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Alex Tuch

East Notes: Sabres Injuries, Stamkos, Steeves

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The Buffalo Sabres issued updates on several key injuries this morning. Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is still day-to-day with an upper-body injury and did not practice with the team this morning. A few moments later, the team announced that goaltender Eric Comrie is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Fortunately, Mike Harrington of TBN Sports shared a video of Alex Tuch practicing in a regular jersey this morning; he has been out of the lineup since their February 24th game against the Florida Panthers.

Going 4-5-1 in their last ten games, the Sabres are beginning to falter in the Eastern Conference playoff race. After their loss last night, they are now seven points behind the New York Islanders, the current holder of the final wild-card spot. With three games in hand, the Sabres are not out of it yet, but the injuries to the back end will not help their playoff aspirations. On the bright side of things, the potential return of Tuch gives Buffalo the ability to put another point-per-game player back into their lineup. In 57 games this year, Tuch has scored 28 goals and 34 assists, helping create a solid trio with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner.

Other notes:

  • In an awkward collision into the boards with new Chicago Blackhawks forward Joey Anderson, Steven Stamkos left yesterday’s game with an apparent leg injury. After getting up, Stamkos appeared to be unable to put any pressure on his left leg, hobbling back to the bench. The Tampa Bay Lightning have given no official update as to the status of Stamkos, but the team did report that head coach Jon Cooper believes he will be “OK”, and they kept him out last night’s game as a precaution. With 16 games remaining in the regular season, the Lightning are battling with the Toronto Maple Leafs for home territory in the first round.
  • In a press release this morning, the Maple Leafs announced that forward Alex Steeves has been recalled from their AHL affiliate Toronto Marlies, a day after he was demoted to the minors. In 55 games this season with the Marlies, Steeves has scored 17 goals and 28 assists. The Maple Leafs have employed him more sparingly throughout the year, playing in only three games with the NHL club, and averaging just under eight minutes of ice time.

 

Buffalo Sabres Recall Vinnie Hinostroza

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In a development that was reported last night, the Buffalo Sabres have placed star winger Alex Tuch on injured reserve. For his place on their active roster, the Sabres have called up winger Vinnie Hinostroza from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans. Tuch is out on a week-to-week basis, while Rasmus Dahlin will also not play today as he deals with a minor inj

Hinostroza cleared waivers on January 19th to be sent to the AHL, and a few days earlier it was reported that the Sabres were making calls around the league to try to find Hinostroza a place to play, as he had spent significant time as a healthy scratch.

Hinostroza ultimately didn’t find an NHL landing spot and reported to the AHL, and now finds himself back on the Sabres’ roster after Tuch’s injury.

The 28-year-old forward has built a solid career for himself as a 2012 sixth-round pick.

He was a point-per-game scorer in college with Notre Dame, and scored 51 points in his first full AHL season, landing him on the Chicago Blackhawks’ NHL roster.

His first 49 games in the NHL were not quite the resounding success he had found in the AHL, and he ended up an up-and-down depth piece until he was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in the Marian Hossa trade.

Hinostroza was quite good in his first season in Arizona, scoring 16 goals and 39 points, but the following year his production declined and the Coyotes let him walk in free agency. He signed with the Florida Panthers in 2020, but was traded to the Blackhawks after playing just nine games in a Panthers uniform. Hinostroza scored 12 points in 17 games with Chicago to close his year on a positive note.

In the Summer of 2021, the Sabres inked Hinostroza to a one-year $1.05MM deal, and he scored 13 goals and 25 points in 62 games, leading to a one-year extension and a modest pay raise to $1.7MM. As mentioned, though, this season Hinostroza has spent time as a healthy scratch, scored eight points in 19 NHL games, and cleared waivers.

Sabres head coach Don Granato could play Hinostroza in Tuch’s vacated role on Buffalo’s top line with Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, or he could opt to plug Rasmus Asplund in a spot lower on the Sabres’ lineup and bump up a winger such as Kyle Okposo, Jack Quinn, or Casey Mittelstadt, leaving Hinostroza a likely healthy scratch.

