Tage Thompson can look at the NHL’s booming salary cap and see what might have been. He can also look at his Buffalo Sabres contract and see the security it brought, even if it came before the league’s current explosion in player value.
Thompson is making $7.1 million this season on a deal that runs through 2029-30, and he told Mark Lazerus of The Athletic that he’s “blessed” and doesn’t regret signing the extension in August 2022. At the same time, he was candid about the kind of money that’s now floating around the league.
"Yeah, I think there are guys that wish they would have held out a little bit. Am I one of those guys?
Yeah, obviously you would have liked to sign a big ticket and get as much money as humanly possible," the 28-year-old forward said. "But you're still talking about [a lot of money]."
That’s the tug-of-war here: the money Thompson left on the table versus the certainty he locked in. He put it plainly when talking about the unpredictability of both the cap and a player’s own career.
"It's tough to gauge where the cap's going to go, and honestly, where your career's going to go, right?" Thompson told Lazerus.
"It's unpredictable. And when you're staring that much money in the face - you're talking life-changing money.
So what's another million, 2 million a year? It's a lot, obviously.
But you're not going to turn down something that locks you in for not only financial stability, but stability with your family, being in one place."
Thompson’s deal now looks especially friendly for Buffalo because of what he became after he signed it. That wasn’t obvious when the Sabres committed to him in 2022.
He had been a slow starter, with only 35 points - 18 goals and 17 assists - in 145 games over his first four NHL seasons between Buffalo and the St. Louis Blues, who took him in the first round of the 2016 draft.
Some analysts even wondered why Buffalo protected the UConn product in the 2021 expansion draft.
Then the switch flipped.
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Thompson has piled up 375 points, including 200 goals and 175 assists, in 387 games. That run includes three 40-goal seasons, and ESPN recently slotted him 31st in its league rankings. In the context of today’s cap growth, that makes his current contract look like a major bargain for the Sabres, especially with the top salary for 2026-27 now at $18 million, held by Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson.
Thompson’s value to Buffalo goes beyond the scoreboard, too. His lower cap hit has helped the Sabres keep a group of younger players in the fold, with Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Noah Ostlund, Peyton Krebs and Louis Crevier all signing long-term extensions since the cap began to spike.
And Thompson is still producing right now. Through Buffalo’s first three games of the new season, he has two goals and two assists.
The bigger question is what comes next. Thompson will be 32 when he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2030, though Buffalo will likely try to keep him from ever getting there. If his production holds, he’ll be in line for another major payday - but likely one teams approach with some caution because of the length involved.
That uncertainty is part of the equation, especially for a player whose game still has some rough edges. His defensive impact has been questioned, and he has struggled in the faceoff circle when used at center, something Buffalo has asked him to do often because it hasn’t found a true No. 1 center through trade or free agency since Jack Eichel left. A more permanent move to the wing would only help his value.
Buffalo’s front office, now led by Jarmo Kekalainen, has already shown this summer that it won’t automatically go all-in on a huge long-term commitment. The Sabres sent Alex Tuch to the Washington Capitals in a sign-and-trade deal rather than take him through age 38.
Thompson is a different kind of piece, though. He’s a core scorer alongside captain Rasmus Dahlin, one of the main reasons Buffalo still believes it can climb out of its record-setting playoff drought. The Sabres don’t currently have another elite goal scorer in his mold, even if Benson and Doan could eventually grow into something closer to Tuch’s role.
So yes, Thompson may wonder what a deal signed in today’s market would have looked like. But Buffalo may also be preparing to pay him again - and this time, the price could be even steeper. A lot can change over the next four years, both in Thompson’s game and in how many of the Sabres’ young players develop into true scoring threats.
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