Following a heartbreaking Game 7 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens in the second round of the playoffs, the Buffalo Sabres face a monumental question mark regarding one of their core leaders. According to a report from The Hockey News, pending unrestricted free agent Alex Tuch may have played his final game in a Sabres uniform.
Tuch, a Syracuse, N.Y. native, has spent the last five seasons in Buffalo after arriving from Vegas in the 2021 Jack Eichel blockbuster. While Tuch may want to remain with his childhood team, the upcoming free agent class lacks superstar talent, positioning the power forward to potentially strike it rich on the open market.
Back in December, newly appointed Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekalainen emphasized the team’s desire to lock Tuch down. “Now we just have to agree on a number that works for both sides,” Kekalainen stated at the time. However, with July 1 rapidly approaching, that number has become a major mystery, largely due to a polarizing postseason performance.
While Tuch performed well with seven points in a first-round victory over Boston, he was completely held off the scoresheet and went a glaring minus-10 during the seven-game defeat against Montreal. While speculation suggests Tuch was playing through a significant injury that hampered his speed, the rough series could impact his ultimate leverage.
Despite the playoff struggles, Tuch’s teammates remain firmly in his corner. “He’s the ultimate teammate. He’s a leader on this team. He drives the bus for us,” star forward Tage Thompson said. “I would love to see him come back, but obviously, there’s a business side to it. I don’t know where his head’s at.”
With Tuch hitting the 30-goal mark in three of the past four seasons, his rare combination of size and offensive production will make him a hot commodity if Kekalainen cannot bridge the financial gap before the summer market opens.
Now that the Sabers have broken through and did well in the playoffs, they could be a “destination”.
Play hardball with Tuch and offer a $9M x5 contract, tops!
Let Tuch walk and get his $10M+ elsewhere.
Sign Anders Lee, Marchmant or McMann
Respectfully, ONE playoff appearance in FIFTEEN years does not magically morph the frosty climes of Buffalo into a “destination” for anyone except snow shovel salesmen. Let’s get the Sabres past the 2nd round of the playoffs before we get ahead of ourselves.
Tuch is not worth Buffalo paying this guy more than $10-11 million a year until he’s 37 years old. Pack your bags Alex. You’re playing elsewhere next season.
Well this Hab series didn’t help him. Hurt or not you have to produce something. He did not , if he wants 10 million or more I’d say see ya , 9 million 6 years is as far as they should go . And I think that is an overpay . # 94 looks to break in and with plenty of assets to trade for a goal scorer let him go.
If Alex Tuch becomes an unrestricted free agent, there’s likely to be intense competition to secure his services, given that he still has several prime years ahead of him. I estimate his next contract will fall within the $8MM to $10MM range annually, as I’m skeptical about the claims suggesting his AAV could exceed $10MM. Ultimately, pending the market dynamics (location) and team interest will dictate his AAV, making it intriguing to see where Tuch ends up this summer.
Tuch is a huge winger, And, A great player, He was a major part of Buffalo’s success this season, He’s also the Sabres best forward, I do believe however Buffalo will lose the upcoming bidding war.
If Tuch takes all the money then the RFAs like Benson, Krebs and Kesserling will be more likely to get offer sheeted.
Malenstyn probably taken too. Wish he had a game winning goal from last night as a souvenir
Bad timing for Tuch to go stone cold. Good player, but not certainly not elite.
Big fast Good hands Back to Vegas
Nah he’s not what we need.
8 for 5 years sounds right to me. IF he was so injured, they should have sat him down. Certainly someone else could have played that wouldn’t have been -10, or they could have shortened the bench. He was playing regular minutes at a useless level.
So nowhere near as close to BUF as I am to CHI but I’ll admit this strikes me similar to the Mikheyev news did yesterday. Don’t know what the price tag is but would have surely thought team and player would be able to agree. Don’t know what he’s asking but I would think it’s worth it for BUF.
He walks. No 2 ways about it. We covered this the day before yesterday on another article.
Off the top of my head , Washington will likely be right in line to offer him 10 mil for 5-6 years. They were very aggressive to acquire Panarin and I imagine they will be still big game hunting
He has Seattle written all over him.
Sabres need him .. but do they need him bad enough to over sign him ? probably shouldn’t sign him for more then five years at the salary he’ll command .. good chance they lose him if they don’t