Tage Thompson- What the h*** happened?!?!

[JohninMinn.]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Thanks for raising the quality of Sabrespace discussion.

You've given us all a lot to think about.

 

 

I do what I can.

[SwampD]

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Tage weathered the truckloads of crap dumped on him by internet tough guys as the return for the O'Reilly trade, a skinny frame that shot up 8 inches in three years, a cancer scare from his wife, a devastating shoulder injury, demotion to the minors, and Ralph Krueger to transform himself into a physical specimen and a 38-goal scorer. Then he took the backlash of too much, too soon against his big contract and responded with 47 goals and 94 points.

Never once whined or pointed fingers

His career has been the definition of heart.

What's obvious is your dog don't hunt.

While I agree, He's not playing all that great right now. It's not the effort.

He's just trying to do too much and it's often stupid hockey. He looks like a shinny Allstar who just wants to do everything and he ignores his teammates. Just make the right play. Maybe it is coaching. I did not like how Don sounded tonight.

8 hours ago, dudacek said:

Tage weathered the truckloads of crap dumped on him by internet tough guys as the return for the O'Reilly trade, a skinny frame that shot up 8 inches in three years, a cancer scare from his wife, a devastating shoulder injury, demotion to the minors, and Ralph Krueger to transform himself into a physical specimen and a 38-goal scorer. Then he took the backlash of too much, too soon against his big contract and responded with 47 goals and 94 points.

Never once whined or pointed fingers

His career has been the definition of heart.

What's obvious is your dog don't hunt.

While I agree, He's not playing all that great right now. It's not the effort.

He's just trying to do too much and it's often stupid hockey. He looks like a shinny Allstar who just wants to do everything and he ignores his teammates. Just make the right play. Maybe it is coaching. I did not like how Don sounded tonight.

[Pimlach]

On 1/23/2024 at 9:39 AM, JoeSchmoe said:

People have been speculating about PED use in sports forever... seriously, this is not new. I don't have to be right about it either.

As a paying fan of the team who's watched the #1 center look like a mere shadow of himself with a nearly unprecedented drop off in production... going from a SportsCenter highlight almost every night to maybe one this year- I'm going to muse about this as a possibility. I'll also check in here to see if anyone else thinks this could be a possibility. It's harsh reality in sports these days that some fans seem unwilling to accept.  I guarantee you this type of conversation is going on all the time in other sports message boards. Not sure why we have to be so sensitive here.

You know what?  I am tired of this.  Continue on with your way of thinking then.  You are accountable to nothing with little risk to you.  

You clearly see nothing even remotely wrong with what you posted even though it got mostly negative reactions.  You show no ability to even acknowledge another side of this one.   I get it.  I will refrain from further comments on this subject, I said my peace.  

 

 

[ska-T Palmtown]

There were times during the Kings game when I swear Tage was going twice as fast as anyone else on the ice ... just like last year. Maybe his dad pulled him aside after the Ducks game and said "thanks for playing like crap, but seriously you are so much better than this, just go do hockey"

[JoeSchmoe]

2 hours ago, ska-T Chitown said:

There were times during the Kings game when I swear Tage was going twice as fast as anyone else on the ice ... just like last year. Maybe his dad pulled him aside after the Ducks game and said "thanks for playing like crap, but seriously you are so much better than this, just go do hockey"

Remember last year when he used to do that all the time? After McDavid, he was probably the most exciting player in the league. 

I thought Cozens was trending in the same direction. 

It's a shame they both regressed so hard.

[inkman]

13 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Remember last year when he used to do that all the time? After McDavid, he was probably the most exciting player in the league. 

I thought Cozens was trending in the same direction. 

It's a shame they both regressed so hard.

He’s been injured all season.  Granato and Hamilton have insinuated as much.  

[JoeSchmoe]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

He’s been injured all season.  Granato and Hamilton have insinuated as much. 

That's been the story, but he's been mediocre since day 1, even before he had missed any games.

If this is something that's been nagging him since last season, I'd rather see him pack it in, get the necessary surgery or treatment now and see 2022-23 Thompson back for 2024-25.

[JoeSchmoe]

On 1/21/2024 at 10:53 PM, JoeSchmoe said:

The NHL is a league where players play through injuries. If Thompson is hurt he isn't the first, and he's surely not the last. That said, I don't recall seeing players drop off this drastically as shown below.

It was such a treat to watch him last year. So many highlight reel plays. 

One week later he's down to a 52pt pace.

[Drag0nDan]

On 1/25/2024 at 8:07 PM, JoeSchmoe said:

That's been the story, but he's been mediocre since day 1, even before he had missed any games.

If this is something that's been nagging him since last season, I'd rather see him pack it in, get the necessary surgery or treatment now and see 2022-23 Thompson back for 2024-25.

