Tage Thompson Listed As Week-To-Week
Sabres head coach Don Granato announced to reporters Wednesday that center Tage Thompson is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, via Joe Yerdon of Bleacher Report. Granato said Thompson, who left Tuesday’s loss to the Bruins on two different occasions with separate injuries, isn’t expected to miss more than two months.
The news is deeply concerning for the Sabres, who are now without their number-one center for the foreseeable future and already face an uphill climb to make the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Thompson skated just six shifts against the Bruins, sustaining an apparent foot injury early after opposing defenseman Charlie McAvoy‘s skate made incidental contact with the top of his left skate boot, causing a cut. He would return later in the contest but left again after a McAvoy shot appeared to hit him in the left wrist area. The latter is the injury sidelining him long-term.
Thompson, 26, had an All-Star-caliber season for the Sabres last year. His 47 goals ranked sixth in the league, while his 94 points ranked 15th, all while posting a Corsi share of 53.6% at even strength and earning a handful of third- and fourth-place Hart Trophy votes. Most importantly, he stayed healthy – appearing in 78 out of 82 games as the Sabres missed the playoffs by just one point.
This year hasn’t been quite as smooth for Thompson, who has six goals and a -5 rating through 16 contests. After taking 295 shots on goal last season, Thompson has struggled to find the net at times, recording just four shots on goal in three games leading up to Tuesday.
With the Sabres again struggling defensively and sitting seventh in the Atlantic Division with a 7-8-1 record, the timing of Thompson’s absence is far from ideal. The team will need to make up ground quickly here after a slow start to keep their hopes of ending their NHL-record 12-year playoff drought. Missing Thompson will certainly complicate that, even if he wasn’t quite at the level we’ve seen him perform at the past two seasons.
Thompson hasn’t been placed on long-term injured reserve yet, but he’s likely eligible as missing ten days and 24 games seems realistic given Granato’s phraseology. Doing so would free up a spot on the 23-man roster, which the Sabres will need to do in the coming days to activate netminder Eric Comrie from IR, who’s nearing recovery from a lower-body injury and will travel with the team on their upcoming three-game road swing, per Granato (via Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News).
Luckily, Granato also expects winger Alex Tuch to return to the lineup from a short-term upper-body injury before Friday’s game against the Jets, meaning at least the Sabres won’t be down two pieces of their top line. In terms of a direct replacement for Thompson, look for Dylan Cozens to slide up to first-line duties alongside team goals and points leader Jeff Skinner. The 22-year-old, like Thompson, has been off to a mildly disappointing start, registering eight points through 14 contests after registering 31 goals and 68 points last year.
Tage Thompson Left Tonight’s Game
Buffalo Sabres star center Tage Thompson left tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins with an apparent upper-body injury. It was eventful night for the 26-year-old as at one point it did look like he could leave the game with a lower-body injury after he was involved in a collision with Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Thompson returned to the game at the start of the second period but left towards the end of the period with what could be a wrist injury.
Thompson took a shot to the wrist from McAvoy and appeared in discomfort on the Sabres bench immediately after. A short time later the Sabres made the official announcement that Thompson would not return.
If Thompson is out for any length of time it could become a big issue for the Sabres who sit seventh in the Atlantic Division with a 7-8-1 record. The native of Phoenix, Arizona opened the season with massive expectations after exploding last year for 47 goals in 78 games. This came on the heels of a 38-goal campaign in 2021-22 in which Thompson came out of nowhere to eclipse career highs in nearly every statistical category.
Thompson has been okay to start the year with six goals and six assists in 16 games but will probably need to find another gear if the Sabres are going to find themselves in the playoff hunt come Spring 2024. Many expected Buffalo to challenge for a playoff spot this year, but the competitiveness in the Eastern Conference could push the Sabres out of the playoff picture sooner than expected, particularly if Thompson is sidelined for any length of time.
Sabres Sign Rasmus Dahlin To Eight-Year Deal
The Buffalo Sabres kicked off the week by announcing a highly anticipated eight-year extension with star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The long-term deal will begin in the 2024-25 season and will carry run until 2032. The Sabres have now locked up a core piece of their back end through the bulk of his prime as Dahlin will be 32 years old when this extension expires. Early indications are that the deal will carry an $11MM AAV.
