The term “taking the next step” is an open-ended proposition when it comes to player development. In a year where the Buffalo Sabres were (and to a degree, still are) expected to lose a lot of games, fans and pundits expressed their desire to see the team’s young assets take the “next step” in their development.

In the early going, the Sabres’ inexperienced core has been under the microscope as fans search for signs of promise moving forward. One player, in particular, has performed head-and-shoulders above his contemporaries (pun intended). Through the first 14 games, it appears that Tage Thompson has taken the most significant developmental leap, as he continues to prove himself as a competent option at the center position.

After seeing Thompson struggling in three NHL seasons playing on the wing, Don Granato’s decision to shift him to the middle came as a surprise to many. It’s not often that players who fall short on the wing excel down the middle. The opposite is more frequently the case.

Naturally, this move was met with some initial pessimism. Thompson’s hot start has gone a long way toward converting his doubters (myself included). Let’s dive into the numbers to examine what aspects of his game have improved the most. Specifically, how a move to center has helped accentuate his strengths (some existing, some new), and what the coaching staff has done to set him up for success (despite the lack of roster talent at their disposal).

Linemates and Deployment

Before we look at Thompson’s individual growth on tape, I wanted to establish how he’s being deployed. While his OZS rate of nearly 70% (which would be the highest rate of his career if it holds up) certainly jumps off the page, his chemistry alongside Rasmus Asplund is perhaps the most intriguing factor to consider.

Last season, we saw the impact Asplund had on Casey Mittelstadt when the two were deployed together under Granato. The concept of that line revolved around Asplund using his high-energy style of play and positional intelligence to help take some of the defensive responsibilities off Mittelstadt’s shoulders.

Seems pretty simple, right? Reinforce a center with defensive shortcomings by equipping him with a solid two-way winger to pick up the slack. That same concept appears to be working with Thompson as he adjusts to his new role. At the moment, Asplund and Thompson hold the highest xGF rates on the team at 57.28% and 57.07%, respectively.

Before his recent soft-tissue injury, Victor Olofsson was serving on the wing opposite Asplund. What fortified my positive opinion about the Asplund-Thompson duo was the fact that their metrics have been virtually unaffected in Olofsson’s absence.

That’s certainly not a knock on Olofsson, who has shown significant strides at five-on-five in his own right. Regardless, it was nice to see how Asplund and Thompson’s complimentary skillsets continued work despite losing the team’s top scorer from their line. It is important to note that Olofsson was replaced with another strong five-on-five player in Jeff Skinner. He too experienced an immediate boost in his underlying numbers when deployed on the Asplund-Thompson line.

I want to be careful not to insinuate that Thompson’s QoT is the most significant factor in the growth we’re seeing this season. While it is certainly part of it, the 24-year-old has made individual strides that are evident in his play.

Not only is he taking better advantage of his 6-foot-7, 205-pound frame, but his vision and positional awareness are improved. At the center position, he is better able to utilize his range and stickhandling ability in space.

Let’s apply some visual examples that help illustrate what I’m referring to.

Range and Space

The concept here is pretty simple, on paper. When you have a player with Thompson’s physical reach, deploying them at center allows them 360-degrees of space. As a winger, a lot of Thompson’s range was wasted playing along the boards. Simply put, he is flourishing in space (something he didn’t have on the wing).

The position change, combined with what appears to be improved balance and body positioning, has not only facilitated Thompson’s reach but maximized it. The following clip is an excellent example of how he leverages his body position.

After hustling on the forecheck to catch up to the defender (who had a decent head start), Thompson positions himself in deep for a clean retrieval on the end board. He slings the puck along the boards to an open Rasmus Dahlin at the point. What happens next is the type of play we seldom saw from Thompson last season.

Dahlin gets the puck back to Thompson. With Jake Muzzin on his left, and John Tavares blocking the cross-ice pass option, Thompson pivots, leveraging his range to keep the puck away from Muzzin. He maintains that leverage back down the boards and into the slot for a prime scoring opportunity.

I know I’m putting a heavy emphasis on space and reach here, but I don’t want to gloss over how much more competent and patient he’s been with the puck on his stick. It’s not always a highlight-reel play, but this rediscovered trait in his game has helped the Sabres extend opportunities in the offensive zone.

This next one would be easy to overlook, but it’s a great example of Thompson’s maturation as a player. After receiving a zone-entry pass from Asplund, Thompson finds himself with a swarm of Detroit Red Wings in front of him. Last season, he would have either tried to dangle his way through traffic (to no avail) or taken a low-percentage shot attempt from a great distance.

Instead, he uses the space behind him to regroup and find Skinner coming down the right boards unencumbered. This allows Skinner to get the puck in deep and prolong the sequence. Ultimately, this play didn’t result in much, but Thompson’s patience and ability to maneuver in open ice allowed the Sabres an opportunity to set up an offensive cycle.

This next play is representative of all the positive traits we’ve touched on so far. It’s a combination of patience, hustle, body positioning, vision, and of course, shooting ability.

Thompson finds himself with possession of the puck deep in the defensive zone. Instead of hurling an uncontrolled exit up the boards, he waits for a split second. That sliver of time allows Rasmus Asplund to subtly adjust his position along the boards. It also causes Brandon Tanev (Seattle Kraken forechecker) to cheat inward a bit, opening Thompson’s passing lane to Asplund ever so slightly.

Wasting no time to admire his pass, Thompson joins the counter rush in space. Asplund finds him for a controlled carry-out. Thompson then turns on the jets and pushes forward through the neutral zone where he meets Nathan Bastian. Thompson easily makes his way around Bastian using his range, which he maintains through his entry into the offensive zone.

