The NHL’s 2025-26 season is just about here, and there’s no better time here at THN.com’s Buffalo Sabres site to keep putting together this player-by-player series breaking down expectations for every Sabres player this coming year.

Every Sabres player has one singular goal  – getting the Sabres into the Stanley Cup playoffs. But as individuals, every Sabre has their own expectations. 

We’ve just finished moving through Buffalo’s goalies and defensemen. And in this file, we’re starting with the Sabres; top-talent at forward – winger Tage Thompson. 

Thompson had a down year last season, putting together 19 fewer assists and 22 fewer points than he had in his peak season of three years ago. But at 27-years-old, Thompson is far from over the hill, and the Sabres need him to rebound on offense this coming season and be the tip of the spear punching holes in other teams’ defensive tactics.

Let’s break it down and make an educated guess as to how his upcoming season plays out.

Player Name: Tage Thompsom

Position: Right Wing

Age: 27

2024-25 Key Statistics: 76 games, 44 goals, 72 points, 18:45 average time-on-ice

2025-26 Salary:$7.14 million

2025-26 Expectations: Thompson led the Sabres in scoring, at nearly a point-per-game clip. But as was the case with everyone on the team last year, it felt like it wasn’t enough from Thompson. This is two straight seasons of sub-par assist numbers, and while some of the blame for that goes to Thompson’s linemates, he also has to own it.

Although he’s a relative bargain at slightly more than $7.1 million per season, Thompson has the added weight of being one of Buffalo’s highest-paid players. While that pressure is going to be on him to do at least as much in 2025-26 as he did last year, Thompson is going to be on Buffalo’s first line with center Josh Norris, but if Norris can’t stay healthy, Thompson is still going to be judged by (a) whether he’s the Sabres’ best weapon on offense, and (b) whether he leads Buffalo to end its playoff drought at 14 years.

If either of those things don’t develop in the Sabres’ favor, it could be a very long season for Thompson. We’re not here to tell you Thompson is going to be traded – he’s got five years left on his contract, and he does have some no-trade protection (although only protection that allows him to veto a trade to five teams oh his choice). He can absolutely be part of the solution in Buffalo, but that has to start right away.

But something will have to give if this season doesn’t play out the way the Sabres hope for, and while that will likely start with the firing of coach Lindy Ruff and/or GM Kevyn Adams, it could eventually lead to a point where Thompson and Buffalo find it mutually beneficial to go in different roads,

Thompson could be in for a special year, if he does as expected and makes the U.S.’s team at the 2026 Winter Olympics and gets his first taste of playoff hockey in hockey’s top league. But make no mistake – even if he wins gold at the Olympics, if Thompson fails to get into the playoffs, it will be a long and slow agony for him. 

Anything less than 40 goals and 80 points will be a problem for Thompson next year. The Sabres aren’t going to be good or bad based strictly on the performance of one star player, so it all can’t be laid at Thompson’s feet if things do go sideways for him and Buffalo’s team. 

But when you’re in the midst of this playoff drought, somebody has to step up and be the engine on a winning team. That’s the challenge ahead for Thompson, and the way he responds to it will go a long way toward determining how far the Sabres go.