For the Buffalo Sabres, the 2025-26 season marked a steep progress as they ended their long playoff drought, but their early results put those hopes in doubt. Buffalo struggled through October and November, leaving the organization facing pressure after a difficult start. The team then changed its general manager, adding another twist to an already uncertain season.
Tage Thompson has now offered insight into what happened inside the locker room as the Sabres changed the course of their season.
Tage Thompson Credits Locker Room Accountability for Sabres’ Turnaround
Thompson rejected the idea that Buffalo’s turnaround was mainly connected to the change in the front office. The Sabres dismissed Kevyn Adams in mid-December and hired Jarmo Kekäläinen, but Thompson believes the players themselves carried the responsibility for fixing the season.
“I think we were in such a dark hole where anytime your coach or your GMs are on the chopping block, the guys in the room have a sense of responsibility,” Thompson said. “We’re ultimately the ones that are putting them in that position.”
The forward said the situation created urgency among the players rather than requiring management to motivate them. “So there is a sense in that room that it was urgent, it had to be fixed,” Thompson said.
His comments offer a different view of Buffalo’s dramatic improvement. The Sabres became one of the NHL’s strongest teams from December onward and eventually ended their 14-year playoff drought. Thompson believes that progress came from the players recognizing their role in the team’s struggles.
“It’s unfortunate that Kevyn Adams had to leave, but I don’t think it had anything to do with the run,” Thompson said.
The results backed up the change on the ice. Thompson finished the regular season with 40 goals, 41 assists, and 81 points in 81 games, then added five goals and ten assists in 13 playoff games. Buffalo also won its first postseason series since 2007 before losing to Montreal in Game 7 of the second round.
Thompson remained central to that progress after developing into one of Buffalo’s leading scorers. The 28-year-old center reached 40 goals for the third time in his career and continues to serve as an alternate captain.
His contract also keeps him tied to Buffalo through the 2029-30 season, giving the Sabres a proven offensive centerpiece as they build around their recent playoff breakthrough.
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For Thompson, however, the biggest change was not made in the front office. It came from a locker room that recognized the consequences of its poor start and responded before the season slipped away.
