The Buffalo Sabers have agreed to terms with the forward Tage Thompson to a seven-year contract extension worth $50 million, the team announced Tuesday. The contract begins with the 2023-24 season.
“Tage Thompson embodies the pride we expect from every player who wears the Buffalo Sabers sweater,” Sabers general manager Kevyn Adams said. “His success last season is a testament to his unrelenting dedication to his craft and commitment to bettering the team both on and off the ice, which we believe will help us reach even greater heights moving forward. We are thrilled to extend Tage, keeping him and his family in Buffalo for many years to come.”
Thompson, 24, enjoyed a career season in 2021-22 following a move to center during training camp. He led the Sabers with 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games, shattering his previous NHL career highs.
“This is a place I want to be at for a very long time,” Thompson said after the season. “I want to be a guy that helps this team win and make the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup, and obviously those are all just words and you’ve got to put that into action.
“I’m excited to be a guy that’s a Buffalo Saber and I think we’ve got a lot of guys in the room that feel the same way about our team as I do.”
Video: Locker Cleanout: Tage Thompson
The Sabers acquired Thompson, a first-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2016, as part of a trade with the Blues in July 2018. He played 104 games with Buffalo over the ensuing three seasons, the middle of which was largely lost to a shoulder injury.
Thompson began to see more opportunity midway through the 2020-21 season after Don Granato – who had previously coached Thompson as a teenager with the US National Team Development Program – assumed the role of head coach. That trend continued last fall when Granato moved Thompson from the wing to center, citing a belief in the 6-foot-7 forward’s playmaking.
Thompson scored during the season opening win over Montreal and went on to compile 15 points (10+5) during his first 20 contests.
“I feel like I’ve always known that my potential is there and that I could eventually reach it,” Thompson said in November. “He just, coming into the season, challenged me to go and reach it now.”
Thompson’s scoring rate only increased during the second half of the season, which saw him tied for fifth in the NHL with 24 goals after Feb. 1. His eight multi-goal games in 2021-22 – including his first NHL hat trick on Feb. 19 – tied for eighth in the league.
Thompson also tied for fifth in the NHL with 25 goals on home ice.
“Tommer was that guy, we saw it every day in practice,” Sabers alternate captain Kyle Okposo said in May. “Every day in practice, it was like, ‘This guy is unbelievable. He’s the best player on the ice.’ And for whatever reason in the games, like he just didn’t have the confidence or it just wasn’t translating.
“And now you see it like we’ve seen it for years. And just the way that he makes moves, he protects the puck, his ability to make his linemates better – that’s something that, if you’re [a top-line center] like he was this year, that’s a huge component to it. And he made his linemates better this year.”
Video: Sabers Embedded: Tage Thompson and Peyton Krebs
Thompson expressed a desire after the season to build on his career-best production moving forward.
“It gives me excitement and confidence moving forward for next season to go even higher, and it gives me the internal hunger to go out and do more,” he said. “I don’t think you ever want to be satisfied or comfortable with where you’re at. The number adds fuel to the fire to continue to grow.”
.