BRANDON, Fla. -- As he was preparing for the first day on ice at Tampa Bay Lightning development camp in July, forward Ethan Gauthier got to watch a few minutes of an informal workout of NHL players, including Lightning forwards Nikita Kucherov and Nicholas Paul.
It was a learning experience the 19-year-old wanted to properly absorb.
"I was just taking it all in," said Gauthier, selected by Tampa Bay in the second round (No. 37) of the 2023 NHL Draft. "That's where I want to be. They are where I want to be in a few years.
"You look at the guys like Kucherov, he led the League in scoring but he's here working, it’s July and they're on the edges just working on the little details. That's what being a pro is all about. It got me excited and ready to work."
Gauthier still has at least another year to go before turning professional. Last season with Drummondville, his third in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, he was tied for the team lead with 71 points (36 goals, 35 assists) in 64 games and led the team with 25 points (14 goals, 11 assists) in 19 playoff games to help power Drummondville to the QMJHL championship.
He will return to Drummondville this season and hopes to expand on his individual and team success from 2023-24.
"It was a good year for me, I felt quicker and stronger and overall, just better as a player," Gauthier said. "And that's nice. The best part was making a nice run in the playoffs and getting into some pressure situations where we all had to perform and do the things necessary to win."
Though Gauthier's game is built around his skill and ability around the net, at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, he understands there has to be a level of grit to succeed at the higher levels. Lightning director of player development J.P. Cote said it's important to continue to throw new things at Gauthier and other players that have attended multiple development camps.
"Once we go through the fitness tests and the drills, you want to send them away with something new that they can go back to juniors and use," Cote said. "That's what we do every time we can have interaction with them... everything piles up and they become better players. Every little thing adds up and at the end of the day you've got a one percent, two percent, three percent, 50 percent better player than you had in the beginning. And that's the goal."
Gauthier is searching for that extra percent -- the additional edge that can separate him from the pack.
"You learn so much here," Gauthier said. "And I'm a more mature person, on and off the ice, than I was a year ago. Now I have to continue to build on that and go through the process to become the player I want to be."
