has dressed in four of the six games played to date.



2) Team Canada (4-1-0) is coming off a 3-2 loss to undefeated Switzerland in Group B play on Saturday. Scott Laughton assisted on a Tyler Toffoli power play goal in a losing cause. Today, Canada goes up against Norway.

3) According to multiple reports, Flyers assistant coach Brad Shaw has interviewed for the vacant head coaching position with the Anaheim Ducks. There are also reports that Shaw has spoken with the Washington Capitals about their head coach vacancy. Veteran coach Shaw has been one of the most respected assistant coaches across the entire NHL but his only NHL head coaching chance so far was a 40-game stint (18-18-4) with the New York Islanders in 2005-06 after Steve Stirling was dismissed.

4) Congratulations to Flyers prospects JR Avon and Brian Zanetti for winning the OHL championship (Robertson Cup) and earning a spot in the 2023 Memorial Cup tournament. On Sunday evening, the Peterborough Petes defeated the London Knights, 2-1, in Game 6 of the final series. Avon (nine playoff goals, six assists) and Zanetti (one playoff goal, six assists) did not figure in the scoring in the deciding game.

The 2023 Memorial Cup will get underway on Friday (May 26) in Kamloops, British Columbia. The annual tourney to determine the champions of the entire CHL will feature the OHL champion Petes, the WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds, the QMJHL champion Quebec Remparts and the tournament host Kamloops Blazers (automatic berth).

The Petes' first game of the round-robin portion of the tourney will be on Saturday in Kamloops against Seattle.

5) On the weekly "Mondays with Meltzer" edition of the Flyers Daily podcast, Jason Myrtetus and I discussed Cutter Gauthier, "signature" moves by general managers, the challenge of trying to put final pieces in place after building a contender (in the context of Kyle Dubas' legacy in Toronto), why every playoff series takes on its own personality, whether a potential Stanley Cup championship would suddenly put two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky into a Hall of Fame worthiness debate, and much more.

To listen to the podcast, click here.

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