This recall of Hinostroza gives Granato an additional option, as well as possibly giving Hinostroza another chance to showcase his skills for NHL teams, something especially important for his future as he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Injury Notes: Tuch, Lindgren, Blackwood

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The Buffalo Sabres have placed Alex Tuch on injured reserve, according to Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News. There has been no official announcement from the team as of yet, but one is expected on Sunday morning before the Sabres face the Washington Capitals in an afternoon contest. Tuch did not play late in the Sabres most recent game on Friday night against the Florida Panthers, but stayed on the bench for the final seven minutes without touching the ice. He was listed as a game-time decision heading into that contest after crashing hard into the boards Thursday night in the team’s previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Sabres are pushing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2011. They are currently one point back of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final playoff spot, and are tied with the Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals. Tuch has played a big role in the team’s success this season with 28 goals and 62 points in 57 games. His absence, which will be at least seven days if he is placed on injured reserve, will leave a big hole in the Sabres lineup.

  • New York Rangers defenceman Ryan Lindgren left the team’s afternoon game early today after a questionable hit by T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals. Oshie was not penalized for his hit, but contact appeared to be from behind as Lindgren fell awkwardly into the boards. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported after the game that Lindgren had his left arm in a sling. There was no further update from the team.
  • New Jersey Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood has been out of the lineup since Tuesday when he reportedly tweaked something at practice. The team has been rather quiet about his absence since, but Ryan Novozinsky of NJ Post reports head coach Lindy Ruff says that a timeline on Blackwood’s recovery will be coming soon. Akira Schmid has been called up to fill in and gets the start tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Buffalo Sabres To Name Captain Prior To Regular Season

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The Buffalo Sabres haven’t officially had a captain since just prior to this season when they stripped the title from the injured Jack Eichel prior to an early-season trade to the Vegas Golden Knights. That year-long absence will come to an end soon, though, as newly-extended general manager Kevyn Adams told reporters today that the team will announce their leadership group for 2022-23, including a team captain, prior to the regular season.

As mentioned by The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski in the linked story above, veteran winger Kyle Okposo is the leading candidate for the role, supported by rumors over the offseason. Okposo had his best offensive year as a Sabre despite largely playing in a fourth-line role, cracking the 20-goal mark for the first time since 2015-16 and had 45 points, his highest total in a Sabres jersey. Forming solid chemistry with Zemgus Girgensons, also expected to be named an alternate captain as the longest-tenured Sabre, Okposo’s taken on a de facto leadership role and is becoming an integral part of the team’s voice.

While Okposo has been an alternate captain in Buffalo for the past five seasons, Alex Tuch also jumps out as an obvious candidate for the job. Acquired in the Eichel trade, the Buffalo native had 38 points in 50 games as a Sabre this past year and cemented himself as a top-six fixture.

Speaking today on the team’s leadership group, head coach Don Granato said the following:

I’ll just point out our three older, I think our three oldest guys, are Girgensons, Okposo and Craig Anderson. And they do a tremendous job. They have that presence. And they are in it, obviously, as competitors, but they really have a deep care for helping some other guys achieve more. They don’t fear that this guy might replace me. Which is very uncommon. Whether that is an unconscious thought, or a subconscious thought. Sometimes it’s hard for the older players to really, really help a guy who might replace them or take some ice time away from them. And those three guys there, they love it.

East Notes: Penguins, Tuch, Rangers, Murray

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Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith has turned his season around over the past six weeks, posting a 2.18 GAA along with a .933 SV% in six appearances.  In doing so, Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette suggests that the netminder has done enough for the team to focus on other upgrades at the trade deadline, especially with the list of affordable veteran upgrades being relatively short.  Pittsburgh is currently well into LTIR with winger Jason Zucker set to be back before the end of the season – he resumed skating today, per Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review – so they’re not really able to use his freed-up space at the deadline.  With limited resources, GM Ron Hextall may be better off trying to upgrade a regular depth spot in the lineup over DeSmith, a player who shouldn’t see much (if any) playing time when the playoffs roll around.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • Sabres winger Alex Tuch left today’s game against Los Angeles after crashing into the post. Fortunately, following the game, head coach Don Granato told reporters, including Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News (Twitter link) that the post-game testing was “as positive as it can be”.  Tuch has certainly impressed after being acquired from Vegas and has collected seven goals and 16 assists in 25 games with Buffalo this season.
  • While the Rangers have been perceived as a team that has some quality trade assets, Newsday’s Colin Stephenson questions how many of those can realistically be moved. The situation between Russia and Ukraine raises questions about whether or not a team will be able to get Vitali Kravtsov out of Russia if they were to trade for him while some of their younger roster players that could move in the right trade – such as goalie Alexandar Georgiev and even forward Filip Chytil – have been inconsistent.  Even with those questions, GM Chris Drury still has ample prospect capital to deal from over the next couple of weeks if he wants to add some players to help New York for the playoffs.
  • The Senators have placed goaltender Matt Murray on injured reserve, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link). He had a tough outing against Arizona on Saturday, allowing all eight goals but played the full game.  Anton Forsberg will take over as Ottawa’s starter for the time being while Filip Gustavsson was brought up from AHL Belleville earlier today.  Forsberg has been speculated as a possible trade candidate but if Murray is out for an extended period of time, that could change.

