Tage Thompson Joins Players Only On NHL Network | Buffalo Sabres

Tage Thompson Joins Players Only On NHL Network | Buffalo Sabres

week, we got a special one here today. Tage Thompson of the Buffalo Sabres, fresh off that ninegoal victory. Uh, Tage, before we get started, there was a fun little kind of Sabres blogger that tweeted something kind of funny about goals being scored for him drinking beers. Right here we see it up three, one after one. Crossing beer savers getting one beer saber per Sabres goal tonight. You guys got nine. question. Have you checked in on him and is he alive? I don’t know if anyone’s checked in on him. Um, but I’m not even sure how much uh Yeah, I’m not sure how much like alcohol or like that thing holds. Like looks pretty big. So, nine of nine of those would be be in one for sure. If there’s any if there’s any fan base that can handle it, it’s definitely Buffalo. That is true. We’ll we’ll talk about the fan base a bit and you know listen there’s no hiding it. It’s been up and down rocky, but like that fan base is there’s not enough you can say good things about them in terms of just having your backs and being with you through every step of the way of this process. Yeah, I mean I’ve been here for a while so I’ve seen kind of both ends of it. Um you know I’ve been here when we’ve been on a 10ame win streak and I’ve been here when we’ve been on a 18game lose streak. So so I’ve seen both sides of it. Um, obviously the uh the winning streak is way better. Um, probably one of the most electric buildings I’ve ever been in. Um, they’re just in insanely loud. You know, I’ve been to uh some Bills games, seen the Bills Mafia. So, um, I know the potential and where it can get to. Um, and I I think that that’s kind of something that excites everybody um, you know, in our locker room is um, you know, when we start winning games, how uh, you know, how passionate this fan base can get and how much they can rally behind you. Ta, listen, you were pretty direct in your comments, which I respect, and we mentioned it yesterday during your broadcast with EJ Ratic and I here on the NHL network. You guys, after those comments, you guys came out and you put up a big spot on Chicago. Then yesterday, you played a very controlled game. like that was a mature, controlled win for you guys. Yesterday’s game specifically. Is that the type of game that you guys want to replicate as you continue progressing uh with your group this year? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think um we’ve seen it this season where we’ve had spurts of unbelievable games and then we’ve had some games where you just you see what what are we doing out there? Um but I I think it it just goes back to just that even keel mindset. I think, you know, win or loss, I think we have a tendency to to get up on ourselves a little bit too much if we win. And um same thing when we lose. So, we’re we’re just trying to stay grounded in the principles and the process that that get us the results and try not to stray. Um obviously, you know, games are going to go sideways even when you’re playing uh the way you should. Um and I think you you can’t let that frustrate you. Um, and then on the flip side of things, when you’re winning, um, you get a little hot and you start to feel a little buzz in the high in the locker room. Um, not forgetting what got you those wins. How much have you learned on the leadership side of things with that of like when to be vocal and kind of when to push those buttons? Um, yeah. I mean, I think I’m still learning, but I think for me, I’m someone who’s pretty uh pretty laid-back. I like to have fun in the locker room. I like to keep it light. Um, but obviously there’s a time when when you need to dial it in, be serious. Um, so I think it’s just kind of walking that line, trying to know when guys need to dial it in, when the locker room needs to be a little more um, you know, tight, I guess. And um, with that, still being like loose and not gripping your stick a little too tight. So, still things I’m learning, but um, you know, Dolls has been an unbelievable captain. Um, just trying to help him out in any way I can. And at the end of the day, just lead by example. I think uh your play on the ice dictates it all. Um you know, talk’s cheap. You can come in the locker room in between periods and say anything you want, but if you’re not on the ice backing it up, then it doesn’t really hold any weight. So, I think just trying to, you know, be a guy that guys can lead or that can follow um you know, by just doing things um on the ice, whether it’s in practice or or games, is really all I can control. T I said a couple years ago on the air that you you have some Kevin Durant in you, the slim reaper in terms of your game and your size and your range, your ability to score different ways. Back to the net, back to the basket, bullying your way to the inside, shooting the long shots like the threes. Okay. Your dad had a big impact in your development and he played pro, of course, uh, and he coaches, but tell us about your process through your dad’s big man camp and how you were able to take your game to this level. Um, yeah. I mean, I think my dad obviously played for a long time and um coaches now. Um, and I think I I’ve got a a a definite edge over most people in that