Sabres sign Tage Thompson to 3 year 1.4 AAV Extension

[Radar]

5 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

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?

Almost anyone who knows how to put on their uniform makes that these days.

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Radar

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Radar said:

Almost anyone who knows how to put on their uniform makes that these days.

 

That doesn’t hold up.  Larsson made that last year.  Compare the resumes

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

That doesn’t hold up.  Larsson made that last year.  Compare the resumes

What did you want the front office to do? Not sign him and let him walk? What you are suggesting is letting a young player with potential leave and create another void on the roster that needs to be addressed. That makes little sense.  

[Radar]

20 minutes ago, JohnC said:

What did you want the front office to do? Not sign him and let him walk? What you are suggesting is letting a young player with potential leave and create another void on the roster that needs to be addressed. That makes little sense.  

Like it or not(I don't) a million per year is going to be a league minimum the rate things were going prior to Civic19.

 

[North Buffalo]

You guys make my head hurt arguing over spilt milk... Botts is gone... lets see what Adams does... it will be interesting.... but crying over ROR is so yesterday... 

[dudacek]

9 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

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?

He bet on the player, and really didn't bet much, basically the cap space of one minimum wage player.

[sabremike]

News of the signing sparked wild celebrations among members of the giraffe community:

[jsb]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

He bet on the player, and really didn't bet much, basically the cap space of one minimum wage player.

I don't understand the consternation with this contract. Miss low but possibly win big with it. From everything we've read on this guy, he put in the work and is a physical beast. At worst a 3RW at best a true power forward, I can't agree with you more. 

[LGR4GM]

Who the hell cares that Tage Thompson is getting 1.4mil? What is that like, 350k over his qualifying offer or something? big whoopity dooo

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Who the hell cares that Tage Thompson is getting 1.4mil? What is that like, 350k over his qualifying offer or something? big whoopity dooo

Plus, with him being as young as he is, should this contract prove to be an albatross, the buyout is almost definitely only 1/3 face value rather than the typical 2/3's.  So, getting this wrong only eats up ~$230k / yr for the life of a buyout.  

[Taro T]

11 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

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?

What he's done to earn it to date?  Not much.  But IF he makes it, it'll be due to his offense & offense earns $'s.  

He's overpaid, but if they were to cut him at the end of this season & give him a buyout, it still puts the total wasted money at a fraction of what Skinner didn't earn last year.  He wasn't signing for less than $1.2MM/yr in any case.  Perspective.

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

I'm curious if Casey gets a similar contract.  Tage is one year older, taken around 20 spots later, but Tage projects as a winger while Casey still projects as a center.

Edited October 6, 2020 by SHAAAUGHT!!!

[Thorner]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Who the hell cares that Tage Thompson is getting 1.4mil? What is that like, 350k over his qualifying offer or something? big whoopity dooo

Have to agree with this. He may not amount to anything at the NHL level, but the deal bears little risk in and of itself. 

[pi2000]

It's make or break time for Tage.   Personally I have absolutely zero expectations for him... won't be surprised either way if he flops or flourishes.

[MattPie]

I'd think they went to Tage with a minimum deal for 2 years, or this as an upgrade. More guaranteed money buys an extra year of cost certainty.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Have to agree with this. He may not amount to anything at the NHL level, but the deal bears little risk in and of itself. 

 

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

What he's done to earn it to date?  Not much.  But IF he makes it, it'll be due to his offense & offense earns $'s.  

He's overpaid, but if they were to cut him at the end of this season & give him a buyout, it still puts the total wasted money at a fraction of what Skinner didn't earn last year.  He wasn't signing for less than $1.2MM/yr in any case.  Perspective.

 

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Who the hell cares that Tage Thompson is getting 1.4mil? What is that like, 350k over his qualifying offer or something? big whoopity dooo

Actually it's 500K over the QO and why pay someone 4.2 mill guaranteed over 3 years when you could have paid him 900k this season when you need every dime of cap space.  Now if he fails you are wasting 500K this season plus another 2.8 over the next 2 season on a player who won't make your roster.  