The $88MM extension will be tied for the second-highest cap hit among defensemen with Los Angeles Kings defender Drew Doughty. Their salary cap hits trail only Erik Karlsson and his $11.5MM price tag. It’s a big price to pay for the Sabres as it puts Dahlin into another salary stratosphere alongside two defensemen who have arguably failed to live up to their large salaries. The key difference between Doughty/Karlsson and Dahlin is that the Sabres are locking up the 23-year-old through his entire prime. While Doughty and Karlsson are still terrific players, they were paid largely for past performances.
Dahlin had a career year last season posting 15 goals and 58 assists in 78 games all while logging 25:48 of ice time a night. He finished fifth among NHL defensemen with 73 points, one of the highest scoring rankings ever by a Sabres defenseman. On the defensive side of things, the 2018 first-overall pick finished second on the Sabres in hits and led the team in blocked shots, a testament to his improved defensive capabilities that finally seem to be catching up to his elite offensive ability.
Many skeptics will point to the $11MM AAV and call the deal an overpay for the Sabres, and at first glance, it does seem steep. The closest comparable to Dahlin’s deal would be Charlie McAvoy’s eight-year deal with a $9.5MM cap hit that was signed in October 2021, or the eight-year deal that Mikhail Sergachev signed in July 2022 that carries an $8.5MM cap number. Those deals, while both massive bargains today, were signed at a time when the offensive upside of both players was more of an unknown. Prior to signing his eight-year deal, Sergachev had topped 40 points only once in his career, while McAvoy had never topped 32 points when he signed his long-term extension. Dahlin is in a different category as he has averaged well over 40 points a season and is now rounding into form defensively.
Critics might also point to Jake Sanderson’s recent extension for $8MM per year with the Ottawa Senators, but again the context is important to understand Dahlin’s deal. Sanderson has one season of NHL experience, while Dahlin has five. Sanderson posted 32 points last season, while Dahlin has routinely posted over 40 points a season. Dahlin’s contract is also buying out more unrestricted free-agent seasons, which typically cost more than restricted free-agent seasons.
With Dahlin’s long-rumored extension finally complete, Dahlin now joins Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, and fellow defenseman Mattias Samuelsson – all of whom signed long-term extensions since the start of last season. The Sabres are expected to compete for a playoff spot this season as they finally emerge from a long rebuild.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Atlantic Notes: Pinto, Keefe, Thompson
With training camps now less than two weeks away from beginning, Senators center Shane Pinto is one of the nine remaining restricted free agents across the league. However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that while the sides are hopeful that a deal can be reached by the start of camp, they are not particularly close to an agreement. The 22-year-old is coming off his first full NHL campaign and it was a productive one as he posted 20 goals and 15 assists in 82 games while logging nearly 16 minutes a night in ice time. It’s worth noting that Ottawa’s cap situation is particularly tight as CapFriendly puts them with less than $900K in room. Even on a one-year agreement to keep the AAV as low as possible, Pinto should be earning a fair bit more than that. Once a deal eventually gets reached, GM Pierre Dorion will have some work to do to open up some cap space.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- While a two-year extension for a head coach is usually a vote of confidence, Daily Faceoff’s Mike McKenna argues that isn’t really the case for the Maple Leafs and Sheldon Keefe. Instead, he feels the move was made primarily to avoid the possible distraction of having Keefe behind the bench in the final year of his contract. Toronto has played to a 166-71-30 record during the regular season under Keefe but just a 13-17 postseason record. Keefe will coach on the final year of his previous two-year extension this season with the new deal kicking in for the 2024-25 campaign.
- Just over a year ago, the Sabres inked Tage Thompson to a seven-year, $50MM extension. The move came on the heels of a breakout campaign that saw him score 38 goals after having just 35 points in 145 career games heading into that year. There was some risk involved with the short track record but Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News examines some of the contracts signed since then, providing a barometer of how much more it would have cost to sign him this summer had they waited. The 25-year-old had 47 goals and 47 assists last season, making his new $7.143MM AAV look like a bargain already if he can even produce close to that rate moving forward.
East Injury Notes: Thompson, Bobrovsky, Slafkovsky
Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson took to the ice for practice today, per the Times Herald’s Bill Hoppe, as he continues his recovery from an upper-body injury. Thompson was initially injured during a game on March 24 and played the Sabres’ next contest before aggravating the injury, missing the three games since.