Upon entry, he notices that the Seattle defenseman has allotted him enough space to rip an uncontested wrist shot, which was an absolute missile, beating Philipp Grubauer on his glove side.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, none of the plays above could have happened with Thompson plastered to the boards. His positioning as a center helped facilitate everything you’ve seen here.

Vision and Decision

We touched on this a bit in the last section, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t provide more examples of how well Thompson is seeing the ice so far this season. This strength has been most frequently on display in high-danger areas.

This next sequence might be the most intelligent and calculated rush play I saw Thompson make in watching his shifts from the past few games. Skinner receives a stretch-pass from Jacob Bryson to facilitate a controlled zone-entry. Skinner maneuvers to the center of the ice to evade the Red Wings defenders. Thompson recognizes this and makes his way to the left-wing.

What happens next is outstanding. Skinner dishes the puck to an open Thompson at the top of the left circle. He has two decisions here – either take a relatively uncontested shot from distance or force a pass into the slot, right? Wrong.

Instead, Thompson does some fancy stick work to shift the puck through his legs and over to his left side (i.e. backhand side). Not only does this allow him time and space to get around Jordan Oesterle, but it also allows his linemates to create more condensed traffic in the slot.

Though it didn’t result in a shot on goal, his decision to wait for a better opening for a high-danger pass increased the probability of a goal in that sequence.

Now it’s time for my favorite clip from this exercise. At first glance, this play is a highlight-reel pass to an open man in front of the net. That alone would be impressive, but it’s so much more than that when you dissect it from start to finish.

From the broadcast angle, it’s tough to see what Thompson does leading up to the goal. On the reverse-angle from the initial replay, it becomes more clear. Following an aggressive retrieval attempt by Asplund, the puck jumps out to an open Thompson, who makes the quick decision to find Skinner for an easy put-away.

But how did Thompson find himself in such an opportune position to collect the puck in the first place? On the reverse angle, you see Michael Bunting start to glide back along the boards in anticipation of receiving a transition pass from his defenseman. Thompson closes off the angle and intercepts the puck (a pass that may have had a better chance to reach Bunting had Asplund not been laying in front of the Maple Leafs’ defender).

This positioning and awareness by Thompson are outstanding because he recognizes the open passing lane for a Toronto zone exit, and puts himself squarely in the way. Given how quickly he decided to send the puck over to Skinner after gaining possession, it’s apparent that he saw Skinner driving to that side as he was positioning himself in the Leafs’ passing lane.

This type of 180-degree vision is not something we’re accustomed to seeing from Thompson, and it shouldn’t go unnoticed. For a player that often looked panicky and clumsy with the puck on his stick last season, this type of maturity and patience is a breath of fresh air.

Physicality!… Well, Sort Of

As a player with such a daunting frame, Thompson is often ridiculed for “playing small” at times. That observation isn’t unreasonable, but on top of all the other things we’ve mentioned so far, we’ve seen some modest improvements in that area as well.

While it hasn’t resulted in any bone-crushing body checks that get the crowd roaring, Thompson is starting to look like a 6-foot-7 skater should. One such example came against the Washington Capitals where Thompson leveraged either his body positioning, reach, or both to win three separate contested pucks (in the same sequence) against an infamous power forward in Tom Wilson.

The first possession interruption by Thompson comes as Wilson tries to start the offensive counter-rush through the neutral zone. Thompson positions his backside in a way that interrupts Wilson’s effort and flips possession in open-ice. This results in a controlled entry opportunity for Asplund.

Moments later, Thompson drifts across the ice to intercept Wilson’s zone-exit attempt along the right boards. Then he gets the best of Wilson yet again, boxing him out along the left point to get the puck to an open Skinner.

Skinner then fires a point shot wide of the net. The puck hits the end board and bounces awkwardly past Thompson. Wilson delivers a punishing hit from behind (which definitely should have been a penalty), leaving Thompson flattened on his stomach. Usually, that would have resulted in an easy zone exit for the Capitals, but Thompson wasn’t finished yet.

From his knees, he reaches his stick out and fishes the puck away from Wilson for the third time. He then wins the battle along the boards and sends the puck in deep to Asplund for one last scoring attempt.

In scouring the video, this type of effort wasn’t an “exception” from Thompson. He’s generally playing with a lot more physical confidence and overall competitiveness. Whether it’s a residual effect of the other aspects of his game “clicking” or something else entirely is unknown. Either way, it’s another reason (among the many others) why he’s turned a lot of heads in the early going.

Closing Thoughts

If you would have told me this summer that Tage Thompson would have a legitimate claim as the Sabres’ most valuable player over the first quarter of the 2021-22 season, I probably would have rolled my eyes. Credit to Granato and his staff for recognizing what was required to optimize him as an asset, because it’s been a critical piece to the puzzle so far.

As previously mentioned, Thompson is crushing his on-ice expected goal share, and his individual Corsi-for of 86 shot-attempts on the year is far and away the highest mark on the Sabres’ roster (Skinner ranks second with 72, for comparison sake). Pair that with an individual shooting percentage of 12.82, and it’s clear how he’s on pace to produce 53 points this season (which would be a career-high).

There are still kinks in his game, primarily on defensively (an area that has improved but still needs work), but if his current performance holds up throughout the 2021-22 season, the Sabres center spine looks a whole lot more formidable moving forward.

If the Sabres can continue to place him with a defensively competent asset on the wing, there is no reason why he couldn’t project as a solid middle-six option at pivot as the “new core” begins to take shape in Buffalo. We’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit there, but what we’ve seen from him early on has certainly inspired excitement.

Charts courtesy of Hockeyviz and Evolving Hockey

Advanced Stats courtesy of Evolving Hockey and Natural Stat Trick

Photo Credit: Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images