It has been a strange season for the Buffalo Sabres indeed. The franchise made a general managerial change midway through the season as they brought in Jarmo Kekalainen, and dropped Kevyn Adams, who was becoming very unpopular with the Sabres fan base. At the time Adams was fired, the Sabres were actually playing very good hockey as they were winners of three straight games.
With Kekalainen in charge, the Sabres are on a hot streak, as they have been winners of 15 of 17 games. They have surged to a record of 26 wins, 16 regulation losses and four losses in extra time. All of a sudden, the Sabres find themselves in a very unusual position indeed. They are actually in fourth place in the Atlantic Division. With 56 points, they are two points up on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals for a playoff spot.
Earlier in the season, there was a lot of talk about Sabres trading their star player, Tage Thompson of Phoenix, Arizona. There was a feeling that if the Sabres were going to pursue with a significant rebuild, there was a possibility that they would receive multiple prospects and draft picks in return to build a foundation for the future. However, there was another argument that Thompson needed to be “a foundational piece” for the present, as Adam Proteau stated in The Hockey News in his piece, “Is Trading Star Winger Thompson The Right Thing To Do For Sabres?”
On Thursday was a prime example why the Sabres need Thompson. He recorded his ninth career NHL hat trick and had a five point game in a 5-3 Sabres win over the Montreal Canadiens. Thompson was the clearly the best player on the ice as he was involved in all five Sabres goals.
This was the third time in Thompson’s career he had five points or more. He accomplished the feat in an 8-3 Sabres win over the Detroit Red Wings on Halloween, 2022 (three goals and three assists for six points), and had five goals and one assist for six points in a 9-4 Sabres win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on December 7, 2022.
In 2025-26, Thompson has 25 goals and 24 assists for 49 points in 46 games. He is a -9 with 23 penalty minutes, 14 power-play points, two game-winning goals, 159 shots on goal, 228 faceoff wins, 28 blocked shots, 47 hits, 17 takeaways and 41 giveaways.
