First impressions of Tage Thompson through the eyes of others
Finding out what other players and scouts initially thought of him was worth finding out
Tage Thompson’s metamorphosis from being a prospect finding his way through the pitfalls of trying to carve your spot in the lineup while competing for ice time into one of the NHL’s elite goal scorers has been captivating and incredible to watch. It’s all the more jaw-dropping seeing it happen up close and after seeing everything he’s gone through in previous seasons in Buffalo.
From fighting to make the roster, to playing third or fourth-line minutes, to a shoulder injury that wiped out an entire season of action, it’s been a path fraught with potential pitfalls. A lot of young players would get frustrated with all of it and perhaps never hit their ceiling. Some might not even get off the floor from it. But Thompson has taken a rocket into the stratosphere with his ascendancy and it’s continuing to climb higher.
Thompson’s story has been told about 100 times to everyone around the hockey media world. I don’t need to tell that story to you again. We know how Don Granato, who coached Thompson at the United States National Team Development Program as a 17-year-old in 2014-15, had the inside line as to how he can play center and he believed in him enough to be the Sabres’ No. 1 center post-Jack Eichel, an unenviable position to be in regardless of how you feel about Eichel now.
Even recently, Granato shared part of his story that ties in with Thompson, because it’s fascinating how this is playing out. It’s hard to not get swept up in the underdog-like story.
“We went through some challenging times when he was with us,” Granato said. “We lost (Auston) Matthews, and Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller and we had some prolific talent on that team—and I’m missing a ton more—where he was down even in slots. We had Troy Terry on that team and Jordan Greenway so he was third or fourth line player in that bunch and he didn’t get the special teams time and whatever. But we had lots of conversations when he was that age and talks like, ‘Hey, these guys are not better than you long term, they’re just not. Don’t ever buy into that even if they’re getting a little bit more ice time or situation time now.’ And I lived that with him doing the same thing we’re talking about with our young guys now, that just because someone is playing ahead of you today doesn’t mean they’re actually going to be ahead of you tomorrow and stay on it, stay on it. So, we had lots of talks over that span when we were together at the national team and when I arrived here, and we were together here. To see him break that threshold and become a No. 1 center in the NHL is rewarding for me too knowing the battle he had along the path.”
From the beginning
As great as that story is, especially for how Granato shares his view of it, it’s been told a lot. What got me curious was what other players’ first impressions of him were. Florida Panthers defenseman Casey Fitzgerald was a teammate of Thompson’s, not just in the Sabres organization, but also at the Program. The origin story of how Thompson’s game was formed is like a precursor to a superhero story.
“You could obviously tell the talent was very high with him,” Fitzgerald said. “When he came in, he was six-foot tall and when he left, he was 6’5” so you could tell he was still maturing, he was growing. You could tell the talent was there, he’s always had those sick hands and great shot and he was a good skater and when he hit that growth spurt, obviously, it’s even more dominant to have that height and all that skill packaged.
“Everyone could tell that he was going to be a stud one day. Even when I played with him in (Rochester), he was down in Roch with me most of the year, but you could just tell not a lot of people can do what he did.”
His time at the USNTDP wasn’t too long, just one season, and like Granato shared, he was behind a lot of players on what was a very stacked roster. That more or less kept Thompson somewhat hidden away. After all, when your teammates are the likes of Matthews, Tkachuk, and Keller among others, standing out is tough to do when the ice time is hard to rack up. It can be even more difficult to scout a player who goes from being about the same height as his teammates to towering over them by the end of the season.
“The first thing you want to see with a big player is, does he use his size,” Director of NHL Central Scouting Dave Gregory said. “But then some players do, and some players don’t, but the one thing about Tage is that he was really effective using his size. Not to be like a bruising hitter or anything like that, but to protect the puck because he knew that when he got in space, he had really soft hands and he can dangle you or his release was already very, very good. He combined using that length and that ever-growing strength because I think the strength came, for me, watching him play through his underage year and then to his draft year, you saw that strength really start to develop over time. That’s just natural progression as well as someone who grew quite a bit in a short period of time getting used to what his size can mean to him.”
So much of Thompson’s rise feels like it’s come out of nowhere, but so much of it was also right there staring everyone in the face. It’s not as if he was a seventh-round draft pick, he went 26th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft after he scored nearly a point per game as a freshman at Connecticut. He was also showing off that a guy his size can outmaneuver just about anyone.