Krebs, Tuch, Bjork Enter COVID Protocol

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So much for the Jack Eichel trade already paying off for the Buffalo Sabres. Just a few days after making their Buffalo debuts, Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch have both been placed in the COVID protocol. Anders Bjork has entered with them.

Krebs and Tuch managed just three games with the Sabres since their recent activation with the two connecting on a powerplay marker in Saturday’s game against the Boston Bruins. They represent the biggest parts of the Eichel trade that went down earlier this season and a huge chunk of the team’s future moving forward.

Bjork too is a regular with the Sabres, though his five points in 29 games are certainly not what the team was hoping for this season. The 25-year-old forward had six in 13 games down the stretch for Buffalo last season but has seen his minutes slashed dramatically and his role on the team diminished.

With Kyle Okposo and Casey Fitzgerald already on the protocol, the Sabres are now severely shorthanded as they wait for the San Jose Sharks to come to town on Thursday. Luckily, the team isn’t scheduled to play again after that game until January 11, meaning several of these players could exit the protocol if they are experiencing no symptoms.

East Notes: Tuch, Red Wings, Sgarbossa, Point, Dauphin

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The Sabres are set to welcome back winger Alex Tuch for their game on Monday, notes Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News.  The 25-year-old was a big part of the Jack Eichel trade but he has yet to play this season after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.  With Vegas, Tuch was used in more of a secondary scoring role but with Buffalo, he should get a chance to play a considerably bigger role.  He was expected to be back in roughly six months and if he does suit up against Columbus, he’ll have gotten back in just under five months.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • When the Red Wings had their pre-holiday break games postponed, some wondered if there may be more positive tests coming from them. That’s indeed the case as the team announced (Twitter link) that centers Pius Suter and Joe Veleno plus winger Sam Gagner along with assistant video coach Jeff Weintraub in COVID protocol.  That brings them up to nine players currently unavailable.
  • Capitals center Michael Sgarbossa was a late scratch from their game tonight against Los Angeles and it turns out that it was COVID-related as the team announced (Twitter link) that he has been placed in COVID protocol. The 29-year-old was coming off a two-point performance on Friday and has three points in seven games with Washington this season.  The Caps did get some good news on that front as well, however, as winger Garnet Hathaway was taken out of protocol.
  • The Lightning could be getting a key player back soon after the holiday break. Head coach Jon Cooper told reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link) that center Brayden Point could be reclassified as day-to-day once they return from the break.  Point has been out with an upper-body injury for just under a month and was off to a strong start to his season before it occurred with 13 points in 16 games.
  • The Canadiens announced that they’ve placed center Laurent Dauphin in COVID protocol. The 26-year-old was recalled two weeks ago and has three points in five games since then including his first NHL goal in over five years.  The team has also shut down their facilities through December 26th.

East Notes: Flyers, WHL Trade, Sabres

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After a summer that featured plenty of roster turnover, the results haven’t been much different for the Flyers in the early going this season.  They missed the playoffs last season and sit seventh in the Metropolitan early on this year which has them out of the postseason mix for the time being.  Despite that, GM Chuck Fletcher was preaching patience at a recent press conference (video link):

I’d really like to see what we have before we start making changes. I don’t feel I’ve been able to see that to this point in time. We’re always looking, I’m talking to teams every day. If there are ways to make us better, we’ll look at it. But right now, if you just look at how we played the first 10 games versus the last 10 games, clearly one segment was way better than the other.

So we’ve shown the ability to play better than how we are right now. That’s the most important thing, we’ve got to get back, we’ve got to get playing better. Then from there, we’ll get a sense of what we really are and then we can make those decisions.

