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Tage Thompson heads to Boston as a reserve for 4 nations final


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Posted (edited)

It's not likely that Tage will play, but if he did, I think he'd be an asset to Team USA.  When Tage plays with intensity, he's a great offensive player and he has one of the best shots in the league.  His combination of size and skill is hard for defenders to deal with.  The biggest issue with him on the Sabres is that his effort is inconsistent.  Put into a championship game, playing for his country, with all of the accomplished veterans that are on the USA squad, there's no way Thompson would float around the ice.  He'd go full-tilt, hustle back on defense (if asked to do it) and would contribute.  The Sabres lack the type of environment (meaningful games, influential high-end veterans, etc.) that would bring out the best in Thompson.  Eichel lacked that in Buffalo, and like Thompson, was the best player on the ice at times, particularly offensively, but also floated and didn't backcheck.  Those problems are non-existent for Eichel in Vegas and on Team USA, where he plays a complete game and has been lauded for it.

Obviously, I don't want to see any USA forwards injured or ill, but as a Sabres fan, I'd certainly like to see Thompson get on the ice tonight.

Edited by msw2112
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Posted (edited)
50 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

It's not likely that Tage will play, but if he did, I think he'd be an asset to Team USA.  When Tage plays with intensity, he's a great offensive player and he has one of the best shots in the league.  His combination of size and skill is hard for defenders to deal with.  The biggest issue with him on the Sabres is that his effort is inconsistent.  Put into a championship game, playing for his country, with all of the accomplished veterans that are on the USA squad, there's no way Thompson would float around the ice.  He'd go full-tilt, hustle back on defense (if asked to do it) and would contribute.  The Sabres lack the type of environment (meaningful games, influential high-end veterans, etc.) that would bring out the best in Thompson.  Eichel lacked that in Buffalo, and like Thompson, was the best player on the ice at times, particularly offensively, but also floated and didn't backcheck.  Those problems are non-existent for Eichel in Vegas and on Team USA, where he plays a complete game and has been lauded for it.

Obviously, I don't want to see any USA forwards injured or ill, but as a Sabres fan, I'd certainly like to see Thompson get on the ice tonight.

Its pretty well knowing (I think) that Tage plays through a lot of injuries.  At least I think he does.  I wonder if his 'floating' and 'inconsistent effort' is less of a factor of him just being lazy, and more of a factor of: 1.)  he's playing with injuries and/or 2.) He knows is energy 'burst' are best used pushing himself in the offensive end and often times he's a big gassed on the defensive end?   Sure, any player who floats a bit would have that as an excuse to use, but it matters more when he is your best/most talented offensive player by miles.

As far as the numbers go this season, obviously the Sabres are at their best scoring goals when he is on the ice. But defensively?  The Sabres allow slightly less goals at even strength when Tage is out there this season than they do when he's on the bench.  They are a LOT better offensively, and even slightly better defensively when he is on the ice.

 

Edited by mjd1001
Posted
49 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

It's not likely that Tage will play, but if he did, I think he'd be an asset to Team USA.  When Tage plays with intensity, he's a great offensive player and he has one of the best shots in the league.  His combination of size and skill is hard for defenders to deal with.  The biggest issue with him on the Sabres is that his effort is inconsistent.  Put into a championship game, playing for his country, with all of the accomplished veterans that are on the USA squad, there's no way Thompson would float around the ice.  He'd go full-tilt, hustle back on defense (if asked to do it) and would contribute.  The Sabres lack the type of environment (meaningful games, influential high-end veterans, etc.) that would bring out the best in Thompson.  Eichel lacked that in Buffalo, and like Thompson, was the best player on the ice at times, particularly offensively, but also floated and didn't backcheck.  Those problems are non-existent for Eichel in Vegas and on Team USA, where he plays a complete game and has been lauded for it.

Obviously, I don't want to see any USA forwards injured or ill, but as a Sabres fan, I'd certainly like to see Thompson get on the ice tonight.

