{"id":469448,"date":"2026-02-24T11:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469448\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T11:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T11:10:15","slug":"sabres-lindy-ruff-gauging-tage-thompsons-availability-on-usa-gold-medal-celebrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469448\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabres\u2019 Lindy Ruff gauging Tage Thompson\u2019s availability on USA gold medal celebrations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sabres\u2019 Lindy Ruff gauging Tage Thompson\u2019s availability on USA gold medal celebrations<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buffalo Sabres<\/a> head coach Lindy Ruff isn\u2019t exactly sure when Tage Thompson will return after helping Team USA win gold at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics<\/a>. Team USA edged out Team Canada 2-1 in overtime in a tightly contested game.<\/p>\n

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With the gold medal victory, Team USA snapped a 46-year title drought. The previous American team to reach the top of the podium was the famed 1980 \u201cMiracle on Ice\u201d squad.<\/p>\n

Ruff is not rushing Thompson back into the lineup after his gold medal run with Team USA, and he admits the celebrations could delay his return.<\/p>\n

The Buffalo head coach spoke to reporters<\/a> on Monday and joked that he was not sure any of the American players would be ready to play this week after all the celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if any of the U.S. guys will be able to play this week,\u201d Ruff said in a lighthearted tone following Monday\u2019s practice. \u201cObviously, we\u2019ll see. He was supposed to get back into the country last night, so we\u2019ll find out when he\u2019s hopefully available to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the game, United States President Donald Trump phoned the locker room to invite the players<\/a> to Tuesday night\u2019s State of the Union address. He also told them they were welcome to remain in Washington for a White House visit on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, the victory carried extra weight for Thompson. After being left off the 4 Nations Face-Off roster a year ago, he earned his place on Team USA\u2019s Olympic squad and finished with three goals and an assist in six games at the Milano Cortina Games.<\/p>\n

With the Olympic break now over, Ruff knows just how important Thompson is to the Sabres as they try to end a 14-season playoff drought. Thompson has been one of the team\u2019s most productive players this season.<\/p>\n

Through 57 games, the 28-year-old has 30 goals and 29 assists. After the break, his season total stands at 59 points.<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Sabres are 32-19-6 and sit fourth in the Atlantic Division behind the Detroit Red Wings. They currently hold the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference<\/a> and will return to action against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

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Related: Sabres\u2019 Alex Tuch shrugs off trade noise before deadline<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Sabres rumors: Alex Tuch, Buffalo not on same page in contract negotiations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sabres\u2019 Lindy Ruff gauging Tage Thompson\u2019s availability on USA gold medal celebrations appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5100],"tags":[1107,229,5133,93,4571,5,6422,53572,151,4,1108,1712,3037,3255],"class_list":{"0":"post-469448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-sabres","8":"tag-buffalo","9":"tag-buffalo-sabres","10":"tag-buffalosabres","11":"tag-detroit-red-wings","12":"tag-gold-medal","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-lindy-ruff","15":"tag-milano-cortina-winter-olympics","16":"tag-new-jersey-devils","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-sabres","19":"tag-tage-thompson","20":"tag-team-canada","21":"tag-team-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116125304355855901","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}