The Buffalo Sabres have not qualified for the playoffs the last 14 seasons. After a 6-8-4 start to the 2025-26 campaign, the Sabres sit last in the Eastern Conference, and the confidence is low that they’ll break their woeful streak.

Given another rough stretch for an already embattled franchise, trade vultures have already begun circling major parts of the Sabres roster, namely superstar center Tage Thompson. Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman has discussed Thompson’s potential availability multiple times over the past few days, first broaching the topic on Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s Hockey Show.

“There’s some noise about Tage Thompson this week,” Friedman said Friday. “I don’t get any sense at all that the Sabres are interested in doing that. As we sit here today, the answer is no. Now, I recognize that the way it’s going out there, these things can change. I think if he’d asked for a trade, it would probably get out there.”

Thompson leads the Sabres in scoring with 16 points (8g, 8a) in 18 games. The 28-year-old centerman has led Buffalo in scoring three of the past four years, with an especially impressive 94-point (47g, 47a) 2022-23 campaign.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward is in the third year of a seven-year, $49,999,999 contract ($7.14M AAV) he signed with the Sabres during the 2022 offseason. Thompson has yet to play in a single playoff game during his now nine-season NHL career, raising questions about whether he’ll request a move out of Buffalo if the Sabres continue down the path they seem to be on again.

“I think everybody there is frustrated,” Friedman said. “I think the fans are frustrated for very good reason – you can’t blame them. But I have no evidence, at this point in time, that’s something that Kevyn Adams (Sabres general manager) even wants to do if he could. I don’t think he wants to do it.”

Thompson will be an attractive trade target for many teams seeking to boost their scoring, including the Washington Capitals. Over the summer, the Capitals were thought to be in the market for another top-six forward and notably failed to secure Nikolaj Ehlers’ signature in free agency as he spurned them for the Carolina Hurricanes.

Despite impressive analytics, the Capitals have struggled to score this season and will see center Pierre-Luc Dubois miss a large swatch of the season after undergoing major surgery earlier this month. The Caps also have Thompson’s father, Brent Thompson, in their organization, hired by the Hershey Bears to serve as an assistant coach.

“There’s been a lot of talk about Tage Thompson,” Friedman added on Monday’s episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast. “I look at it this way, the Buffalo Sabres do not want to trade Tage Thompson. Now, if at some point, Tage Thompson wants to force the issue, it’s different. But the bottom line is they don’t want to do this.”

Thompson has a modified no-trade clause in his contract, which allows him to compile a five-team no-trade list. Per PuckPedia, the Capitals are projected to have $15.2 million in trade deadline cap space come March.