Tage Thompson was once a highly regarded prospect of the St. Louis Blues. His departure helped the franchise win a Stanley Cup, but now, he has the opportunity to lead his own franchise to glory with the Buffalo Sabres.
In 2018, the St. Louis Blues made a blockbuster trade to acquire Ryan O’Reilly.
The move paid off greatly for the organization. In his first of five seasons with the Blues, O’Reilly notched career highs in goals (28) and points (77). He also helped the Blues hoist the Stanley Cup, skating as the No. 1 center.
The Blues should have no regrets about making that deal, but if they did, it’s because of the play of former Blues first-round pick Tage Thompson.
To acquire O’Reilly, the Blues traded Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka, and Thompson, as well as a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL draft, and a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft, to the Buffalo Sabres.
Berglund and Sobotka amounted to nothing more than depth players for the Sabres, and the first-round pick the Sabres acquired turned into Ryan Johnson, a defenseman who has spent most of his professional career in the AHL.
But Thompson has morphed into a superstar, a true No. 1 center who won gold with Team USA at the Olympics and is centering the top line of a Stanley Cup-contending team.
Thompson played just 41 games with the Blues, scoring three goals and nine points, and while it did take Thompson a bit of time to get his feet under him at the NHL level, he’s now a consistent 40-goal scorer with a career high of 47 and a point per game player with a career high of 94 points.
On Sunday, the Sabres hosted their first playoff game in 14 years, but they found themselves down 2-0 late in the third period. That’s when Thompson introduced himself to the post-season.
The 28-year-old found a loose puck behind the Boston Bruins’ net and scored a wrap-around on his backhand to cut the Bruins’ lead in half. Just over three minutes later, Thompson won another puck battle, made a slick move to create space, and ripped a shot past Jeremy Swayman to tie the game and send the KeyBank Center into a frenzy.
A minute later, Mattias Samuelsson gave the Sabres the lead before Thompson once again won a key puck battle and sprung Alex Tuch on a breakaway with the Bruins’ net vacant.
The Sabres pulled off a miraculous comeback in Game 1 to take an early series advantage, which Thompson led.
He finished his first career playoff game with two goals, one assist, two penalty minutes, seven shots on goal, and three hits in 20:01 of ice time. He also finished with a Corsi For percentage of 59.38 percent, an expected goals percentage of 61.23 percent, and a high danger chances percentage of 60 percent at 5-on-5.
Thompson was nothing short of dominant.
Although he was once the 26th overall pick of the Blues in 2016, Thompson was the key part of a deal that helped the Blues hoist the Stanley Cup, and could help the Sabres hoist their own.
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