“I think just because of his natural offensive instincts it’s like he’s going to toe drag a guy when you never think he’s going to do that at the college level, even in his first few games there,” Gregory said. “The very first few games (at UConn), I was there to see him play, and he, to his credit, did not get away from the skills he knew he had, regardless that he had to play within the system and take whatever minutes he could get.”
After UConn came the AHL with the St. Louis Blues farm team in Chicago in 2016-17, and San Antonio in 2017-18, the same season he made his NHL debut with the Blues and played half the season in St. Louis.
Then there was the trade. You know the one.
First impressions with a new team
When a team trades a player the caliber of Ryan O’Reilly, being the guy on the other side of that is obscenely hard. It set a bar that was, at the time, hard to reach because of how good O’Reilly is as a two-way player.
What I was curious about was what some of his current teammates thought of him when he got to Buffalo Mind you, there aren’t too many guys left in Buffalo that have been around long enough to say they were here when he arrived. Thompson was the new guy, and a young guy, and was still relatively raw and you don’t know exactly who he is, period. What Thompson did upon arriving in Buffalo was show his new teammates he’s got a lot of ability.
“You could see it, every camp you could see he was any given day the best player on the ice,” Panthers forward, and former Sabre, Sam Reinhart said. “He’s put the time in, he’s put the work in, and I mean he’s a top-10 player in the league now, it’s unbelievable to see. It’s nice to be able to know him as a young guy and see it now because it’s making a lot of noise around the league what he’s been able to do on a nightly basis.”
Reinhart wasn’t the only guy to see it because Thompson made it difficult to ignore him.
“First time I saw him, he was just a tall guy, I thought he was just going to be a (physical) guy, but then I saw his skill and his shot,” Rasmus Dahlin said, emphasis his. “I remember he did an unreal, sick goal in the preseason against Toronto, that was the first time I saw him do something unreal and then he’s just been rolling so it’s been fun to watch.”
Note the date, that was Thompson’s first preseason with Buffalo, and he did that right out of the gate.
“We saw it every day in practice, going against him every day was not easy, toe-dragging everybody and I just didn’t think he had confidence in his game quite yet,” Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. “But that skill has always been there, that’s always been very apparent.”
That first season wasn’t easy though. He made the Sabres out of camp and played 65 games with them before going to Rochester at the end of the season.
“Insanely skilled. Definitely at first struggled with the actual game,” Zemgus Girgensons said. “He had so much skill, just if he understood the way he needs to play, he’ll be an amazing player and he’s done that. You can see the results of that.”
Putting it all together
When it came to 2019, it couldn’t have been a more difficult season for Thompson. Ralph Krueger took over for Phil Housley that summer and Thompson did not make the Sabres out of camp and instead went to the AHL.
This is where you swear about Krueger. I’ll wait.
On top of not making it to the roster right away, when he was called back to Buffalo in mid-November, he injured his shoulder late in his first game against Chicago. That injury required surgery that kept him out of action. If there was one upside to the COVID-shortened season it limited the amount of games Thompson missed recovering from surgery.
You might remember that season as the one where the Sabres lost 18 straight games and led to Krueger being fired. That turned into Granato being named the interim head coach and later signing him to be the guy full-time. It’s what appears right now to be a turning point for the franchise and the moment Thompson’s true self was unlocked when Granato named him the first line center at the start of the 2021-22 season. What got him to that spot was easy for everyone on the inside to see.
“I think he’s learned how to use his teammates,” Okposo said. “I think when he went to center, that just came out naturally in him. A lot of times it’s not in your best interests to go one-on-one, especially when you’re in the middle, you’ve got to get your teammates involved. And that’s one thing he’s done so well is made his linemates better.”
The difference between pre-Granato Thompson and how he plays now is also easy to see from within.
“I think just understanding when to use his skill and playing the right way,” Girgensons said. “The whole year he’s been playing the right way and his skill just takes over then he’s not making mistakes. If he is, it’s not a matter of mental, just physical error. He’s been playing the right way and his skill takes over.”
Where its come from isn’t just the matter of Granato trying him at center, a lot, if not most of it, comes from the work Thompson’s put in to get himself to this place in his career.
“Behind the scenes, every day through all the adversity, he’s challenged the doubt the outside hockey world has had on him for the last three, four years and a very difficult trade, he kept doing the right things every day,” Granato said. “He looked within himself, he self-evaluated very well, and he targeted ways to become better every single day. Offseason and in-season. He’s finally broken a threshold and reaping the rewards of all that work that he put in consistently.”