Philadelphia has battled some injury trouble early on (including in tonight’s game with Joel Farabee leaving early) which hasn’t helped their cause and that’s clearly a point of optimism for Fletcher that as their players return, they could get back on track.  However, if that doesn’t happen over the next couple of months or so, they could be a team to keep an eye on before the March 21st trade deadline.

More from the East:

  • A notable trade occurred in the WHL today when Canadiens prospect blueliner Kaiden Guhle was dealt to Edmonton. The 2020 first-round was acquired for a package of four draft picks including two first-rounders plus two players, headlined by 2021 Senators fourth-round selection Carson Latimer.
  • The Sabres are about to get some help from the infirmary as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News relays that center Casey Mittelstadt will return on Thursday against Florida after being injured in the season-opener versus Montreal. Blueliner Jacob Bryson will also return after missing Monday’s contest with a nagging injury.  Meanwhile, winger Alex Tuch skated in a non-contact sweater at practice as he works his way back from offseason shoulder surgery while goaltender Craig Anderson also accompanied the team on their road trip although there remains no timetable for a return from his upper-body injury that has kept him out for a month.

Poll: Grading The Jack Eichel Trade

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It was a saga that dragged on and on (and on) for months but on Thursday, Jack Eichel’s tenure in Buffalo officially came to an end as he was traded with a 2023 third-round pick to Vegas in exchange for winger Alex Tuch, center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round pick.

The Golden Knights had long been speculated as a landing spot for Eichel.  Their desire to add a number one center had been well-known and they’ve had a tendency to find ways to land impact players in the early years of the franchise including the acquisitions of wingers Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty plus the signing of Alex Pietrangelo in free agency.  Now, they have a legitimate top middleman, or at least that’s the hope assuming all goes well with his upcoming surgery.

The fact that Vegas was able to land Eichel without giving up a player from their current roster is impressive but it also is going to create some other challenges down the road from a salary cap perspective.  Eichel joins Pacioretty and Stone on LTIR which keeps them cap-compliant for the next few months at least.  But when they’re all ready to return, they will be well over the Upper Limit and some other moves will need to be made.  Even if one of them stays on LTIR for the rest of the regular season, there’s still 2022-23 and beyond to think about.  They have $78.735MM committed to 11 players for 2022-23, per CapFriendly, with an expected Upper Limit of $82.5MM.  It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that more subtraction needs to come.

Whatever those moves ultimately wind up being will ultimately have to be factored into the cost of this deal for Vegas.  They’ve given up Krebs, Tuch, and the two picks so far but what will the other ramifications be?

Meanwhile, Buffalo’s cap situation was at the exact opposite end to the point where they had to take on Johnny Boychuk’s injured contract from the Islanders merely to get back to the salary floor.  But they were able to move Eichel without taking significant salary commitments back which appeared to be a goal when they started down this path last season.

In Krebs, they hope to have another center to build around alongside Dylan Cozens; the two were both first-rounders back in 2019 (seventh overall for Cozens while Krebs went ten spots later).  The center spot has been the weakness of their quickly-expanding prospect pool and this certainly helps on that front although as is the case with all prospects, things may not go as planned.

As for Tuch, the Sabres add a power forward that has long been perceived as someone that could have another level in him if he had the chance to play a bigger role.  He’ll get that chance with Buffalo and with five years of team control at a reasonable $4.75MM AAV, Tuch will be another long-term building block.

To get two potential top-six pieces plus a pair of draft picks (one being a first-rounder) is by no means a bad return but when you look at Eichel’s track record and how he was supposed to be the focal point of Buffalo’s rebuild, it’s understandable if it feels a little underwhelming as well.  The Sabres are certainly a victim of circumstances here with his neck injury but it’s at least in part by their own design with their unwillingness to allow Eichel’s desired surgery, thereby delaying his return.  Accordingly, there will be a ‘What If?’ element to this trade that will go on for years to come.

It only seems fitting that following all of the uncertainty for months leading up to the eventual trade, there’s still an awful lot of uncertainty even after it was made.  Who else will need to leave Vegas to make the money work and what could have been the return had Sabres GM Kevyn Adams perhaps done things differently?

Of course, we can’t evaluate those scenarios but we can evaluate the trade itself.  How do you feel both teams made out in this swap?  Vote in the polls below to award your grades.