The entire team came out absurdly flat, which felt right considering we jumbled lines the entire camp and then just plugged and play with last years. 

Then he took that puck off his wrist and missed like 2 weeks, and seems like he likely has another UBI and LBI that he's been playing with.  His shooting has been off all year, and i'd assume a right wrist injury to a RH shot is probably not great.  

Skating, dangling still there, just not seeing his linemates and trying to do too much. Love Tuch - but he probably is more middle-six than top six.  And skinner is skinner.  Not worth 9M, and not sure he's a good fit for a playoff hockey team TBH.  

[Norcal]

Family Man Tage Thompson 

[JoeSchmoe]

Here's an update on Thompson's projected points for this season.

This is a historic regression. He has mere glimpses of looking interested since the season started.

Put him on in ice for the season if he's hurt. Bench him if he's not.

Edited February 17 by JoeSchmoe

[Buffalonill]

30 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Here's an update on Thompson's projected points for this season.

This is a historic regression. He has mere glimpses of looking interested since the season started.

Put him in ice for the season if he's hurt. Bench him if he's not.

Everyone has regressed Get a new coach next year and he will be back 

[Thorner]

42 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Everyone has regressed Get a new coach next year and he will be back 

I agree there’ll be an uptick. He’s very likely somewhere in the middle. I do think he can be a 60-70 point guy going forward. Point a game here and there not out of the question 

[HOUSE]

Maybe he reads this forum 

 

Imagine if we just paid a 48 point a season player 7.5M per year. Brutal ... and if Power never turns into a solid Dman, Samuelsson is always injured and Dahlin never turns elite. I feel Dylan Cozens is still going to be a star here by next season.

[thewookie1]

40 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Imagine if we just paid a 48 point a season player 7.5M per year. Brutal ... and if Power never turns into a solid Dman, Samuelsson is always injured and Dahlin never turns elite. I feel Dylan Cozens is still going to be a star here by next season.

You must be real fun at parties.

[GoPuckYourself]

19 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

You must be real fun at parties.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

HE WAS SO GOOD!

Edited February 17 by JoeSchmoe

[sabremike]

It's almost as if the entire roster has collapsed because the coach and his staff are total incompetent dogshit or something who would've all been fired in December if this was a real NHL organization.

[GoPuckYourself]

I don't know it's mind numbing trying to think how almost an entire roster just collapsed like this. Owen Power last year looked like he was going to be a force to be reckoned with on defense while bringing some offense and it's like looking at a totally different person. Dahlin was great on defense/offense and hit everything in sight but now looks back to the lost Dahlin from 3 seasons ago. A coaching change should have been made long ago, I just hope at this point it's not too far gone to get this core back on track.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I don't know it's mind numbing trying to think how almost an entire roster just collapsed like this. Owen Power last year looked like he was going to be a force to be reckoned with on defense while bringing some offense and it's like looking at a totally different person. Dahlin was great on defense/offense and hit everything in sight but now looks back to the lost Dahlin from 3 seasons ago. A coaching change should have been made long ago, I just hope at this point it's not too far gone to get this core back on track.

All the guys who got paid look like crap comparatively now. Tage, Cozens, Dahlin, Power and (compared to Boston and relative to his previous salary) Clifton.

The guys playing for or towards new contracts are all having their best seasons. Mitts, Peterka, UPL. 

When it's this many people, is it just a coincidence?

[HOUSE]

Making a little trade leverage. 

[spndnchz]

8 minutes ago, Shoot da Puck said:

Making a little trade leverage. 

Please elaborate 

[North Buffalo]

43 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Please elaborate 

Mitts might be only only one with leverage, lesser UPL, 

Peterka I would not trade... guy can score and Mitts is good set up but Sabres need scorers... I just dont think Sabres can right return coming back even with futures... injuries have really sucked especially to Quinn who helped start balancing lines... Sabres need depth scoring and right now with injuries to TT and Skinner playing hurt Okie on his last leg it is tough...

[Rasmus_]

Just seems like he's hurt.  Somethings definitely off.  It was similar to Tuch earlier in the a season who is starting to find his game again.

Edited February 17 by Rasmus_

[GoPuckYourself]

2 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Mitts might be only only one with leverage, lesser UPL, 

Peterka I would not trade... guy can score and Mitts is good set up but Sabres need scorers... I just dont think Sabres can right return coming back even with futures... injuries have really sucked especially to Quinn who helped start balancing lines... Sabres need depth scoring and right now with injuries to TT and Skinner playing hurt Okie on his last leg it is tough...

All I kept hearing is that we have the best pipeline of future NHL talent in the entire league... Savoie couldn't help us? Not 1 call up for Kulich that I can recall? Why call up Bryson (the guy we've literally let any team in the NHL have on waivers) who we know what he brings to our team instead of a guy like Nikita Novikov?