Rheaume-Mullen out to 'stand on his own' with Sabres 

BUFFALO -- It wouldn’t have been surprising had Dakoda Rheaume-Mullen become a goalie. The position is in his blood, and it’s how he started in hockey.

But now he’s forging his own path and doing so as a defenseman.

“He wants to be able to build a career and stand on his own,” said Adam Mair, the Buffalo Sabres’ director of player development.

The 18-year-old is the son of Manon Rheaume, who made history as the first woman to play an NHL game when she appeared in a preseason contest for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the St. Louis Blues on Sept. 23, 1992. She’s a two-time IIHF Women’s World Championship gold medalist (1992 and 1994) with Canada and won a silver medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.

She also played on men’s professional teams in the ECHL and the defunct International Hockey League, and now works for the Los Angeles Kings as a hockey operations and prospect adviser.

Rheaume-Mullen has had people come up to him at times over the years when they realize he’s her son.

“It’s pretty cool, to be honest,” he said.

But while he learned about his mother’s career when with her at the rink or during her coaching sessions or speaking engagements, Rheaume-Mullen’s interest in becoming a goalie stemmed from wanting to be like his older brother, Dylan St. Cyr.

“That’s how I got into hockey,” he said. “He threw me in the mini-stick net as a goalie, and he and his older buddies would pepper me, so I was just always around it, and it's all I've ever wanted to do.”

St. Cyr, a goalie, is eight years older. He played for the U.S. National Team Development Program before embarking on a collegiate career with the University of Notre Dame, Quinnipiac University, and Michigan State University. He played one game with Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League after college and has spent the past two seasons playing in the Synerglace Ligue Magnus in France.

Rheaume-Mullen followed him to the NTDP and in 2024-25 began his freshman season at the University of Michigan as a 17-year-old, where he had nine points (three goals, six assists) in 35 games as the youngest defenseman and second-youngest player on the team.

He was disheartened when he wasn’t selected in the 2025 NHL Draft, but it didn’t take long for that mood to change.

Mair called him about a minute after the final pick was made on June 28 and invited him to the team’s development camp, which ran from June 30-July 3.

“He was a player that our scouts tracked,” Mair said. “We wanted to make sure that we were able to get to him quickly so we could get him to camp because we really think he's got a lot of potential.”

Rheaume-Mullen turned the disappointment of going undrafted into motivation to prove what he can do. Seeing him take that mindset was “a pretty cool moment” for his mother.

“I think that facing adversity like this, for him, it's a start to really understand that this is not going to be an easy route,” Rheaume said. “It's what you're willing to do and sacrifice to get there that may give you a better chance.”

Rheaume-Mullen is a driven and competitive person who has been putting in the work with the goal of one day making the NHL. He credits both his mother and his father, Tim, with each having a significant impact on him, from work ethic to how he carries himself both on and off the ice.

He’s also learned from his uncle, Pascal Rheaume, Manon’s younger brother. Pascal was an undrafted forward who played 318 NHL games with six teams through nine seasons from 1996-2006 and won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003.

“The thing that sticks with me is, everyone does a lot, especially when you get to older levels, and it's about who's going to do more,” Rheaume-Mullen said. “How are you going to get that extra advantage when there's a day you feel like (garbage) or your legs are heavy. How are you still going to dominate and be the best player on the ice? So just all those little habits add up, too.”

Rheaume-Mullen started skating when he was around 18 months old. His mother took him on the ice in his skates and helmet, with a pacifier in his mouth and his blankie in his hand. He began taking full skating lessons at the age of 3.

“Ever since I can remember, I've been skating,” he said. “It's just been my passion, and it's a hobby for me, too. I love it.”

He was 10 years old when he decided he’d had enough of being in goal and wanted to be a skater. It was after The Brick Invitational Hockey Tournament in Edmonton. He didn’t play much and “it was so hard on him,” Rheaume said.

“He was like, 'I never want to feel like this again.' It just switched how much work he wanted to do, training as much as possible. He would be sometimes annoying me in the house because he would pretend to be skating and stickhandling. He just wanted to play and be better. He doesn't like to not be good at something.”

He’d played some forward during his goalie years and enjoyed practicing more as a skater. Rheaume said she admitted it was a “big relief” when he stopped playing goalie.

“I think it saved my mom from having a heart attack because every game she's watching my older brother, she gets super nervous, I can't even talk to her,” Rheaume-Mullen said. “So she was pretty pumped when I switched.”

He left an impression on the Sabres at development camp, who saw “good, promising things” from him, according to Mair. Now he’s ready to carry what he learned there and from his first year in college into his sophomore season at Michigan.

“You can't just skate and then work out and then do whatever you want after,” Rheaume-Mullen said. “It takes so much more than that to be a pro. I think that's what NHL players are so good at. … That's a big thing I'm going to take with me.”