When goaltender Taylor Gauthier got passed over in his first year of draft eligibility in 2019, he set up a daily reminder notification on his phone.
Every day he'd get the same alert, scheduled for 6 a.m. so it'd be the first thing he saw each morning.
"Get a contract."
Three words, with a period at the end.
After nearly three years of waking up to those same three words each day, Gauthier was finally able to turn the reminder off.
The Penguins signed the 21-year-old Gauthier to a three-year entry-level contract on March 1, a deal that will begin next season and through the 2024-25 season.
"It was getting a little annoying seeing it every day," Gauthier told me last week about that daily reminder. "But I'm happy that I got to cross it off. It was just something that kind of gave me a little bit of motivation, it helped me realize what my end goal was. Not getting drafted, it wasn't the end of the world."
Gauthier (pronounced GO-chee-yay) is currently playing in his overage season in the WHL, his last year of junior hockey before turning pro next year.
It's not hard to see what drew the Penguins to him.
Gauthier's overall save percentage of .932 leads all WHL goaltenders this season, and his 2.23 goals-against average ranks third. He's split the season between the Prince George Cougars and the Portland Winterhawks after a midseason trade, and his numbers since joining the Winterhawks are eye-popping: A 16-3 record, 1.87 goals-against average, and a .940 save percentage. He recorded three shutouts -- all consecutive -- with Portland to put together a shutout streak of 251:11, just 14:02 shy of the league's record established in the 1967-68 season.
"I know I'm a good goalie, I know I could do that," Gauthier said of that shutout streak "But to actually go out and have over three games worth of scoreless minutes, it was pretty surreal."
Gauthier's goaltending coach in Portland, three-time Stanley Cup champion Andy Moog, told me that "there's nobody playing better in the Western League through the course of the second half of this season."
PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS
Taylor Gauthier
Gauthier described himself as a "little unorthodox" as a goaltender. He catches with his right hand, something that's more uncommon. As far as his style goes, he said that he'd compare it to a mix between that of Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky and Tampa's Andrei Vasilevskiy.
"I feel like I'm real athletic," he said. "I can make saves that some guys can't. But at the same time, I've been really trying to calm down in the net and really focus on the technical side of things and just making simple saves."
Moog called Gauthier a "patient, positional goaltender that's willing to wait out shooters and and make the shooters make moves before he does," and added that Gauthier's best asset is that he's "good on his feet."
Gauthier said that he's been in talks with the Penguins for a few seasons now. Andy Chiodo, who at the time was the Penguins' goaltending development coach, first saw Gauthier on a scouting trip out west three years ago.
Though Chiodo has since been elevated to the NHL goaltending coach, he didn't lose contact with Gauthier. One of the Penguins' current development coaches, Kain Tisi, also was in contact with Moog on a number of occasions to dig deeper into what Gauthier could potentially add to the organization
Chiodo mentioned Gauthier's size a couple of times when telling me about what drew them to him -- Gauthier is 6-foot-2, 208 pounds -- and also spoke highly of Gauthier's ability to read plays and competitiveness. The Penguins didn't quite think he was ready for a contract when Chiodo first saw him three years ago, but he's made major strides since then.
"We had eyes on him for the last couple of years," Chiodo said. "He showed promise in those games, but I think that there was still work to be done as far as his general game and his growth as an athlete on and off the ice. He has shown progress and gotten better each year. We tapped into that and identified him as a young goaltender who opened up an opportunity to become a good pro.".
Gauthier said that the talks between his agent and the Penguins really "ramped up" in February, and though he had offers from other teams, it was a "no brainer" to sign with the Penguins once they officially made the offer.
"I was obviously interested in them with such a storied franchise with so many generational talents on the team," he told me. "It was pretty exciting getting the interest from them."
Gauthier's head coach in Portland is Mike Johnston, who spent one full season and a portion of another as the Penguins' head coach from 2014-15, before being replaced by Mike Sullivan. Though Johnston's time in Pittsburgh was brief, Gauthier said that Johnston "had nothing but good things to say about both the city and the organization" when they spoke about the Penguins' interest in Gauthier.
"If he says it's a good place to be, I can't really argue with that," Gauthier said.
There are still some areas of Gauthier's game in which he'll need to focus on improving in order to find success once he turns pro.
"I think that he'll be the first to tell you that he'd like to learn how to be a better a fitter athlete," Moog said of Gauthier. "I think that's something in his near future in terms of his evolution and growth as a goalie, he's going to get fitter and stronger to allow him to play more and keep a high level of performance. And like all young goaltenders, they tend to carry a little bit of the game with them, He's going to work on learning how to forget and focus going forward. Just to not let the bad moments drag down the future moments."
Gauthier could probably be described as a bit of a late bloomer, which is what led him being passed over in the drafts and allowed the Penguins to sign him as a free agent. If you ask him, the way things played out was probably for the best.
"Looking back, I'm kind of glad that I didn't get drafted," Gauthier said. "It really lit a fire under me and pushed me to get better. At the end of the day, I think it worked out for the best."
PORTLAND WINTERHAWKS
Taylor Gauthier
Gauthier will finish the WHL season with Portland, with Memorial Cup aspirations in mind. He'll be eligible to join Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on an amateur contract this season once Portland's season is over, and will likely start next season in the AHL once his entry-level contract begins.
While Gauthier did call getting an NHL contract his "end goal" after getting drafted, he knows that the work is far from over.
"It's obviously something pretty special for my family and I, but at the same time I know the hard work is just starting," he said. "So it's good to get it under my belt. But I've got to keep working, keep trying to get better every day."
Now with that first pro contract under his belt, Gauthier already has his first big purchase in mind, too: A new set of golf clubs.
"I've been using my dad's clubs for a little bit, so I'm excited to get my own so he can inherit his back," he said with a laugh. "I'll probably take him out for a couple rounds of the summer."
Portland Winterhawks
Taylor Gauthier
