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Tage The Elephant

January 10, 2021, 11:35 AM ET [10 Comments]
Mark Pino
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Buffalo Sabres have a secret weapon that they hope to deploy of the "Metro Divisions Plus Boston and Buffalo" this season.

Is it Taylor Hall? Jeff Skinner? Jack Eichel? Samson Reinhart?

No. His name is Tage Thompson.

Yes. THAT Tage Thompson, who was one of five assets that the Sabres received from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Ryan O'Reilly. ROR led the Blues to the Stanley Cup championship in 2018. It's high time for Thompson to once and for all put a stake through the heart of the Ryan O'Reilly trade narrative. The pressure was ratcheted up two weeks ago, when the St. Louis Blues named O'Reilly their new captain.

The only person that can give a dirt nap to the O'Reilly trade is Thompson himself.
Thompson is taking accountability for Sabres are banking on Thompson to take a massive step forward in his development from former first round pick prospect to top six difference maker this season.

Thompson power skated into training camp a bigger, faster and more confident player. At 6'7" 221 pounds, the 23 year old Thompson has been a standout player. On Friday, Thompson earned a promotion from the bottom six to riding shotgun on the top line for Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall. He did so by performing heads and shoulders above the expectations that were placed upon his by Ralph Krueger and his Sabres teammates.

In Saturday night's scrimmage, Thompson was a tower of power and looked like he belonged with Jack Eichel and Taylor Hall. Thompson was a first round draft choice (25th overall) and he did not look out of place skating and creating alongside a second overall pick in Eichel and a first pick in the draft in Hall. The trio cycled the puck well and caused chaos in the offensive zone by using its speed and strength to cycle the puck and create multiple turnovers. Hall, Eichel and Thompson scored and set up one another in the Blue Team victory over the Gold Team.







I'm not ready to anoint Tage Thompson as the second coming of Eric Lindros. However, I feel like he has earned the praise that he has been receiving. The kid is like a Timex watch. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

I also like that Tage is the elephant in the room and he is not shying away from the pressure of performing on a consistent basis.

Last season, Thompson played just one game last season for the Sabres. On November 17, 2020, Thompson's season came to a bitter end when after skating 6 shifts and 6:59 TOI against the Chicago Blackhawks. Thompson suffered a serious shoulder injury that required him to have shoulder surgery in January 2020. The power forward needed 6 months to fully and completely recover from his surgery. In 107 career NHL games, Thompson has scored 10 goals and 11 assists.

If his first week of Sabres training camp is an indicator for present and future outcomes, Sabres fans can expect Tage Thompson to have hiss breakout season as a National Leaguer in 2021.

Thompson has packed on needed lean muscle mass to his skyscraper frame. He no longer looks long and gangly. He's now built like an NFL tight end and is a handful for defenseman to move from the home plate area. His speed has not suffered one iota from his muscle gains. In fact, he plays faster than he ever has as he and the Eichel-Hall duo create dizzying whirlpools of cycling deep inside the enemy zone.

Ralph Krueger said Friday that he has been very impressed with what he has seen from Thompson thus far in 2021.

“For us, Tage Thompson has also had a very, very strong camp and I think you have to look at the combination of decisions that happened there. We believe it’s going to be necessary for us early in the season to be able to play with four lines. We’re going to need to spread the ice time out. We’d like every line to have a strength offensively and defensively.”
After Thompson's standout performance on Saturday night, Kruger once again praised the power forward.

"What we're grabbing onto is the good things they did when they were fresh and they were able to cycle, but also all three, and Tage included, having the skillset to keep plays alive and to keep shifts alive," Krueger said. "The goal and the chance shortly thereafter where he had also in the slot show how lethal he is when he gets opportunity - one of the hardest shots I've seen when he puts that body in behind it.

"Tage had another good day and he's one of the bright lights of our training camp to date."
Beginning Thursday night on home ice against the Washington Capitals, the Sabres will play 10 games in an 18-day stretch.

Eichel and Hall have had positive things to say about Thompson's production, too.


If it succeeds as planned, the 4-9-72 trio can go a long way towards Ralph Krueger being able to deploy four excellent forward lines this season.
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