Thompson’s return to practice is a lifeline for the Sabres, who are still barely hanging in the Eastern Conference playoff race and have, arguably, their most important game in a decade tomorrow against the Florida Panthers. Per CapFriendly, Thompson is listed as a game-time decision. Thompson’s 44 goals still rank sixth in the league, and his 89 points lead the team. His impact in such a crucial game could be immeasurable, and if at all possible, he’ll be suiting up Tuesday night.
- On the other side of the coin, the Florida Panthers could again be without goalie Sergei Bobrovsky against the Sabres as he continues to deal with a rather nasty illness, per Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards. He did not practice today and, like Thompson, is expected to be a game-time decision. The 34-year-old netminder has been sidelined for the past three games, but he’s been relieved well by Alex Lyon, who’s allowed just four goals in Bobrovsky’s absence.
- In addition to news earlier today about Alex Belzile and Sean Monahan, rookie Juraj Slafkovsky is also officially done for the year due to a lower-body injury, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Slafkovsky was issued a three-month recovery timeline in mid-January, putting any potential return right at the end of the regular season, so the news isn’t entirely unexpected. He finished his rookie campaign with 10 points in 39 games.
Snapshots: Wisconsin, Sabres, Perunovich, Krys
The Wisconsin Badgers have announced the hiring of new head coach Mike Hastings. Most recently, Hastings had been the head coach of the Minnesota State Mavericks.
Since he took over as head coach during the 2012-13 season, Hastings led Minnesota State to eight appearances in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament, topping out in a finals appearance against the eventual champion Denver University Pioneers last season. In total, Hastings will leave the state of hockey with a 299-109-25 record. In Wisconsin, he will be replacing the vacancy left by NHL veteran Tony Granato.
Since Granato took over for Wisconsin before the 2016-17 season, the team went 105-129-16, ending up in the NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament one time in 2021. As the Big Ten already features top teams such as the University of Michigan Wolverines and the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, it appears that Wisconsin is looking to turn the corner and become a competitive team once again.
More from around hockey this afternoon:
- Bill Hoppe, a beat writer for the Buffalo Sabres, gave several updates on some key injuries to the lineup before tomorrow night’s game against the New York Rangers. As top prospect Devon Levi looks to make his NHL debut, Hoppe writes that forwards Tage Thompson and Jordan Greenway, as well as defenseman Mattias Samuelsson could all see their return to the lineup the same night. Currently, the Sabres sit five points back of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games remaining in the regular season.
- Speaking with St.Louis Blues head coach Craig Berube today, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports that St.Louis defenseman Scott Perunovich will finish his season with the Springfield Thunderbirds, the Blues AHL affiliate. Since being activated from LTIR on February 20th of this season, Perunovich has scored one goal and 10 assists for the Thunderbirds in 17 games.
- Contributor for the NHL, Mark Divver reports that now-former Brown University captain Luke Krys will be transferring to Providence College for the 2023-24 NCAA season. In his 92 games playing at Brown, Krys scored nine goals and 29 assists, wearing a letter in his final two seasons.
Injury Notes: Thompson, Lindgren, Golden Knights
Bleacher Report contributor Joe Yerdon reports Tage Thompson will miss today’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. He also mentions it is an upper-body injury and Thompson has been dealing with it for the team’s past two games, but batted through. The Sabres are off for three days after tonight’s contest so it is hoped he will be recovered in time to face the New York Rangers on Thursday.
The 25-year-old forward is having a terrific season, leading the Sabres in scoring with 44 goals and 89 points in 72 games. He was hit awkwardly as he skated out of his zone on Friday night and appeared to be favoring his right side. He was able to finish that game and played the next night as well but will get some additional rest tonight.
- Arthur Staple of The Athletic reports Ryan Lindgren was a full participant at practice today. Lindgren missed a month earlier this season with an upper-body injury before returning on March 21. He played just one game and has missed the Rangers past two contests after re-aggravating the same injury. It sounds like he could be ready to go tomorrow night when the Rangers face the Columbus Blue Jackets.
- Per SinBin.vegas, the Golden Knights will be without a couple of key players for a while. Reilly Smith missed the team’s most recent game against the Edmonton Oilers and Logan Thompson has only played one game since February 9. Both players have lower-body injuries and head coach Bruce Cassidy said he does not expect either of them to play this week. The Golden Knights play the Oilers again on Tuesday and face the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
East Injury Notes: Sabres, Bastian, Aho, Joseph
The Buffalo Sabres are all but out of the playoff race after a tough stretch of games, and life won’t get any easier for them down the stretch run. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports Tage Thompson is absent from morning skate, as he’s day-to-day with an upper-body injury that caused him to miss much of the team’s win last Friday against the New Jersey Devils. In response, Lukas Rousek has been added to the Sabres roster for the second time in three days on an emergency loan, per CapFriendly.
