Eh, no one is anointing him as anything right now. Independent of the horrible trade that brought him to the Sabres or his over-use this season at the hands of a GM who appears to be nepotistic or a coach who is clearly incapable of his duties... it would be nice to see him get his game in order and turn into a useful NHLer.
Player Discussion Tage Thompson 1
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Eh, no one is anointing him as anything right now. Independent of the horrible trade that brought him to the Sabres or his over-use this season at the hands of a GM who appears to be nepotistic or a coach who is clearly incapable of his duties... it would be nice to see him get his game in order and turn into a useful NHLer.
I really feel like pegula might want to be to hands on but as for tage I'm at least happy he's finally in the right spot to develop, even if it is far overdo...
I am just happy for the kid...he pretty much is a whipping boy for a bad trade Botterill made. Seems like a nice kid just trying to pursue his dream of playing in the NHL.
And it's the lack of redress of those flaws from either shifts in deployment/style by the coach or *heavens* by personnel moves by the GM that often has me thinking the guys on the ice have had it with the lack of work from Phil and Jason now for two years.
I'm hoping Tails can get Thompson working as a player. Seeing him slotted into basically the same role VO had -- PP/PK time, scoring line shifts -- right out of the gate and keeping that regardless of initial mistakes is heartening as someone hoping Thompson can turn into something.
Imagine if he was Swedish and played goalie?
old kummelweck
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Dreakon13
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I mean, sure... but who seems to be taking it the worst. I guess is what I'd be interested in learning.
EDIT: At the end of the day, you want to see management and coaching putting these guys in the best spot to succeed (which they've failed at miserably)... but it's on the players to pull themselves out of it too. There are some talented guys on this team and no matter how bad things are I feel like even the worst teams can luck into two wins in a row once in a while. Something special is happening here.
It'd be interesting to see the Sabres environment, especially compared to other teams, and analyze it a bit.
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Buffaloed
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Getting away from Housley seems to have that effect on players.
Buffaloed
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sabremike
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Do the Amerks do a jersey auction after the season because I want a Tage one before next season when he scores 30 goals in Buffalo playing for a non idiot coach?
Ace
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It’s tough that we’ve reached a point where a coach doing what a normal coach would do, let one of their more gifted players play through stuff for more than a shift, is greeted as a master stroke. But here we live.
What’s most frustrating about it is that they’ve won THREE OUT OF TWENTY ONE GAMES and he still is like...nah dog...can’t have you making mistakes that will cost us games out there...
Housley has coached the way he thinks will save his job regardless of it not helping his young players. And that’s one of many reasons he should lose it.
What’s most frustrating about it is that they’ve won THREE OUT OF TWENTY ONE GAMES and he still is like...nah dog...can’t have you making mistakes that will cost us games out there...
Housley has coached the way he thinks will save his job regardless of it not helping his young players. And that’s one of many reasons he should lose it.
joshjull
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Uh 13 points in 21 games is a lot different then 4 in 2. Elie has scored about the same pace he did back in 16-17 his last full season in the AHL.
Good for Tage. He is 21, a bigger player who still needs to build muscle. I really cannot wait for draft day so Thompson can stop being the whipping boy because of the RoR trade. The 2019 1st was always the main asset in the trade and once we make that pick Thompson can get some slack. It's like people just want to shit on the kid and not acknowledge the 1st and 2nd round pick we also got back in the trade. 1+2+a recent 1st round pick has been the basis of numerous trades for 60-65 point forwards.
By 2020-21 Tage will be a solid 15-20 goal middle 6 winger. That is all he needs to be. Olofsson, Nylander, Thompson and Reinhart are all 24 and under. That is 4 out of 6 top 9 winger spots.
joshjull
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Sabre Dance
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I understand losing gets you down, but what the heck. Pull it together. Stop crying, work harder, and win a game. I'm tired of hearing how down the Sabres get.
Paxon
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It is a lot different than 4 in 2 because 4 in 2 is meaningless. It is literally two games. Elie had 8 in 10 before his PPG dropped and the guy isn't an NHL player nor does he have offensive talent. Hopefully he has a monster playoffs but only a homer is going to make a big deal over two AHL games.
Tage isn't the whipping boy because of the trade. People have been fairly judging him on his own merits, which are not very impressive. That said, saying the 1st round pick was always the main asset makes no sense. It is going to end up being in the same range as where Tage was drafted. I'm sure Botts valued the two more or less evenly. It also doesn't make sense that you accuse others of hating Thompson because of the trade then go on about how they need to recognize the 1st is more important. That sounds like you making it about the trade rather than just evaluating Thompson.
Buffaloed
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You can't understand it unless you've worked for a dysfunctional organization. It doesn't matter how hard you work. You will not succeed because the organization is structurally broken. You see it in many public/government organizations that don't have to make a profit to stay in business. It doesn't take long for an eager new employee to figure out that nothing they do is going to change anything. The Sabres are like the Veterans Administration of hockey.
The whole team never got there. Phil taught them the shot-first mentality, but they just didn't follow through.
They had a lot of shots last game, but basically just 1 or 2 scoring chances that could have led to actual goals.
It's like starting to talk to a lot of women on a night out, taking shots, but not really doing much else. You must have the drive to score, else you are just stuck with small talk.
Phil taught them the small talk, but they never followed through to really nail it, and were left with stick taps and a broken ego.
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joshjull
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joshjull
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OkimLom
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The organization are playing the long game of losing games where mediocrity in the future will be celebrated. Much easier to build up interest if you do just enough to create any sort of excitement.
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