I also said in my original post that if he scores 25-30 points this contract KA will look smart of locking him up for 3 years.  

Personally I would have signed him to his Q offer and then gone from there. Hopefully Thompson will prove KA right.

Edited October 6, 2020 by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

^For me I'm hoping they did it to keep sending Tage down to Roch an option (like Taro said - salary as a deterrent to being claimed). If that's the case, I like the evaluation of the talent. 

[dudacek]

I'm hoping they did it because Adams determined Thompson is a legit middle six winger and paying an extra million for an extra year will prove to be a bargain down the road.

Because I want my GM to make good business decisions based on smart hockey evaluations. It's been too long.

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

Tage's cap hit is 1.2MM this year, 1.4MM year 2, and 1.6MM year 3.  If signing back loaded deals is the only impact of the "internal cap" I'm on board.  

Edited October 6, 2020 by SHAAAUGHT!!!

[DarthEbriate]

1 minute ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said:

Tage's cap hit is 1.2MM this year, 1.4MM next year, and 1.6MM next year.  If signing back loaded deals is the only impact of the "internal cap" I'm on board.  

That's his salary by year. The cap hit is flat at 1.4/year. The NHL only allows equal annual cap hits since... whenever the Kovalchuk kerfluffle went down... or out of a lockout or last CBA or something.

[msw2112]

To put it in perspective, Evan Rodriguez is making $2M per year.  He is a little bit more proven at the NHL level, but Thompson clearly has much more upside, given his physical attributes (and you could argue his status as a 1st round draft pick by a quality organization).  It's a pretty low-risk proposition.  If he develops, you have tremendous bargain.  If he flops, you're not paying THAT much over league minimum for a guy to sit in the press box and/or go down to the minors (not sure what the rules are for sending him down based on the contract and/or at this point in his career).  I'm guessing that the organization has evaluated him and believes there's a decent chance he will develop into a regular NHL player.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, msw2112 said:

To put it in perspective, Evan Rodriguez is making $2M per year.  He is a little bit more proven at the NHL level, but Thompson clearly has much more upside, given his physical attributes (and you could argue his status as a 1st round draft pick by a quality organization).  It's a pretty low-risk proposition.  If he develops, you have tremendous bargain.  If he flops, you're not paying THAT much over league minimum for a guy to sit in the press box and/or go down to the minors (not sure what the rules are for sending him down based on the contract and/or at this point in his career).  I'm guessing that the organization has evaluated him and believes there's a decent chance he will develop into a regular NHL player.

If you send him down you save I think 800k against the cap but Tage would have to pass through waivers. 

[Rasmus_]

22 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

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

Then I will be shocked. 

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

 

 

Actually it's 500K over the QO and why pay someone 4.2 mill guaranteed over 3 years when you could have paid him 900k this season when you need every dime of cap space.  Now if he fails you are wasting 500K this season plus another 2.8 over the next 2 season on a player who won't make your roster.  

I also said in my original post that if he scores 25-30 points this contract KA will look smart of locking him up for 3 years.  

Personally I would have signed him to his Q offer and then gone from there. Hopefully Thompson will prove KA right.

Actually, it seems they DON'T "need every dime of cap space."  They want as little cash out the door as they can pull off, & apparently the cash hit this year is only $1.2MM, so they did save some cash.

Really don't believe they are working with the $70MM cap you seem to be convinced they are working with.  We'll see soon enough who's right.

 

And if he truly does fail this year, you waive him and take ~$230k of hit the next 4 years.

[Kruppstahl]

6 hours ago, pi2000 said:

It's make or break time for Tage.   Personally I have absolutely zero expectations for him... won't be surprised either way if he flops or flourishes.

He's pretty much already broken.