In more positive news for the Sabres, Lysowski also notes forward Vinnie Hinostroza has returned to the team after a personal absence that kept him out of the team’s last two games. Hinostroza had been a healthy scratch for the two games prior, meaning he’s not played in over a week. Left winger Jordan Greenway, who remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury, also rejoined the team at practice. He has just one goal in eight games and a -5 rating since the Sabres acquired him on deadline day.
Other injury notes from around the Eastern Conference this morning:
- Per New Jersey Devils team reporter Amanda Stein, winger Nathan Bastian is on the ice for morning skate for the first time since March 12. Bastian has missed just over two weeks since suffering an upper-body injury in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes, his second lengthy injury-related absence this season. He missed nearly two months with an upper-body injury between Thanksgiving and mid-January, limiting him to 39 games on the season. When in the lineup, he’s been effective in a fourth-line role, recording 12 points and forming a solid unit with Miles Wood and Michael McLeod.
- New York Islanders defenseman Sebastian Aho has returned to skating this morning, according to a report from Newsday’s Andrew Gross. Aho has missed three games with an upper-body injury sustained on March 18 against the San Jose Sharks. The 2017 fifth-round pick is enjoying a breakout season, recording 21 points in 66 games in a depth role while helping keep the team competitive in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
- Winger Mathieu Joseph will be a game-time decision for the Ottawa Senators tonight, says Bruce Garrioch of TSN and the Ottawa Sun. Joseph last played on March 12, leaving a game against the Calgary Flames after just a handful of shifts with a lower-body injury. The 26-year-old has scored three goals and added 14 assists in 47 games for the Sens this year, averaging 14:05 per game.
Injury Notes: Matthews, Thompson, Jets
It’s been over two weeks since Auston Matthews last suited up for the Toronto Maple Leafs, missing the last three games before the All-Star break with a knee sprain. Matthews told reporters today that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back in the lineup but will “take it day to day” as he rejoins his team for practice.
He may not be on his earth-shattering 60-plus goal pace from last season, but he’s still an elite number-one center on one of the best teams in the NHL. With 25 goals, 28 assists, and 53 points in 47 games, Matthews is on pace to have more assists than goals for the first time in his career, which he mentioned as a personal goal some seasons back. Matthews revealed the injury was sustained in warmups before a January 25 game against the New York Rangers, which he played. He said the injury “got worse throughout the game,” calling it “kind of fluky.”
- There’s good news for Buffalo Sabres fans, who will need everything to go right for the rest of the season to maintain their position in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race. Head coach Don Granato said center Tage Thompson was “pretty much back to normal” today at practice, signaling a potential end to a brief injury absence that caused him to miss the 2023 All-Star Game last weekend. He could be ready to go on Saturday when Buffalo returns to play against the Calgary Flames. Thompson is just four goals shy of tying last season’s goal total of 38, which he set in 78 games.
- Winnipeg Jets head coach Rick Bowness issued a variety of injury updates to reporters today, but most notably said that forward Mason Appleton is on track to play Saturday. The 27-year-old played 14 games this season before sustaining a wrist injury that has cost him much of the 2022-23 campaign. Appleton was off to a strong start with six points and elevated ice time before going down with the injury. Bowness also mentioned that forward David Gustafsson and defenseman Dylan DeMelo, who are both day-to-day, aren’t ready to rejoin full practice.
Rasmus Dahlin To Replace Tage Thompson At All-Star Game
One of the most obvious snubs of All-Star season has gotten an invite, even if it was a little late. Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin has been added to the festivities, replacing teammate Tage Thompson, who will miss the event due to injury.
In reality, Dahlin should have already been on the roster. The 22-year-old defenseman has a career-high 55 poinits through 49 games, putting him 21st among all NHL skater. On defense, he trails only Erik Karlsson in both goals and points, while also sitting 13th in plus-minus.
There is little doubt that he is among the best in the league this season, and will be rewarded with his second appearance at the All-Star event.
It is disappointing for Thompson, of course, as he is also having an outstanding season. With 34 goals in 50 games, he’s become one of the most dominant power forwards in the league. He’ll miss out, but there will likely be plenty more All-Star recognition for Thompson in the future.