Sabres sign Tage Thompson to 3 year 1.4 AAV Extension

[Curt]

6 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Does not appear to be. 

 

5 minutes ago, Thorny said:

 

So he'll be w/the big club almost for sure. In light of what we've heard about cutting costs, I doubt they'd want to pay him even that to play in Roch. 

Yeah, I think he was Going to be in Buffalo no matter what.  He isn’t waiver exempt any longer.

[DarthEbriate]

Execute Order Tager-seven!

Edited October 5, 2020 by DarthEbriate

[Taro T]

14 minutes ago, Thorny said:

 

So he'll be w/the big club almost for sure. In light of what we've heard about cutting costs, I doubt they'd want to pay him even that to play in Roch. 

Probably, but not definitely.

That contract will keep anybody else from trying to waiver claim him if he is sent down out of camp.  If he can't make the Sabres out of the gate, doubt anybody else would claim him knowing if they do have to send him down he'll get big money in the minors.

[IKnowPhysics]

Good wait-and-see contract.  Only time will tell if it's worth the roster spot.  With his potential, it's a good enough contract to interest other teams if he doesn't fit in the roster- a contract like that could be added as a sweetener or a functional part of a package.

[nfreeman]

Is he UFA at the end of it?

[Curt]

1 minute ago, nfreeman said:

Is he UFA at the end of it?

No.  RFA.

[Zamboni]

I’m fine with this. Shows Tage they have enough confidence in him. Shows the Sabres, he’s committed to making himself and team better. And an easily movable contract. It’s not an overpayment by any stretch.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Zamboni

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, nfreeman said:

Is he UFA at the end of it?

No. He'll have played six years and should be an rfa.

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Probably, but not definitely.

That contract will keep anybody else from trying to waiver claim him if he is sent down out of camp.  If he can't make the Sabres out of the gate, doubt anybody else would claim him knowing if they do have to send him down he'll get big money in the minors.

Ah. Good one, Taro. 

[Huckleberry]

Also if he gets 40 points this season, that is a value contract for 2 more years.

[Mustache of God]

What if Tage makes the O'Reilly trade worth it in the end? 

[miles]

good for him, good for the sabres. i like thompson a lot

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

What if Tage makes the O'Reilly trade worth it in the end? 

It's interesting. Putting aside the likelihood of Tage becoming a Conn Smythe level winger, let's say it happens. 

Does that make the ROR trade good? I think I'd have to argue no - I think it makes the most sense to look at the deal through the prism of the evaluation at the time. If Botterill or anyone really thought Tage was that type of player, why not keep ROR, and pay the no-doubt much lower price of whatever they want to pry simply Tage off their hands, and none of the other crap? 

The trade would certainly look better, it would have to. But I would struggle giving a ton of credit to Botterill regardless cause I'm super biased against him. 

Kidding haha, but I would struggle to give him at ton of credit, considering we could have had BOTH. There wasn't a scenario where we needed to trade ROR to get Tage Thompson.

Extrapolating a bit - if we traded Eichel for a 3rd round pick, and the player we pick with that 3rd somehow becomes McDavid, does that make it a good trade?

Edited October 5, 2020 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, Trettioåtta said:

Not a bad pay day when the average salary is about $100,000 in the league!

... that isn't even the base salary of the NHL. Pretty sure it's up to like 800k for league minimum. 

24 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

What if Tage makes the O'Reilly trade worth it in the end? 

ROR won a cup while the Sabres missed the playoffs, so unless Tage becomes a #1 all around right wing that helps carry this team to a cup, ain't happening. 

[JohnC]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

 

ROR won a cup while the Sabres missed the playoffs, so unless Tage becomes a #1 all around right wing that helps carry this team to a cup, ain't happening. 

Do the Sabres sign Skinner to an extension if ROR was on the roster? I'm not sure they would have. I'm not saying that the deal balances out but if Tage becomes a  productive third or maybe even second line winger and the defenseman drafted with the first round pick eventually becomes a NHL player or is parlayed for another asset then the deal isn't so skewed. I'm not saying that the loss of ROR wasn't damaging because it was. But sometimes with a longer perspective it becomes a less bad transaction. 

[sabremike]

3 hours ago, steveoath said:

Skinner-Staal-Thompson the thinking then? 