This is so true and at the same time the saddest analysis of Sabre hockey.

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Posted
23 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

That was fun that we got to watch Matthew tchachuk stapled to the bench, unable to play, instead of a healthy Tage.

I am actually glad Tage didn’t get to play.  At that intensity level he wouldn’t have lasted the game.  He would’ve come back to Buffalo broken.

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Posted
29 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

That was fun that we got to watch Matthew tchachuk stapled to the bench, unable to play, instead of a healthy Tage.

I'm a big fan of the Tkachuk brothers and how they play the game, but Matthew's decision to play was a selfish one.  A healthy Tage Thompson would have brought more to the lineup than a lame Matthew Tkachuk, who played less than half of a game when he knew that he was injured.  The other way to look at it is that he gave it his best shot, putting Team USA ahead of his own personal health, but I don't think he was being honest with himself and the coaching staff.

In a game like last night's where the margin between the two teams was razor-thin, losing a player for more than half of the game (and he wasn't close to 100% when he was in there) could have impacted the outcome.  Given the opportunity to play and show why he belonged, Thompson would have hit the ice like his pants were on fire.

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Posted
6 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I'm a big fan of the Tkachuk brothers and how they play the game, but Matthew's decision to play was a selfish one.  A healthy Tage Thompson would have brought more to the lineup than a lame Matthew Tkachuk, who played less than half of a game when he knew that he was injured.  The other way to look at it is that he gave it his best shot, putting Team USA ahead of his own personal health, but I don't think he was being honest with himself and the coaching staff.

In a game like last night's where the margin between the two teams was razor-thin, losing a player for more than half of the game (and he wasn't close to 100% when he was in there) could have impacted the outcome.  Given the opportunity to play and show why he belonged, Thompson would have hit the ice like his pants were on fire.

Matthew's decision to play had to be supported by the coach.  Did they say that Kyle Connor was battling illness or did they just choose to scratch him and dress Kreider?

Meh. It's over. Time to move on.

Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, LTS said:

Matthew's decision to play had to be supported by the coach.  Did they say that Kyle Connor was battling illness or did they just choose to scratch him and dress Kreider?

Meh. It's over. Time to move on.

I didn't follow it that closely, but I think that Connor was injured or sick.  I agree that the decision on on Matthew (much easier than trying to spell that last name!) had to be supported by the coach, but only the player can truly evaluate his own body, pain tolerance, etc.

I agree that's it time to move on.  I didn't have much interest in the tournament to begin with.  It really is a manufactured product versus an authentic best-on-best.  As much as Russia deserves to be sanctioned as a country, not having Russian players (and stars from other countries) involved makes it such that it's not really best-on-best.  Plus, the teams were only playing together for a few days before the tournament started, so in my opinion, it's a bunch of all-stars being thrown together at the last minute, versus a true team that's had time to develop as a unit and have chemistry.  That said, the players took it seriously and played really hard, so it did turn out to be more entertaining than I thought it would.

I sometimes drift to the message board to procrastinate from doing my job, and this is the topic of the day, but time to get back to the grind...

Edited by msw2112
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Posted
2 hours ago, Weave said:

I am actually glad Tage didn’t get to play.  At that intensity level he wouldn’t have lasted the game.  He would’ve come back to Buffalo broken.

The way team USA was built, Tuch would have been a way better fit than Thompson. Tage would have been the softest player on that team by a mile.

2 hours ago, LTS said:

Matthew's decision to play had to be supported by the coach.  Did they say that Kyle Connor was battling illness or did they just choose to scratch him and dress Kreider?

Meh. It's over. Time to move on.

It sounds like all the teams were dealing with illness, not just the teams, I know so many people who've been sick in the past 2 weeks. Something is ripping through us.

Ultimately, I think it's a selfish move by Matthew, he probably told the coach he was good to go but that obviously wasn't the case. Whatever, I was rooting for Canada last night, although it would have been cool to see a Sabre out there. 

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