Penguins A to Z: There’s nothing silly about Taylor Gauthier
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With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Taylor Gauthier
Position: Goaltender
Catches: Right
Age: 21
Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 208 pounds
2021-22 WHL statistics: 42 games, 31-9-0 record, 2.34 goals against average, .928 save percentage, four shutouts
Contract: Entering the first year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $859,167. Pending restricted free agent in the 2025 offseason.
Acquired: Undrafted free agent signing, March 1, 2022
Last season: Despite having not been drafted when he was first eligible in 2019, Taylor Gauthier was still on the radar of several NHL teams and had even attended a handful of development camps with the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs in years past.
So as he entered his overage (i.e. final) season at the junior level, he needed to come through with a strong performance in order to find a route to the NHL.
Opening the 2021-22 campaign with the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League, Gauthier appeared in 14 games with that franchise and posted stable figures, including a 7-5-0 record, a 2.75 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.
After being traded to the Portland Winterhawks — who are coached by former Penguins coach Mike Johnston — on Dec. 27, Gauthier’s season really took off.
In 28 games with the Winterhawks, Gauthier had an outstanding 24-4-0 mark, a 2.16 goals against average, a .931 save percentage and four shutouts.
Part of that success came during February when Gauthier established a franchise-record shutout sequence of 251:11 and was 14:02 short of tying the WHL record.
After signing with the Penguins on March 1, Gauthier led the Winterhawks to a third-place finish in the WHL’s Western Conference then looked airtight in net during the playoffs. Playing in 11 postseason games, he had a 7-4 record, a 1.92 goals against average, a .937 save percentage and one shutout before being eliminated in the second round.
The future: Gauthier, who was a reserve on Canada’s 2020-21 IIHF World Junior Championship team, will turn professional next season. It just remains to be seen if he’ll take those first steps of his professional career with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League or Wheeling of the ECHL.
The Penguins have some things to sort out with their goaltending depth — namely, who will be the backup on the NHL roster — and that will impact how they’ll sort things out with their prospects at the position such as Gauthier and Filip Lindberg.
As a right-catching goaltender, Gauthier is a “silly sider,” but there’s nothing silly about his NHL credentials. As a fairly large body, he doesn’t allow much for shooters to aim at. His athleticism can make him a little bit scrambly at times, but the Penguins’ goaltending development coaches — a department that has been rebuilt under general manager Ron Hextall — can smooth out those rough edges.