Buffalo Sabres center is making his case as an early dark horse Hart Trophy candidate

The Buffalo Sabres have been playing much better hockey throughout the back half of October despite their 5-2 blowout loss vs. the Florida Panthers. But hey, in an 82-game season, those losses will happen to even the best teams, especially early on. Let’s look no further than the Edmonton Oilers for confirmation in what is now the second year running. 

Well, at least for Jeff Skinner’s sake, I’ll call it the second year running, even if Edmonton will be just fine. Anyway, let’s revert to the Sabres and talk about one center who has been playing like a Hart Trophy candidate lately and a surefire NHL All-Star. 

Injuries hampered that player last season, so we didn’t know which version of him we were going to get: The 2022-23 version who took 14th place in the Hart Trophy voting or the one we saw underperform last season even when they got healthy. But right now, signs are pointing to a renaissance from Tage Thompson. 

Tage Thompson has shown up for the Buffalo Sabres this season

You might roll your eyes at this article’s headline, but still, seven goals and 12 points in 10 games have shown us that Tage is indeed one of the game’s best and most exciting centers. Currently, he’s on pace for between 57 and 58 goals and between 98 and 99 points, both of which will be career highs. 

That said, he still has ground to make up if he wants to see himself grace the top 10 or the top five in the Hart Trophy voting. Players like Mark Stone (18 points), Cale Makar (17 points), and our friend Jack Eichel (16 points), plus Nathan MacKinnon, another old friend in Sam Reinhart, and the great Artemi Panarin (15 points), plus others, are ahead of Tage. 

If that’s the case, then why am I even remotely believing Tage can land serious consideration for the Hart? Well, let’s look at his last seven games, in which he scored six goals and 11 points. Yeah, so do the math there, and it puts him on pace for roughly 124 points and between 67 and 68 goals. 

Granted, he needs to keep this pace up, but it looks like Tage has found his game that he left behind somewhere in the 2022-23 season. Oh, and did I mention he has a 31.6 shooting percentage in that span? 

So, while Tage isn’t among the top-tier candidates, currently, for the Hart, he’s slowly but surely making his case. If he keeps this up, don’t be surprised when Tage at least lands a top-10 spot, which will finally solidify his status as a star player.