The Buffalo Sabres have a lot of young up-and-coming players in their organization. On Wednesday, they locked up one of them, Tage Thompson, for a long time.

The Sabres and forward Thompson agreed to a seven-year, $50 million contract extension, the team announced. The 24-year-old had just one year remaining on a three-year contract signed in October 2020.

“Tage Thompson embodies the pride we expect from every player who wears the Buffalo Sabres sweater,” Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said. “His success last season is a testament to his unrelenting dedication to his craft and commitment to bettering the team both on and off the ice, which we believe will help us reach even greater heights moving forward.”

It was an inevitable development between the Sabres and Thompson. Buffalo clearly wanted to get it done, and Thompson certainly wanted to stick with the organization.

“This is a place I want to be at for a very long time,” he said back in May. “I want to be a guy that helps this team win and make the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup, and obviously those are all just words and you've got to put that into action.”

The Sabres acquired Thompson on July 1, 2018. The 24-year-old was part of the trade that sent forward Ryan O'Reilly to the St. Louis Blues. O'Reilly and the Blues would go on to win the Stanley Cup in 2019.

This past season, Thompson flashed the potential many across the league had seen in him. He recorded career-high totals in goals (38), assists (30) and points (68) in 78 games last season.