The rewards were a 38-goal breakout season in 2021-22 and a scorching hot start to this season in which he’s scored 32 goals in his first 43 games.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you I could’ve seen him do it, that would discredit the work he’s put in and all that, but I mean it’s not shocking, it’s not out of the blue from the skill set,” Reinhart said. “Just the skating ability, everything was still there. I think he’s obviously learned how to play center. I don’t think he was ever really a centerman when I was (in Buffalo), but he’s just so wise, it makes sense that he’s a centerman.”
Moving from wing to center was like going from basement to penthouse
It can’t be understated how rare it is for a player whose entire professional experience at the AHL and NHL levels was on the wing to go from that to center. The difference in how the positions are played can be stark depending on the system, but remember, this is the NHL where the best players in the world play and going from one position in which can be seen as “easier” by some compared to playing center at this level after never doing it at any point at this level is truly staggering.
The summary of opinions from everyone I spoke with when I asked them if they’ve seen a winger change to center full time tells you enough:
Sam Reinhart: “I assume he was a wing his whole life growing up, right? I don’t know for sure. You don’t really see it going that way, but he’s obviously comfortable. He’s so hard to defend when he’s in the middle of the ice, you can’t really pin him down anywhere, he’s so long. I don’t know anyone else who has that size and ability to move both with your feet and with your hands.”
Casey Fitzgerald: “He came up here as a winger and then Donnie put him at center, and I think it’s just been the best fit for him. He’s a star and that’s where he needs to play, and he’s been shining because of it.”
Kyle Okposo: “Almost never, I think almost never. I don’t remember a winger going to center, to be honest with you, full time. Maybe a fill in for a game here and there. That’s not an easy transition to make.”
Rasmus Dahlin: “I have (seen it happen), but the transition he’s made? I haven’t seen that…It’s amazing. The confidence he has, the skill he’s got, and he’s got it all.”
Casey Mittelstadt: “It’s crazy to me now that he played wing to be honest. It just feels like he’s such a center which is crazy. I think Donnie deserves some credit on that, for sure.”
Zemgus Girgensons: “No, I have not. I don’t know if he played center before in juniors, but if you’re a winger to transition to center it’s definitely hard, but I mean clearly the coaches saw the potential there and gave him an opportunity there and I think that is his spot. He likes to have the puck, he likes to control the middle of the ice, and I think that’s been a great thing for him to switch to center.”
Girgensons knows what it’s like to go back and forth from center to wing and back again. His first couple NHL seasons saw him as one of the Sabres’ top centers as a young guy. If anyone understands the difference between how to play the two positions in the Sabres room, it’s him.
“Wingers usually tend to forecheck more, in my opinion, that’s what I like playing about wing,” Girgensons said. “I think it depends on a player. Me, personally, when I’m a center I like to think the game way more defensively because I think you have way more responsibility to protect your own end. I do think center is a little bit harder.”
The payoff to the future
Thompson is establishing himself as one of the most dangerous and prolific scorers in the NHL. In the past 121 games this season and last, he has 70 goals and 129 points. He had 35 points in his first 145 games. It’s eye-popping what he’s accomplishing and all it took was having a coach who knew him and what he could do from a young age to put him in place to succeed. Hockey is easy when you use common sense sometimes.
But for those who were also there from the beginning, seeing this professional awakening going from a player who might be able to scrape by as a depth forward to an elite top player is still incredible to see.
“The shot…,” Reinhart said and paused with an air of amazement. “We’d always kind of told him how good his shot was and not too many guys can score on a wrist shot standing still at the blue line with no speed or whatever. But he’s obviously figured out how to utilize it. He’s hitting the net and it’s so heavy, it’s such a unique release shot. The power’s there so it’s incredible to see.”
The pride with which Reinhart spoke about Thompson was fascinating to see. Yes, they were teammates and the bond between teammates is more often than not very tight, but in their three seasons together, they played 92:49 together on-ice. They were in different positions in their careers and certainly in different places in the lineup, but game appreciates game, especially when there’s self-satisfaction knowing he could someday do it.
That kind of gratification is shared among everyone who saw him play when he was younger or played against him in practice or with him on the ice against opposing teams.
“We saw him as a point producer, someone who could be a top-six type of forward, those were some of the comments in the reports that we had, but that doesn't mean that’s going to happen when he’s 20,” Gregory said. “It could take you to until your 25 or 26 like it has been with the right situation and also development. And he might be a significantly better player than he was the first two years he was playing in the NHL than he is now, which is obviously the case, but he earned that role and when he got it, he never let it go.”