Confirmed with Link: Tage Thompson resigned for 3 years, $1.4M AAV

[cybresabre]

somebody do a wellness check on sabremike. he should have been here by now.

Good point. He probably smashed his phone when he read the first three words "Tage Thompson resigned... "

 

[sabremike]

He is running circles around the arena buck naked!!!!

Me right now:

 

[Fezzy126]

Tage was a stud in Rochester last season, I don't know why people are so upset about this.

Do you remember if he played on the PK last year? I always assumed his reach could be quite disruptive, was just wondering if they gave him a shot down in Rochester.

 

[SundherDome]

That sets the market for Cornel, I'd expect 7 years at 7 million

 

[Der Jaeger]

Me right now:

please buy this and wear it at games when Tage scores. You’d be a hero

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

This deal is fine. at worst he is in Rochester and counts less then Cody Hodgson does on the cap..at best he becomes a 20-30 goal top 6 winger on a steal.

People have no problem offering Sam 7+ per aav. And I guarantee if they both play a full season that Sam does NOT score 5x as many points or goals then Tage will which is what 7 mil per is compared to 1.4 mil...5x.

 

[Matt Ress]

This deal is fine. at worst he is in Rochester and counts less then Cody Hodgson does on the cap..at best he becomes a 20-30 goal top 6 winger on a steal.

People have no problem offering Sam 7+ per aav. And I guarantee if they both play a full season that Sam does NOT score 5x as many points or goals then Tage will which is what 7 mil per is compared to 1.4 mil...5x.

Agree with the first paragraph.
But the fact that teams can only ice a certain amount of players at a time, gives higher scoring players compounding value.

 

[SackTastic]

This deal is fine. at worst he is in Rochester and counts less then Cody Hodgson does on the cap..at best he becomes a 20-30 goal top 6 winger on a steal.

People have no problem offering Sam 7+ per aav. And I guarantee if they both play a full season that Sam does NOT score 5x as many points or goals then Tage will which is what 7 mil per is compared to 1.4 mil...5x.

Hodgson hits them for $792k. If this deal is not 2-way, putting Tage in the minors still hits them for $1.125M.

EDIT : This info is wrong, read further in the thread.

 

[dang111]

Even if he ends up not contributing this is still not even like top 20 of terrible Sabres contracts we’ve had in the past several years. Low risk, can’t complain.

 

[Buffaloed]

Tage Thompson - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps
3yrs/$4.2M
$1.2, 1.4, 1.6
one-way

 

[Samsonite23]

Tage was a stud in Rochester last season, I don't know why people are so upset about this.

I’m not exactly “upset” about it. There’s not a whole lot of downside to the deal. But the guy has been a trash can of an NHL player in 107 games played. It’s not that small of a sample size...weird that they have so much faith in a guy that’s completely unproven at the NHL level.

AHL production doesn’t always translate to NHL production.

 

[Chainshot]

Eh, not a big deal. Hope he turns out to be a value player - really seemed to be rounding out before the recall/shoulder injury thing ended his year.

Do you remember if he played on the PK last year? I always assumed his reach could be quite disruptive, was just wondering if they gave him a shot down in Rochester.

He did from what I recall.

 

[Jim Bob]

Getting him signed to a cheap bridge deal works for me.

Sure, he might be overpaid in 20-21 versus what he would have gotten on a one year "prove it" deal. But, it is a good gamble for the Sabres because if Tage remains healthy and is a decent middle six RW, he will be on a value deal in years two and three of the contract.

 

[vcv]

Hodgson hits them for $792k. If this deal is not 2-way, putting Tage in the minors still hits them for $1.125M.

2-way has nothing to do with it anymore. Anything over ~$1M (don't know the exact number this year) counts against the cap.

 

[SackTastic]

2-way has nothing to do with it anymore. Anything over ~$1M (don't know the exact number this year) counts against the cap.

So I had it backwards anyways ; the cap hit on a buried contract for a 1 way deal is AAV - (league min salary + $375k).

I don't recall seeing anything in the MOU that modified the calculations for this. Perhaps I missed it. The original language in the 2012 CBA (50.5 (d) (B), (6) and (7) :

(6) For any Player on a One-Way NHL SPC who is Loaned to a club in another professional league, the Averaged Amount of such SPC less the sum of the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary and $375,000 for that League Year (e.g., $900,000 in 2012-13) for the period during which such Player is Loaned to such professional league; plus
(7) For any Player on a Two-Way NHL SPC who is Loaned to a club in another professional league, the total compensation (defined for the purpose of this provision only as the greater of (i) that Player's stated Paragraph 1 Minor League Salary and Bonuses (other than Exhibit 5 Bonuses unless earned)) in that League Year, and (ii) that Player's minimum compensation guarantee and Bonuses (other than Exhibit 5 Bonuses unless earned) in that League Year in excess of the sum of the Minimum Paragraph 1 NHL Salary and $375,000 for that League Year (e.g., $925,000 in 2013-14) for the period during which such Player is Loaned to a club in such professional league; plus

 

[vcv]

So I had it backwards anyways ; the cap hit on a buried contract for a 1 way deal is AAV - (league min salary + $375k).

I don't recall seeing anything in the MOU that modified the calculations for this. Perhaps I missed it. The original language in the 2012 CBA (50.5 (d) (B), (6) and (7) :

Fair... 2-way contract means they have separate NHL and AHL salaries, so it's kind of implied that being in the AHL doesn't count against the NHL cap.

But yeah, (6) says it's the AAV less (minus) the sum of league minimum ($750k for next season) and $375k (so $1.125M). So for Tage Thompson, if he is on a 1-way deal his cap hit would be $475k.

