‘You’re excited to be around him’: Thompson on the energy Benson brings to the Sabres

The Buffalo Sabres are preparing to try to make it two years in a row with a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after snapping what had been the longest postseason appearance drought in the NHL last season.

With the franchise mired in such a rough stretch, it didn’t take just a great team on the ice to right the ship, but also a mix of players that could instill much-needed confidence in one another.

A big part of the energy shift came along with the emergence of Zach Benson, who has quickly established himself as one of the top young personalities in the sport.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Thompson joined host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton to discuss the impact that Benson made on the team’s quality and confidence throughout the season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I got caught pretty hard with a headline that made me raise an eyebrow until I realized you were speaking about this player in a very endearing way, but when you were on Chiclets, you described Zach Benson as “probably one of the dumbest human beings I’ve ever met,” but I think anyone who’s been in a locker room has met a guy of that character, but what does that kind of young energy do for you guys? Never mind off the ice, even on the ice, when you see him being just an absolute pitbull going and steaming defensemen on the forecheck, like what does his energy mean for you in Buffalo?

Tage Thompson: Yeah, it’s great. I mean, you know Hutts, the way I am in the locker room. I’m pretty, you know, easy going. I like to keep it definitely a time to be serious, but I feel like especially the seasons that we’ve had in Buffalo. You’ve got to find ways to have fun and come and turn on that, come to the rink. And it’s just, you’re excited to be around and just, Zach’s one of those guys that comes to the rink and it’s just you’re excited to be around him and hear what he has to say… That’s the stuff a lot of people on the outside world don’t get to see, just the stuff that goes in the locker room, the bonds that form, and the importance of guys not only on the ice but the way they are in the locker room, and I think he’s one of those guys that fits so great in our locker room, everyone loves being around him, and then on the ice he backs it up.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…