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Buffalo Sabres: 3 potential first-round picks in 2022 NHL Draft – Pre Lottery

By Sion Fawkes

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 21: #9 Cutter Gauthier of United States vies with #3 Ty Nelson of Canada during Men's 6-Team Tournament Semifinals Game between United States and Canada of the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics on January 21, 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Photo by RvS.Media/Monika Majer/Getty Images)
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 21: #9 Cutter Gauthier of United States vies with #3 Ty Nelson of Canada during Men's 6-Team Tournament Semifinals Game between United States and Canada of the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympics on January 21, 2020 in Lausanne, Switzerland. (Photo by RvS.Media/Monika Majer/Getty Images) /
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PLYMOUTH, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 17: Cutter Gauthier #19 of Team Blue skates up the ice in the third period of the USA Hockey All-American Game at USA Hockey Arena on January 17, 2022 in Plymouth, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
PLYMOUTH, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 17: Cutter Gauthier #19 of Team Blue skates up the ice in the third period of the USA Hockey All-American Game at USA Hockey Arena on January 17, 2022 in Plymouth, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images) /

Cutter Gauthier, LW/USDP, Boston College

You will see the Sabres look for a few forwards in this draft, especially winger. In deep foresight, I would project they will build around Tage Thompson or Jack Quinn, Rasmus Dahlin, and Owen Power, with the rest of the lineup heading elsewhere in the next five to seven seasons.

Not that guys like Alex Tuch, Jeff Skinner, Mattias Samuelsson, and Peyton Krebs are no good. They are fantastic, as shown this past season. But the NHL is strictly a business landscape, and there isn’t a single team out there who can keep more than a handful of players for an extended time. It’s the nature of the beast.

Therefore, with two defensemen and a forward to build around, look for the Sabres to address winger early in this draft, with Cutter Gauthier being a likely selection. Gaither possesses tremendous size for an 18-year-old, at 6’2, 190. Having already grown into his frame, he could become a “man among boys” at the collegiate level.

Gaither will start his college career next season at Boston College. And it follows a productive year in which he scored 104 points in 82 games last season when he saw time in the USDP, USHL, and WJC-18.

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