The Olympics are a little over a month away, and on Friday, Team USA announced its roster with Tage Thompson expected to head to Milan as part of the team. This is a great recognition for a player who has developed into one of the top goal scorers in the NHL.
Thompson has put together another impressive season with 20 goals and 17 assists and has seemingly gotten better as the season has gone along. Over the past 23 games, Thompson has 14 goals with two separate six-game streaks with at least one goal during that stretch.
The recent success puts him on pace for his third 40+ goal season in his career.
Thompson was often discussed as potentially being a player on the roster bubble, and it is certainly easy to understand why it was a discussion. The Buffalo Sabres forward was not on the roster for the 4 Nations Faceoff just last season.
However, Thompson showed Team USA what he can do for this team over the summer at the IIHF World Championship. In that tournament, he had nine points and scored the winning goal in overtime of the Gold Medal game.
Tage Thompson's Olympic experience should help the Buffalo Sabres in their playoff chase
During the Olympics, Tage Thompson is going to be playing with and against some of the best hockey players in the world. By playing this level of hockey, it should help him elevate his game and continue to build on his development over the last eight months or so, dating back to the IIHF World Championship.
If Thompson returns from Milan and builds on the level of compete and production he has shown recently, it will only help the Buffalo Sabres' chances to finally end their playoff drought. By being announced on Team USA's roster is just recognition and acknowledgement for how far Thompson has come as a player.