Buffalo Sabres: Can Tage Thompson sustain his success in 2022-23?
Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson enjoyed a fantastic season last year. But can he sustain it for next season and beyond?
Tage Thompson had an amazing breakout season last year with the Buffalo Sabres. According to Hockey-Reference, Tage scored a team high 38 goals and registered 30 points in 78 games played last season. The last time Buffalo had a 30 goal scorer was Jack Eichel during the 2019-2020 season.
With that being said, can he continue to become a superstar not just this upcoming season but in the future as well? After all, Tage is going to need a new contract in a couple of years so if he can continue his success then he is going to get paid big time money.
To answer the question, I do think he can continue to have success for the Buffalo Sabres and prove that last season was not a fluke.
One reason why, Don Granato. Let’s go back to when Granato took over. Ever since he got hired after the firing of Ralph Krueger, Thompson transformed into one of Buffalo’s best players.
Not only Tage but the whole team benefits from Granato being the coach. Another reason why he’ll have consistent success, his line mates. From the get-go, Jeff Skinner, Alex Tuch and Tage made a great first line for the Sabres. It’s been awhile since Buffalo has had a good first line but now they do. As long as those three are together, Tage will thrive.
He’s also come a long way. When Thompson first came to the Sabres, he was playing mostly in the bottom six. He was slow and made some mistakes with the puck. Last season, he looked like a completely different player.
His skating greatly improved and when he had the puck, it was hard to take it away from him. Lastly, his shot is just amazing. He has one of the best shots in the league and Sabres fans saw it a lot last year.
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So yes, I do think Tage Thompson can sustain the success he had from last season. Not only because of who he’s playing with but the work he put in to become a great player in this league.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)