The Hurricane Giraffe Line!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sabremike]

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, steveoath said:

Skinner-Staal-Thompson the thinking then? 

last place the thinking then?

[Thorner]

place getting spicy

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

What if Tage makes the O'Reilly trade worth it in the end? 

Now hold on there, tiger.  You're getting WAY ahead of things here.

[Broken Ankles]

Could be a great signing by year 3.   With 2021 uncertainty Tage wanted a little something to "wet his beak", so he offered up the extra year.  Good on both sides.  

"Oh there ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees 
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free
Oh no, I can't slow down, I can't hold back
Though you know, I wish I could
Oh no there ain't no rest for the wicked
Until we close our eyes for good".

 

[In The Buff]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

Do the Sabres sign Skinner to an extension if ROR was on the roster? I'm not sure they would have. I'm not saying that the deal balances out but if Tage becomes a  productive third or maybe even second line winger and the defenseman drafted with the first round pick eventually becomes a NHL player or is parlayed for another asset then the deal isn't so skewed. I'm not saying that the loss of ROR wasn't damaging because it was. But sometimes with a longer perspective it becomes a less bad transaction. 

Idk, but do the Sabres sign Skins to a more appropriate salary if ROR was on the roster? Probably. Once ROR was gone it created such a hole that it gave Skinner's agent all the leverage over Jbots. Had ROR still been there, i'm sure the final price would've been more reasonable, as I doubt any other team was prepared to offer as much as what we finally gave him.

Could be wrong of course but that'd be my uninformed 2 cents lol.

[JohnC]

45 minutes ago, In The Buff said:

Idk, but do the Sabres sign Skins to a more appropriate salary if ROR was on the roster? Probably. Once ROR was gone it created such a hole that it gave Skinner's agent all the leverage over Jbots. Had ROR still been there, i'm sure the final price would've been more reasonable, as I doubt any other team was prepared to offer as much as what we finally gave him.

Could be wrong of course but that'd be my uninformed 2 cents lol.

I doubt that the Sabres sign Skinner at a reduced salary if ROR was still on the team. Botts stated on a radio interview when talking about  the Skinner signing that he was able to sign Skinner to a contract after trading ROR because there was new cap space to work with. He stressed the point that the Skinner signing should be factored in when evaluating the ROR trade. Is there merit to his argument? I'm not sure. 

It's a fair point to believe that the Skinner contract was too rich for his value. On the other hand it also a fair point to acknowledge that when competing with other teams for free agent talent that Buffalo would have to pay a premium to entice a player of his caliber to come to this franchise and market. It also should be noted that his prolific goal scoring was more of a value to a team noted for its lack of goal scorers. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Can someone explain what he has done to earn 1.4 per season for 3 years?  Obviously he will be in the Sabres lineup opening day (unless he gets hurt again), but nothing in his resume said that he earned such a deal.

That said, if he scores 25- 30 points next season, KA will look smart for locking him up for 3 years.  First mistake by KA?

Edited October 6, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, In The Buff said:

Idk, but do the Sabres sign Skins to a more appropriate salary if ROR was on the roster? Probably. Once ROR was gone it created such a hole that it gave Skinner's agent all the leverage over Jbots. Had ROR still been there, i'm sure the final price would've been more reasonable, as I doubt any other team was prepared to offer as much as what we finally gave him.

Could be wrong of course but that'd be my uninformed 2 cents lol.

It was simply a situation where JBot showed his inexperience. He'd moved out high end players from the old regime and had to start adding. Carolina knew they wouldn't be able to sign him so got him cheap but letting the negotiations go on past the trade deadline is where he blew it.   What did he really think Skinner wasn't going to hold him hostage at that point? Skinner doesn't sign by deadline you move him and get back what you can and then sign him later for a more reasonable amount if nobody else overpays or you sign somebody else with the money you saved. JBot gave Skinner all the leverage and he used it. 

I don't begrudge Skinner getting what he can, it's a business, but I think as fans we can and should demand maximum effort from him every night since he got maximum money. 

JBot blew all his big deals. Didn't trade Kane when Kane was on a roll and got (probably) less at the deadline than he could have earlier. Tried to fill out a weak roster with mid value multi pack for ROR and totally got hosed. Got nothing for Lehner (a debatable one not worth re-exploring) and chose the wrong goalie to add to the roster AND broke the bank mishandling Skinner negotiations. Really didn't do a lot right when you think about it.