Daniel Gauthier

Daniel Gauthier (born May 17, 1970) is a Canadian former ice hockey centre. He played 5 games in the National Hockey League with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 1994–95 season. The rest of his career, which lasted from 1990 to 2012, was mainly spent in European leagues.

Playing career Gauthier was drafted 62nd overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1988 NHL entry draft. He turned pro in 1990 in the International Hockey League with the Albany Choppers for one game before joining the ECHL's Knoxville Cherokees, scoring 41 goals and 93 assists for 134 points. In his rookie season Gauthier was named to the 1990–91 ECHL First All-Star Team and also won the John A. Daley Trophy as the ECHL's Rookie of the Year.

He then had spells in the IHL for the Muskegon Lumberjacks and later the Cleveland Lumberjacks following their relocation. In 1993, Gauthier signed with the Florida Panthers as a free agent, but was assigned to the IHL's Cincinnati Cyclones and never played for the Panthers. A year later he became a free agent once more and signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was initially assigned to the IHL's Indianapolis Ice, but eventually played 5 NHL games during the 1994–95 season but scored no points.

After splitting the 1995–96 season with the Ice and the Peoria Rivermen, Gauthier moved to Europe. Brief spells in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the Frankfurt Lions and the Wedemark Scorpions were followed by a move to the Austrian Hockey League with VEU Feldkirch. After three seasons, Gauthier moved to the Swiss Nationalliga A and joined SCL Tigers for another three years. He then rejoined Feldkirch in another three season spell before moving to Italy's Serie A, joining HC Asiago. He returned to Austria and signed for EC VSV. In 2008, Gauthier returned to North America and played in the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey (LNAH) with spells for the Saint-Hyacinthe Top Design and the Saguenay 98.3 before returning to Feldkirch once more.

Post-playing career In September 2022, Gauthier was named as the head coach of the Bâtisseurs de Montcalm of the LNAH, an expansion team in their first season, after having previously coached at the junior hockey level.

Family His son, Danick Gauthier (born October 24, 1991) also was a professional hockey player.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1985–86 Laval-Laurentides-Lanaudière Régents QMAAA 30 4 9 13 14 8 7 5 12 8 1986–87 Longueuil Chevaliers QMJHL 64 23 22 45 23 18 4 5 9 15 1986–87 Longueuil Chevaliers M-Cup — — — — — 3 0 0 0 2 1987–88 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 66 43 47 90 53 5 2 1 3 0 1988–89 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 64 41 75 116 84 16 12 17 29 30 1989–90 Victoriaville Tigres QMJHL 62 45 69 114 32 16 8 19 27 16 1990–91 Knoxville Cherokees ECHL 63 41 93 134 44 2 0 4 4 4 1990–91 Albany Choppers IHL 1 1 0 1 0 — — — — — 1991–92 Muskegon Lumberjacks IHL 72 21 20 41 42 9 3 6 9 8 1992–93 Cleveland Lumberjacks IHL 84 42 68 110 102 4 2 2 4 14 1993–94 Cincinnati Cyclones IHL 84 32 37 69 115 10 2 3 5 14 1994–95 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 5 0 0 0 0 — — — — — 1994–95 Indianapolis Ice IHL 66 22 50 72 53 — — — — — 1995–96 Indianapolis Ice IHL 70 28 39 67 44 — — — — — 1995–96 Peoria Rivermen IHL 10 3 5 8 10 11 4 6 10 6 1996–97 Frankfurt Lions DEL 8 1 0 1 6 — — — — — 1996–97 Wedemark Scorpions DEL 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — — 1996–97 VEU Feldkirch AUT 51 19 34 53 38 — — — — — 1997–98 VEU Feldkirch AUT 42 11 32 43 43 — — — — — 1998–99 VEU Feldkirch AUT 45 28 35 63 32 — — — — — 1999–00 SC Langnau NLA 45 13 22 35 32 — — — — — 2000–01 SC Langnau NLA 39 21 24 45 68 — — — — — 2001–02 SC Langnau NLA 26 9 11 20 4 — — — — — 2001–02 VEU Feldkirch AUT-2 8 12 18 30 8 — — — — — 2002–03 VEU Feldkirch AUT 45 25 32 57 38 3 0 1 1 33 2003–04 VEU Feldkirch EBEL 32 16 13 29 28 — — — — — 2004–05 Asiago ITA 21 3 20 23 6 — — — — — 2004–05 EC VSV EBEL 16 8 7 15 2 3 1 1 2 10 2004–05 EC Dornbirn AUT-2 1 3 1 4 4 — — — — — 2005–06 EC VSV EBEL 48 20 52 72 24 1 0 0 0 0 2006–07 EC VSV EBEL 50 18 46 64 64 5 3 1 4 12 2007–08 EC VSV EBEL 31 7 17 24 20 5 0 3 3 8 2008–09 Saint-Hyacinthe Chiefs LNAH 3 0 2 2 0 — — — — — 2008–09 98.3 FM de Saguenay LNAH 22 7 23 30 10 — — — — — 2008–09 VEU Feldkirch AUT-2 5 4 10 14 2 8 9 10 19 16 2009–10 Marquis de Saguenay LNAH 43 17 40 57 32 12 5 12 17 16 2010–11 VEU Feldkirch AUT-2 28 11 38 49 60 12 5 10 15 20 2011–12 VEU Feldkirch AUT-2 29 11 35 46 30 9 5 6 11 2 AUT/EBEL totals 357 152 268 420 289 17 4 6 10 63 NHL totals 5 0 0 0 0 — — — — —