The way the Buffalo Sabres have started the season has put the rumors into overdrive about them possibly being sellers and rebuilding. There is no question that this team has talent, and there are plenty of players who could help teams competing for playoff spots.
One of the teams that could be looking for extra help is the Montreal Canadiens, and in particular, they need help at center. Recently, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic was on The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro and was asked about the idea of the Buffalo Sabres trading Tage Thompson.
LeBrun was quick to dismiss that possibility and said, "It makes no sense. I mean, he is signed to a good contract. He's an incredibly important player for the Sabres while Kevyn Adams is still GM. I just don't see a world in which that could even be possible."
Buffalo Sabres will never be sellers as long as Kevyn Adams is general manager
If the Buffalo Sabres were ever to make Tage Thompson, they certainly could command a huge return for him. He has been incredibly productive with 40+ goal seasons twice in the prior season and is under contract for four more seasons after this one with a reasonable AAV just over $7.1 million.
However, LeBrun notes that any move they make is building for the future and Adams would be making that trade for his successor. It is hard to imagine that Adams remains in the role of general manager past this season and he wouldn't be the person leading the rebuild.
If anything, Adams might be even more aggressive and try to be buyers in hopes of making this team more competitive and get into playoff contention.
Now the Sabres certainly have a history of trading some great players like Jack Eichel, Ryan O'Reilly, and Sam Reinhart to name a few. Fans, unfortunately, have seen more than their fair share of rebuilds over the past decade, and Buffalo has shown they are not afraid to trade top-tier talent.
Even in a rebuild though, unless Thompson requests a trade, he is one player that Buffalo will want to build a roster around. The return would be great but at only 27 years old, he is still young enough to be a key contributor if Buffalo gets the rebuild correct this time around.