Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson’s stock has risen over the last few seasons, propelling Team USA to a gold medal at the 2025 World Championships with an overtime goal, being part of Team USA’s Olympic gold medal victory in Milano-Cortina in February, and being a big part of helping the Sabres snap their 15-year playoff drought, leading the club with 81 points last season, winning the Atlantic Division, and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
In NHL Network’s annual ranking of the league’s best centers, Thompson finished 19th in the top 20. Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Macklin Celebrini, Leon Draisaitl, and Aleksander Barkov were the top five. Former Sabre captain Jack Eichel was ranked sixth, and Atlantic Division rivals Auston Matthews (8th), Nick Suzuki (9th), Tim Stutzle (13th), Brayden Point (17th), and Dylan Larkin (20th) were also on the list.
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“(Thompson) reminds me of [Mario] Lemieux,” NHL Network’s EJ Hradek said. “He’s a big, long player that can play with skill and can drag that puck in and can shoot it from a lot of different places, holding the stick at different angles, so just a terrific player.”
The former St. Louis Blues first rounder was acquired in the Ryan O’Reilly trade in 2018 and after three seasons of struggling with injury, has become one of the NHL’s most consistent scorers. After notching 38 goals in 2021-22, the Sabres signed the Arizona native to a seven-year, $50 million contract, which in retrospect has been one of the best decisions the organization has made. Thompson has followed that year up with 160 goals over the last four seasons, including a career-high 47 in 2022-23.
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