Buffalo Sabres 2024-25 Player Report Card: Tage Thompson

The 2024-25 season ended for the Buffalo Sabres just like the previous thirteen, without a playoff appearance. The Sabres have the longest playoff drought in NHL history, and fans aren’t excited about their chances of ending the streak with the news that General Manager Kevyn Adams will be brought back.

To get a better idea of how they got here and what the future holds, we’ve taken a deep dive into each player’s season. The jury is still out on certain prospects, and we can expect some upheaval in the offseason, but grades allow us to understand what each player contributed and what they might bring to the table in 2025-26. For the forwards, we’ll start with the 40-goal man himself, Tage Thompson.

Thompson’s Solid Offensive Season

On paper, Thompson had one of the best seasons of anyone on the team. For the second time in three campaigns, he hit the 40-goal plateau, finishing with 44. He also turned in his second-best point total, with 72 in 76 games.

That said, Thompson was streaky. He had stretches of consistent production, including a nine-game point streak at the end of October, but was also prone to pointless streaks. He scores better than most of the league, but his playmaking skills aren’t at an elite level. He also scored just seven power-play goals. If the Sabres want their special teams clicking again, it will be in large part because of Thompson’s play.

Thompson’s 200-Foot Game Needs Work

Disclaimer: No one expects Thompson to be a Selke Trophy-caliber player. Alex Tuch is the team’s best two-way forward, and asking Thompson to play a similar game would be a gross misuse of his skill set. That said, he must be better, especially as a top-line player.

Though plus/minus isn’t the most reliable stat, his minus-2 rating ranked in the middle of the roster. He doesn’t back-check with tenacity the way Tuch does, and he’s prone to lose his footing despite his impressive size. That’s not even mentioning the chances he takes offensively, which often lead to turnovers.

Grading Thompson

Entering the season, the hope was that Thompson could find the form that led him to 47 goals and 94 points in 2022-23. He came close to matching his goal total from that season, but 94 points might be an anomaly. Thompson as a 70-80-point player seems more suitable as a ceiling for him.

First-line centers either need to be among the league leaders in scoring, play very responsible defense, or both. Thompson scores well, but his two-way game is lacking. Playing with Tuch took some of the defensive burden off him, which helped his offensive production.

Here are his overall grades for 2024-25:

Thompson’s goal-scoring is among the best in the NHL. From a public standpoint, it’s hard to get a read on Thompson as a leader. He seems passive in his comments to the press, but that doesn’t fully show what a player is capable of in terms of leadership. You’d like to see more from him but it’s hard to really judge him without being in the dressing room. He has the playmaking skills to be a 35-plus assist man – he and J.J. Peterka made for a dazzling duo at times – but he’s still a shoot-first player.