Tage Thompson signs massive extension with Buffalo and William Nylander is trending

Thompson was originally picked #26 overall by the St Louis Blues in 2016, but was traded to Buffalo in the Ryan O'Rielly trade. What does William Nylander have to do with this? Nothing, except for the fact that his AAV is close to Thompson's.

For clarity, Nylander has scored 137 goals and 343 points in 439 games. Thompson has scored 56 goals and recorded 103 points in 223 NHL games. Outside of the cap hit, the two have nothing in common, but a player signed a contract and because even when it has nothing to do with the Leafs, everything is about the Leafs. Now can we talk about Thompson and his new deal?

At 6'7 218 lbs, Thompson's size is a huge asset to his game. Scoring wasn't at all until the 2021-22 season. Thompson went from a career high of 8 goals and 14 points in 38 games in 2020-21 to 38 goals and 68 points in 78 games in 2021-22. The Sabres are betting heavily on last season being the new norm for Thompson as opposed to the anomaly it very well could be.

For the Sabres, its a win just to have someone sign with the team long term. After the departure of Jack Eichel, the Sabres needed to show the NHL that they weren't a last resort team like Arizona. This could very well be another Jeff Skinner deal, but even with the risk involved, its easy to see why the Sabres were willing to agree to such a lucrative deal. The Sabres core will now feature Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Thompson, not a bad top 5 to build around. Give it a couple seasons for 2022 first rounders Matthew Savoie, Noah Ostlund and Jiri Kulich to break into the lineup and the Sabres should have a competitive team on their hands, maybe even enough to end their 11 year playoff drought. Time will tell, but the Sabres don't seem like they'll be the joke they've been for the past decade over the course of the next one.