On July 1, 2018, the Buffalo Sabres sent Ryan O’Reilly to the Blues in exchange for a pair of draft picks, Vladimir Sobotka, Patrik Berglund, and none other than Tage Thompson. At the time, the trade was puzzling. After all, Sobotka and Berglund were bona-fide bottom-six forwards, whereas Thompson was a former first-round talent that struggled mightily in his first season in the NHL. The draft picks seemed to be by far the best part of the deal for Buffalo.
Now, five seasons later, the trade overwhelmingly favors the Sabres. It may have taken a fair amount of time, but Thompson’s development has resulted in back-to-back 35-plus goal seasons, including a 47-goal, 94-point campaign last season in Buffalo. But, after years of being considered one of the worst forwards in the league, how and why did he develop silky-smooth hands and a cannon of a shot seemingly out of nowhere?
Thompson’s Road to the NHL
Thompson truly started his development arc in the U.S. National Team Development Program (NTDP), playing with the likes of stud prospects Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. He only supplied 12 goals and 14 assists in 64 NTDP games, however. As such, he was not afforded the same draft hype as the aforementioned names, despite posting those numbers as a fourth-line member of that squad.
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The following year, Thompson went to the University of Connecticut, where he immediately made more of an impact, leading the NCAA in power-play goals as a freshman, something that can be attributed to UConn’s coach. Thompson went from a 13th forward in the NTDP to an all-situations player for the Huskies. After his successful freshman season, he was selected 26th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues.
The following season, Thompson returned to UConn, where he posted 19 goals and 13 assists for 32 points in just 34 games. Once their season ended, he finally decided to turn pro, playing another 16 games with the Blues’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate at the time, the Chicago Wolves. After an impressive development camp and training camp, he was promoted to the big-league roster in 2017-18 as a winger.
Early NHL Career
Despite his promotion to St. Louis, he was somewhat disappointing in his first season in the NHL, only posting three goals and six assists in 41 games, despite being profiled as having a well-above-NHL-average shot. He often split time between the NHL and AHL in 2017-18, before being moved at the trade deadline to Buffalo in a package for then-stud forward O’Reilly.
The Sabres had the likes of Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart down the middle, so Thompson was forced once again to play on the wing. In a bottom-six role, he struggled to put up points once again — he scored just seven goals and 12 points in 65 games. He spent several games in the AHL in 2018-19 as well, though he scored at an above-point-per-game pace in his short tenure in Rochester.
The following season was a wash, where he played just one game before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury, and in 2020-21, COVID-19 and a few missed games meant that Thompson only played 38 NHL games. After this season, though, everything changed for him.
Thompson’s Move to Center
In the 2021 offseason, the Buffalo Sabres traded an injured Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, forcing a move to center for Thompson. The Sabres’ new head coach Don Granato thrust Thompson into the limelight in Buffalo, throwing him onto the ice whenever he could, including playing top-line minutes and on the first power-play unit, making Thompson match up against other teams’ very best. In return, Thompson exploded.
In his first season at center, playing almost 18 minutes a night, Thompson potted 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games. He’d seemingly developed puck-on-a-string hands and one of the best shots in the NHL overnight, and the player that St. Louis and Buffalo had seen on the wing was clearly long gone.
Flash forward to this past season, and Thompson has become a household name. He scored 47 goals and 94 points, and it seemed like every one of his points came in highlight-reel fashion. Between his cannon-like one-timer, his incredible in-tight hands, and his underrated vision, this acknowledgement has certainly been earned. His reward for this continued explosion? A seven-year, $50 million contract with Buffalo.
Watching the transformation of a player who was once among one of the worst forwards in the league into one of the best goal-scorers in the NHL has been an incredible sight. Moving forward, expecting perennial 40-plus-goal campaigns is more than realistic. With the price that he comes in at, the Sabres are thanking their lucky stars that he is a part of the organization.
