Edited Sep. 14, 2022 at 7:27 a.m.
Quoting: DongLord23
It's also a point that Tage's contract is buying more UFA years compared to Suzuki buying RFA years.
Quoting: AndrewLadd
Thompson has what 14 career points before this year? He was a fringe nhl player before this year. If he reverts to anywhere near that this contract sucks
Quoting: ElectroMan
Tage was playing on the 4th line with Vladimir Sobotka before this year in Krueger's defensive system.
He's a much different player in Granato's high event system playing with actual talent. Only way he's reverting back to that is if we hire Krueger back as HC.
Quoting: AudioCats
Man I was expecting this comment section to be like every other Buffalo thread and CapFriendly doesn't disappoint.
It's wild that Norris, Suzuki, and Thomas had more expensive contracts signed after one big year, and I can hardly find the same condescending comments on those signings. Tage signs for less money and term, and yet this is getting blasted by people who haven't watched a second of Sabres hockey in the last decade. It's a calculated risk, not the ghost of Chiarelli at the reins.
There are some key differences between those each of those three and Thompson, and yeah that's why Tage has gotten less, but as always context really doesn't matter here.
Quoting: ElectroMan
If Tage played for Toronto this contract would be called a steal
Quoting: OrganizedConfusion55
Sure thing sharkie.
Gasp, I literally said oh my gawd outloud. Not a drama queen at all lol
Quoting: Leafs_and_Sens_Fan
Too much risk here for me... If he regresses Buffalo's rebuild just got extended even longer. If he had another good season how much more would he make?
Quoting: Canesfan21_
Yeah hard to get behind this one, he had a breakout year last year but was pretty unknown before that. Gonna have to keep improving for this to be worth it
Quoting: jr400
At least Thompson’s cap hit is almost $2M less than Skinner’s.
The difference with the Skinner contract was that they knew exactly what they were getting when they extended him. He ran hold and cold for 8 years in Carolina, so it shouldn’t have surprised anybody that he fell off after his 40-goal season, nor that he rebounded later.
Thompson could turn out to be like that, but it’s also possible that we saw the real Tage Thompson last season, and he will be able to deliver consistently. The problem is, we don’t know.
Quoting: HockeyScotty
Does anyone know of any career progression's that factor in body size?
I've heard many times that bigger players take longer to develop; but not sure how that can be quantified.
My take is that Tage Thompson could be what we expect from a guy like Quinton Byfield, where it takes a season or two extra to "put it all together".
Quoting: BoudreauFan
I think this is a big risk. I don't see him as a 1C but he is getting paid like one. His jump was too steep. He was basically a fringe player last year and now they pay him like he is their future 1C after 1 great season
Many great comments.
First, in general big players do take longer to develop.
Second, Thompson started demonstrating his talent as early as 2018-'19 when he scored 14 goals in 27 AHL games over two seasons including playoffs.
Third, Krueger was a terrible coach. Miller, Skinner, Okposo, Sheary, Rodrigues, Montour, et al had career worse seasons playing for him.
Fourth, when Granato became head coach at the end of 2020-'21 Tage was put on a line with Mittelstadt and Asplund and responded with 7 goals over the final 20 games.
Fifth, Tuch was a huge factor to driving both Skinner and Tage to higher levels. Pre-Tuch Skinner and Tage were on pace for 25 and 30 goals, post-Tuch that jumped to 40 and 48 respectively.
Six, while his shooting percentage improved last year, in the previous seasons he was aiming at the goalies crest. This past season many of his shots were wide or hit iron, because he was aiming for the corners,
LOL he learned how to score.
Finally, since this an extension, think of this as an 8 year contract. $1,400,000 for the first year then $50,000,000 for the next seven $6,425,000 for eight years will appear to be a bargain if he can average 30 goals for the next 5 years.
MY BIG BOLD PREDICTION FOR NEXT YEAR, WE WILL THINK $50,000,000 IS A BARGAIN
EDIT:
After Kyrou signed his $65 million ($8.125 AAV) contract, this is looking like a bargain.
They are the same age, and drafted the same year.
Jordan played with Schenn, Thomas, Tarasenko, Buchnevich and O’Reilly to help him reach his career high 27 goals.
Thompson's contract is looking good from where I am sitting after scoring a career high 38 goals.