The New York Rangers have re-signed restricted free agent forward Julien Gauthier to a one-year contract worth $_ million, or $775,000 per season in the NHL and $300,000 in the AHL. This contract carries him through the 2021-22 season. It is a two-way deal that will guarantee him $325,000.
OFFICIAL: #NYR have agreed to terms with restricted free agent forward Julien Gauthier on a one-year contract. pic.twitter.com/GBiKODkEEe
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) July 16, 2021
Julien Gauthier Re-Signs with Rangers
Over his two-year NHL career, Gauthier has played for the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. He has put up two goals and nine assists for 11 career points in 47 career games. Carolina originally drafted him in the first round, 21st overall of the 2016 NHL Draft.
Last season he scored two goals and six assists for eight points in 30 games. He also added 14 penalty minutes in the 2020-21 campaign. His possession numbers were 46.6 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of -2.6. He scored his first career goal this season on Feb. 21 against the Boston Bruins.
The right winger also represented Canada at the international level. He won a silver medal with his home country at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships. The Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec native scored five goals and two assists for seven points in seven games. He was also part of the 2019 AHL Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers squad.
What This Means for the Future
His re-signing presents some intrigue ahead of the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. Gauthier slid down the depth chart when Vitali Kravtsov came into the lineup.
Some thought he’d be exposed in the expansion draft, but things may have changed with a Gerard Gallant coming in as the team’s new head coach. There’s still a debate whether Gauthier, Brett Howden or Colin Blackwell will be protected in the expansion draft. Howden was also signed to a one-year deal earlier in the off-season.
Gauthier does posses size at 6-foot-4-inches and 225 pounds. He can be a solid part of Seattle’s or New York’s bottom six.