 

[SackTastic]

Fair... 2-way contract means they have separate NHL and AHL salaries, so it's kind of implied that being in the AHL doesn't count against the NHL cap.

But yeah, (6) says it's the AAV less (minus) the sum of league minimum ($750k for next season) and $375k (so $1.125M). So for Tage Thompson, if he is on a 1-way deal his cap hit would be $475k.

Yup. That's what. I got backwards, so LCN was correct in what he said.

 

[sabremike]

Members of the giraffe community wildly celebrate the news.

 

[Montag DP]

I have no issue with the contract. It's worth it just for the giraffe memes.

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Me right now:

It took you three pages to post a giraffe gif in a tage thompson thread?? You're splipping


In regards to the signing, i have no qualms with the price or the length. He hasn't proven himself so if he proves to suck or be injury prone, we can cut the cord after a few years without spending a fortune. I think he has value and i liked the one shift he had before that freak injury, last season. It would be nice if he panned out, was cheap, and we didn't lose everything for ROR.

 

[Jim Carr's Rug]

weird puck luck? Cmon he was just bad.

Oh, don't hear what I'm not saying.
I agree, he wasn't good. Poor skating, poor defense, very little compete, tried to stickhandle around everyone. Maddening at times.

All I'm saying is that from a pure goal totals perspective, he hit a bunch of posts and beat goalies only to have the puck dribble just wide.
I think if five of those had gone in, the perceived value of him might be different. After all, his shot and goal scoring is the one attribute he was most valued for.

Simply put, I think the hate has gone a little too far.

 

[brian_griffin]

Not sure I get this. Presumably they're gambling that he'll break out, and the deal will turn into a steal, but it feels like he'd need to break out in a pretty big way for that to be the case, and I just don't see any reason to assume that will happen. Even if he manages to establish himself as a legitimate NHLer next year, they'd probably still be able to sign him for roughly what he'd make in years 2 and 3 of this deal.

At first I thought Robert Thomas' stats are still listed with Thompson's contact info from Botterill's trade.

Perhaps the longer term and higher AAV than deserved by performance to date is somewhat of an "insurance payment" against future "cap hell" from Reinhart / Dahlin deals.

Possible he is trade bait? Specifically for Schmaltz. Jankowski and Armstrong both presumably like him a lot.

Maybe the higher AAV is to help Arizona hit the cap? Nice avatar, btw.

He has played in only 46% of the possible NHL games on his last deal. 10G/11A , 21 points for a solid 0.08 points per game, at an outstanding -34.

He clearly deserves a raise!

His QO was the 105% level, so $971k and change.

Still too much.

I fully expected a QO deal. Why not do a $1.1 AAV deal? 1, 1.1, 1.2 if it must be for 3 years? For making public statements as a cost-conscious team, this seems like a mixed message.

Adams didn't want to burned by nickling and diming him (aka Piluting). If he doesn't sign his QO he can sign with any team for $1,439,820 AAV and the Sabres either have to match or get no compensation.

Is it possible such an overt threat was made?

Re: the caption above, someone needs to tell Tage that while he was in Rochester, fans stopped coming to games in Buffalo.

OHHHH! You said bank on it. WELL THEN! I wasn't going to but since you said that!

He's not waiver-exempt. He'll be in Buffalo, whether he's injured or not, either in the lineup, or as a depth scratch.

I get the pessimism in this thread, but I actually think the term is genius. He tore it up right before his injury. I admit I am higher on Tage than I think most people are.

Small sample. Did it deserve 3 years and 25-30% over arguably fair value? Time will tell, and I hope the optimism is rewarded for us fans.

I’m not exactly “upset” about it. There’s not a whole lot of downside to the deal. But the guy has been a trash can of an NHL player in 107 games played. It’s not that small of a sample size...weird that they have so much faith in a guy that’s completely unproven at the NHL level.

AHL production doesn’t always translate to NHL production.

I hope this proves to be a genius deal. I'm wondering if there's thought he'll be in the top-6 with Staal or Eichel and they were worried his counting stats would pop too much this coming season. We can only hope.

 

[TehDoak]

So, I've had some time to think about this deal.

Let's consider Tage's contract and age. He is 22 coming off his ELC. He has 3 years served. Meaning he has FOUR years remaining until he is a UFA.

So, under the scenario where he simply signs his QO. He is lined up to get some premium TOI on the right side given our lack of depth and waiver eligibility. So, let's say, he has a good year next year, 20 goals, 40-45 points playing with Staal.

He is now looking at a what, 3.5M deal? (i'm using Johnsson from TOR a a comp here)

On the flip side, if he totally bombs, he's either

A) 13th forward and going on waivers (costs 400k-ish cap penalty a year for the rest of the contract)
B) Bought out out right (costs 1M over 4 years, or 250k a year)

So, mathematically, they are risking a maximum of 1.4M (400K extra paid up front, 1M in buyout if he bombs) to save 2M a season x 2 years (4M)

Basically, if you think he has a greater than 35% chance of being a 20+ goal scorer immediately, this is a good deal.

less than 35%, the savings you are potentially seeing dries up and the outlay (400k extra in year one and 1M buyout) over runs the potential savings.

There is some grey area where he simply performs at a bottom 6 RW and is worth 1.4M a year which makes the math a little fuzzy, so I'm just going to assume its boom or bust.

 

[SackTastic]

I don't hate Tage ; I hate the idea that a guy who shown no ability to produce in the NHL is magically going to pot 20.

 

[Tatanka]

I don’t think he will amount to much as a player, but what I really can’t stomach is another roster decision made before camp even starts. At that price and that it is a one way, they are penciling him already. Is that type of think a major source of our current problems? A make the squad deal and an extension later in-the year would have been a better message for the new gm to send. Jmho.