aspect growing up with someone like him who’s played the game. He’s been through it. He’s had his own challenges and adversity that he’s uh worked his way through and he’s been able to instill that on me and my brother um to kind of just help us for when that time comes. Um, and I’ve obviously faced a lot of adversity in my my career, especially early on, whether it’s injuries or being in and out of the lineup, trades, whatever it may be. Um, and he’s just helped me navigate through that. Um, which I think has been big because I think something in hockey that doesn’t um, maybe get the attention or um, the understanding that it deserves is the mental side of the game. Um, obviously everyone is physically in shape and um, good athletes, but I think um, the ability to to combat adversity and try to work your way through things when they’re not going ideal for you um, is something that um, I think gets overlooked and something that, you know, builds character and makes you uh, not only a better player, but a better teammate. So, I think that’s the biggest thing um, for me. And then obviously he’s got the X’s and O’s and all that stuff. They’ll send me clips and videos um you know throughout the season if I ask for it. Um but from a you know an offensive standpoint, it kind of just lets me run free. It’s more the defensive side of the game, which is obviously something I’m trying to get better at. Well, you also overcame adversity with, you know, you’d never hear this. You grew to 66. It was a growth spurt. Your mom was quoted saying you were Bambi on ice, but you know, you had to kind of learn and relearn how to recoordinate yourself. How was that process? And you know, for kids that are coming up and having these growth spurts, was there any tricks that maybe your dad helped you with to just kind of get more acclimated to that size growth? Yeah, I think skating was the biggest thing. Um, it’s it was super um challenging, honestly. You feel good in your body, you feel comfortable, you start to uh figure out things that work for you, and then you grow another four inches, and then it’s just like everything feels weird again. You just can’t can’t feel the stick, right? You feel like you’re tripping over yourself all the time. You feel four inches. That’s crazy. Yeah. I went into the the national program at six uh 6 foot 165 and I left there at the end of the year 64 185. So I gained I think I I gained like 25 pounds and grew 4 inches over the course of the season. So not even a full year. And then that following year at Yukon I grew another inch and a half. Um put on another like 15 pounds. So, like there was a course of two to three years where I was like just trying to relearn hockey basically. Um, and I think for me the biggest thing was skating. If you can’t skate in this league, you you’re going to get weeded out pretty quick. Uh, the game so fast and and then obviously being able to make plays at that speed is is the next thing. So, I think um you know, your hands and your skills got to match the the ability of your skating. So, those are things that I worked on. Um, but I will say I think once, you know, I kind of developed into my body and put on some muscle mass and got used to my body and my size, um, I think a lot of the natural skills that I had been working on from, you know, a young age had kind of stuck with me, which was was nice, but obviously put put work into to achieve that as well. So, what other things are you into in terms of sports or any other interests when you’re not at the rink or maybe even sports that you grew up playing outside of hockey? Yeah, I played baseball um until my sophomore year of high school. Um those were my two sports was hockey and baseball. Um I was actually my dad was rattled when I quit baseball. I was a better baseball player, but um just love the intent. I just love the intensity of hockey. I think it’s unmatched in really any sport. Um and I I just it’s I knew it was a sport from a young age that I wanted to play. Um but then in the summers I love golf. Um I think most guys do, but it’s uh something I’m pretty addicted to and um just trying to get better every summer. Yeah. Well, I’m still waiting for an invite to your course. We’re both in Arizona and we’re both around at the same time. So, I’ll keep my phone on for you, but open right there. That’s Michigan open, bro. Hey, it’s always open. There’s no way you want to make the drive out there, though. you and all those guys in Scottdale too stubborn to make the trek out to the blue to the blue collar area. I’m a little smaller. Stay away. Uh talk about Arizona though. Like you born there. You moved around a ton. I think you moved like 20 to 30 times. Like how was that growing up and constantly being on the move? Yeah. I mean it was second nature to our family. I mean I don’t really know anything different. Um I love it honestly. you get to uh see new places, meet new people, and the hockey world is so small, you end up running into um the same people down the road anyways. So, it’s cool to to have that familiarity when you do um you know, get into the pro hockey lifestyle where you you have to pick up and move at at will. Um but Arizona is awesome. I think that’s kind of where we’ve uh set up shop as home base. My my mom and my dad are out there. Uh my brother’s