[Mobile links for Vegas and Buffalo]

Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Jack Eichel

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After months of speculation, negotiations, and public frustration, the Jack Eichel saga in Buffalo has come to an end. The Vegas Golden Knights and Buffalo Sabres have both officially announced a trade that will take Eichel to the desert. He will go to Vegas along with a 2023 third-round pick, in exchange for forwards Alex Tuch, Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-round pick.

The first-round selection is top-10 protected and the Sabres did not retain any salary. Should the pick end up in the top 10 after this year’s lottery, the Golden Knights will send their 2023 first-round and 2024 second-round picks instead of the ones listed. In that case, the Sabres’ 2023 third-round selection that is included would also become a 2024 third-rounder. Basically, if it ends up in the top 10, all three picks bump forward a year.

For Buffalo fans, seeing a frustrated first-line center shipped out of town for a collection of assets is certainly familiar but this deal is not the same as the one that took Ryan O’Reilly from them a few years ago.

In that deal, the best young player the team received was Tage Thompson, as both Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka were established talents already on their way out of the league. This time in Tuch and Krebs, the Sabres have secured two players that are still improving and should be able to help the club for much longer.

Tuch, 25, is in the third season of a seven-year, $33.25MM contract that already appears to be one of the most reasonable deals in the league. The 6’4″ forward is a blend of size and skill that’s incredibly difficult to find, and has shown an ability to score at a high level even with limited opportunity. In 55 games last season he scored 18 goals and 33 points despite his most common linemates at even strength being Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar.

In Buffalo, he very well could see much better offensive deployment and end up lining up in the top-six. That’ll have to wait a few months though, as Tuch is recovering from offseason surgery and isn’t expected back in the lineup until January.

Krebs meanwhile will likely step directly into the Sabres forward group, where he’ll take the next steps of his professional career. Still just 20, Krebs was the 17th overall pick in 2019 and has already reached the NHL. While he has yet to score a goal in his 13 career games, there are obvious signs that he can be a valuable contributor and adds another option at center ice for Buffalo.

Adding another first-round pick means the Sabres now have three selections this year after they had already acquired one from the Florida Panthers. Given how many top prospects they already have in the organization, there’s a real chance that Buffalo could have a very quick turnaround and start competing in the next few years.

The question now becomes whether that turnaround will be navigated properly. Buffalo has now seemingly run another star player out of town with poor management and coaching choices, resulting in a situation that could only be resolved by trade. The old adage “whoever gets the best player in the deal, wins” could apply here, as Eichel is certainly a level above Tuch or Krebs when healthy.

Healthy is the concern now for Vegas, but the Golden Knights must obviously believe in the disk replacement surgery that Eichel is after. Whenever he does go under the knife, he still faces a months-long recovery, meaning he won’t be on the ice at T-Mobile for quite some time.

When he does return though, Eichel is exactly the kind of first-line center that the Golden Knights have been looking for since they came into existence. The team has gotten by with the exceptional two-way play of William Karlsson and have worked to turn Chandler Stephenson into a legitimate top-six force, but have never had a player like Eichel that can drive offense at an elite level.

In 375 career games, Eichel has 355 points including breaking the point-per-game threshold in both 2018-19 and 2019-20. He can score at even-strength and on the powerplay–the latter of which is currently 0-18 for the Golden Knights–while logging huge minutes in the middle of the ice. In 2020, Eichel finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting, after scoring 36 goals and 78 points in 68 games.

Of course, to land Eichel the Golden Knights not only had to part with several assets, but will also have to carry his $10MM cap hit for this season and four more. A full no-movement clause also comes into effect next season, as does another $7.5MM signing bonus. The Golden Knights have continuously flirted with the salary cap upper limit, but will now be carrying three players who have a cap hit of at least $8.8MM for the next several years.

Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that there were actually three teams in the Eichel sweepstakes until the end. The Golden Knights, Calgary Flames and, perhaps surprisingly, Carolina Hurricanes all stayed in the talks. The NHL insider does admit that the Hurricanes weren’t close but doesn’t specify whether the Flames ever got near a deal. The report about Matthew Tkachuk yesterday was likely a way to make Vegas put their final offer on the table.

While the winner and loser of today’s deal will be discussed for years to come, one clear beneficiary of the deal is Eichel himself. While the Sabres were holding out for the biggest package possible, the 25-year-old center was dealing with a serious neck injury that needed surgery. Now, finally, he will be able to get his preferred treatment and hopefully resume his career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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