Vancouver Canucks Reportedly Among Top Teams Pushing for Sabres Two-Time 40-Goal Scorer

The next few weeks could get pretty interesting around the National Hockey League as trade talks will start to pick up, especially as we approach American Thanksgiving, which is an important date on the calendar for teams hoping to make it into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with nearly 80% of teams in a postseason spot on that day every year going on to make the big dance.

For the Vancouver Canucks to have any chance of making it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the spring, a lot needs to go right as they need some of their big starts to step up, players to return to full healthy relatively quickly and possibly, some external help as well.

General Manager Patrik Allvin has been scouring the trade market in recent weeks to see if anyone is available that could help his group and it appears that the Canucks are among the teams that have spoken with the Buffalo Sabres about arguably their best forward.

In a recent article for RG.org, Marco D'Amico reported that the Montreal Canadiens and Vancouver Canucks are among teams to express interest in Buffalo Sabres forward Tage Thompson, who has four years remaining on his contract beyond the 2025-26 campaign with a cap hit slightly north of $7 million USD.

However, while the Canucks and other teams might be interested in acquiring the star forward, a source told D'Amico that the Buffalo Sabres have said Tage Thompson is not available for trade right now.

Thompson, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, is in his eighth season as a member of the Buffalo Sabres after the club acquired him in the Ryan O'Reilly trade in the summer of 2018.

The 28-year-old centerman has become one of the best centermen over the last four and a bit seasons, with 164 goals, good for 12th in the National Hockey League during that time frame and undoubtedly would be a great fit for the Vancouver Canucks, potentially even surpassing Elias Pettersson and becoming this group's new first line center, if a deal were to completed between the two sides before the deadline in early March.

While a trade for Tage Thompson would cost quite a lot, likely including assets such as Vancouver's 2026 first round pick, Tom Willander, etc., there's no question that he would be a huge piece for the Canucks and someone that Patrik Allvin shouldn't pass up on if the opportunity presents itself later in the year.