got a place out there. Um the training has been great out there, too. Uh, as far as workouts and skates, there’s a good group of guys. Um, Matthews, Keller, N. Um, you know, there’s been a bunch of guys I think that used to be de JD out there running the skates. Used to be demurs. They got way they got way better once you uh Well, you guys, you guys had a little space because I was just pokechecking the fellas and they just good. I mean, you know, like it’s great skates out there. It’s a great spot. It’s a great spot and obviously it’s not ideal with the weather being 110 every day, but I don’t mind it. You know what you’re getting every day. It’s going to be sunny and um it’s makes it easy to plan for golf, too. So, how’s life changed from that big trade? Of course, you’re the key piece in the Ryan O’Reilly trade and you flourished in Buffalo. You’ve exceeded all expectations. You’ve been great. How’s life changed from then till now for you and the family? Oh, I mean, I think from from that point till now has been pretty pretty drastic of a change. Obviously, when I was in St. Louis, I was just trying to find my footing being a young guy. Um, still kind of trying to figure out my body and find my role. Um, and in that organization, um, you know, I think I played 40 games there maybe, uh, and got traded after that first season. Um, and I think when you go through the trade like that, it’s it’s um, a lot of emotions. you don’t really know what to think to be honest. And um I think you know I had a lot of good friends there um that I met and you’re excited because you know you’re a piece of a new opportunity in Buffalo. So there’s just a bunch of different emotions going on. Um but ultimately I think I was more excited than anything just to an opportunity to establish myself as a bonafide NHL player and just try to work through that. Um but then I think once you know you see the uh the way that the trade turns out then you start hearing rumblings after you know you haven’t gotten off to the start you would have liked to um it can be tough to block out a lot of that noise but um that’s kind of where I had the a good group of people around me as far as my dad and um you know some other people in the hockey world that could help me walk through that that uh adversity. Tage, you know, family is obviously important for support and it is, you know, hockey fights cancer month and I just want to talk a little bit about your experience with that and and your wife and and how has that experience kind of shaped your perspective on the whole month and the the awareness being drawn to it? Yeah, it’s been um it’s been crazy. I think you know growing up um everyone’s got a little bit of attention um even if they’re not impacted directly by hockey fights cancer, they know of it. you do it um you know the month of November and um I think obviously once my wife Rachel was diagnosed you know our life changed completely. I think you’re never expecting anyone that you know um that’s close to you to to get that phone call and um I remember when we got the phone call I was in Columbus and it was like I thought someone was playing a prank on me. It was just like you couldn’t believe the words that are coming on out of the other end of the phone. So, I think it gives you um a way greater appreciation of what we get to do. Uh going to the rink every day, being able to call this our profession. Um you know, and I think what what’s so special about hockey fights cancer is, you know, our team in particular does a lot of work with Roswell. Um and being able to go there and see the kids and the people that are, you know, battling cancer. Um, I think it just, you know, takes you away from the game for a bit and gives you a perspective on life that we’re so grateful um so blessed to be able to to do what we do and there’s so much uh so many people that have it so much worse than us. Uh you know, even when you have a bad day at the rink or whatever you thought may be a bad day. Awesome. I Well, well said. Powerful stuff. Yeah. Well said. Uh Tae, I wanted to we we played this little game at the end of the show or the interview called What were you thinking? and we’re just gonna kind of show some still shots or some videos and you’re gonna kind of try to guess what were you thinking in this moment and what was kind of the situation going on. Do you remember this? It’s the first the first National League goal. That’s uh the best one of the best feelings there is. Uh I think I got called up maybe like two games prior to this and um yeah. Well, who stuck you with that number? So, I actually got the option. I got uh 32, 39, or 37. And I came in one morning skate and I said, “I’ll take 39 or 37.” Came in the next day and it was 32. No. Classic NHL. I’ll take that guy Richie Matthews. I hope that wasn’t Richie Matthews like that. I mean, that’s that looks a carbon copy of the goals you’ve been scoring. Just just a nice missile. Uh here’s the next one here. You remember this? Yeah, that’s uh that’s in Columbus, the the five goal. I don’t know which goal that was, but I think that was the night I had five. Um yeah, that was that was pretty outrageous that that night didn’t really feel real to be honest. It was just like everything was going in. How does it feel when you’re on the bench with that? You’re