Now that the qualifying offer period for restricted free agents has passed in the NHL, a few new interesting names will hit the market tomorrow at noon. One such player that comes to mind is Frederik Gauthier. He was not qualified by the Sabres division rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The 25-year-old centerman fills a specific need for the Sabres in a fourth-line center. John Larsson will hit the market tomorrow and it’s extremely unlikely that he returns to the club at this point. Losing one of the top defensive forwards in the league will hurt, but Gauthier could be a cheaper replacement.

Defensive Replacement

The Leafs used him as their defensive centerman last season. They used him in one of the heaviest defensive zone deployments in the league at 17% offensive-zone starts, according to Natural Stat Trick. The year before he was deployed at a 34% oZs rate.

His defensive underlying numbers are not close to the same level as Larsson. However, they’re respectable for a player with that role on a poor defensive team like the Leafs. You can see below in Evolving Hockey’s RAPM model that he was a positive impact player in his own end of the ice in shot share and quality against.

He was also one of the top forwards on the Leafs in even-strength defense in the twins’ goals above replacement model. Gauthier is also a good faceoff guy, which is an area the Sabres struggle in. He won 58% of his faceoffs last season and 53% in the 2018-19 season.

The downside here is that you’re not getting a lot of offense out of Gauthier. It may even be less than what the Sabres got out of Larsson. Where he succeeds offensively is getting in on the forecheck and being a disrupter. He graded out as one of the top forecheckers in the league in Corey Sznjader’s tracking data.

Remember, Krueger showed he likes to play a dump and chase system last season. Gauthier would be a natural fit in that type of forechecking system.

If the Sabres are looking for a cheap contract to come in a fill a role in the bottom six of their lineup then Gauthier makes even more sense. Evolving Hockey projected him to receive a one-year deal at a little over $1 million if he signed with a team besides the Leafs.

Gauthier could be the first player in Adams’ attempt to rebuild their defensive line with the expected departures of Zemgus Girgenson and Larsson.

Data via: Evolving Hockey, Natural Stat Trick, and Corey Sznjader

Photo Credit: Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images