just like, I’m the greatest goal scorer alive. Well, I think we were like all talking on the bench like it didn’t feel it felt like we were playing like a summer game. like like we had like five power plays I think to start the game. It was just like special teams like we were just pra it felt like a practice. We were just practicing our power play and uh we were hot that day. So I was on the uh the winning side of it so it felt good. You got to replicate that pregame whatever you did pregame and everything. You got to just replicate that. But you’re scoring at a high rate anyway. So I mean that pregame you don’t want to replicate. I think I I don’t know if I should be saying I took CCM skates straight out of the box. I think I was on a cold streak before then. No, really. Fresh boots. Straight out of the box. Take them right for morning skate. And then I think before the game, I was just eating a box of popcorn in my stall. So amazing. That’s awesome. Oh, that’s great. Trust me, that doesn’t work. Tried it again. It doesn’t work. Hasn’t worked. And listen, for the fiber, the fiber is already on record. Doesn’t matter. Yeah, doesn’t matter. But this certainly worked. Last spring, you guys were able to do something that hasn’t been done in over 80 years for USA, bring home the gold of the World Championships. And I always talk about how much the game has grown here coast to coast. You guys certainly uh were the epitome of that. You got to GWG. Tell us about that experience at the Worlds last spring for you and the group. Yeah, that was awesome. I mean, um that was the best way you could have I mean, one of the best ways you could have capped off the season the way it went for for me personally. um you know, not being in playoffs and you’re just so sick of losing and you want to go and play for something bigger than yourself. And um I think for us when we got there it was you know I’ve been in a couple of those before and um a lot of times it can just be a cool opportunity to go experience Europe and you know get to play a few extra games and it’s more of a uh you know a party and um which is awesome too but I think we really wanted to to do something special and make this experience meaningful. Um, so we had a great group of guys over there that um were really invested in trying to win this thing and um obviously were fortunate to get the job done which which felt amazing. That’s a great audition for the Olympics cuz you won gold at juniors, you won gold at world championships. Like you’re you’re I mean does is it in the back of your mind at all? I’m sure that’s a, you know, that’s an answer you’ve a question you’ve answered a million times already, but like is it something that you’re really driving towards and want a piece of that because just what an amazing accomplishment it would be to just be a part of the Olympics. Oh yeah, for sure. Um, you know, that’s a huge goal of mine. Um, I think obviously at Four Nations was a big goal of mine. Anytime you get to to represent your country and play for something like that is um is the best feeling. like playing for something like that is I think everything uh that you you dream of is winning a Stanley Cup, uh playing in the Olympics, those are those are like the pinnacles that you can reach, right? So, um no, playing in the Olympics is something I’ve I’ve thought of as a lot um thought of a lot as a kid. Um and now that’s kind of within my grasp. It’s uh definitely something that’s in the back of my mind. That’s great stuff right there, man. You join me, buddy. That’s huge. Olympics, baby. Come on now. Yeah. Uh, last one here. Oh, yeah. What is this? You like that? Randall. I love that color. Are you random colors? I love that color. Yeah. Yeah. We got uh That’s my oldest boy, Brooks there. He’s uh he’s Sully. He was He’s the one that picked the whole family outfit. We were on Monsters Inc. It Yeah, we were on a big Monsters Big Monsters Inc. kick recently. Um Yep. So, it’s the whole crew there. Um, didn’t you meet your wife at a Halloween party? We Well, yeah. My birthday is October 30th. So, day before Halloween, so every every year, um, you know, usually celebrate my birthday right on Halloween or right before. And, uh, we were at school together at Yukon. So, um, yeah, I met her there. I was, uh, Reno 911. I was a cop, which I I believe you’ve done that outfit, too. I did. I was Lieutenant Jim Dangle last year. Yeah, I was. Yeah. So, you did that back in the day? That’s sick. So, you can imagine walking around campus, it’s you’re going to get a lot of attention, right? You’re and yeah, you’re a magnet. You just happen to be a magnet that day. Well, and as tall as you are, that’s Yeah, you’re exposed. So, yeah. So, that’s what attracted her that night. So, um yeah, well, buddy, thank you for your time, man. And I’m taking you up on the golf here uh this summer, but later in the summer because you’ll be playoff bound. So, thanks for having Tage Thompson and for a great interview. Yeah, thanks.

Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson joined “Players Only” on NHL Network on November 24, 2025. He talked about winning the gold medal with Team USA at IIHF Worlds, the Buffalo Sabres’ beer sabres, his six-game goal streak, his dad, and more.

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