Almost as soon as the Buffalo Sabres formally transitioned to a new regime led by Jarmo Kekäläinen, trade speculation had increased around winger Alex Tuch. On last night’s rendition of TSN’s OverDrive, the crew reported that Tuch is seeking a larger extension than what winger Adrian Kempe signed with the Los Angeles Kings.
Understandably, that report only served to increase speculation around the possibility of Tuch being moved from his hometown franchise by this year’s trade deadline. Michael Augello of The Hockey News believes that if the Sabres aren’t interested in going beyond an eight-year, $85MM ($10.625MM AAV) extension for Tuch, they should move on sooner rather than later.
In fairness, if that is where the market is at for top-six wingers, Kempe is the best comparable for Tuch to use. Each player is 29 years old and has averaged around 0.85 points per game since the 2021-22 campaign. Still, unless other moves are made, Buffalo will enter the summer months with just over $21MM in cap space, meaning if they gave Tuch what he wants, they would have already used more than half of their financial resources.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Staying in Buffalo, on Monday’s episode of Oilersnation Everyday, David Pagnotta of TheFourthPeriod asserted that Kekäläinen wasn’t necessarily the Sabres’ first choice last summer. Pagnotta shared that Buffalo reached out to longtime front office leaders: Ken Holland and Lou Lamoriello. Obviously, neither executive moved forward with the Sabres, as Holland joined the Kings as Vice President and General Manager. At the same time, Lamoriello has yet to find a new job after being ousted by the New York Islanders.
- According to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now, defenseman Gustav Forsling wasn’t on the ice with the Florida Panthers this morning for practice. The belief is that Forsling is nursing an arm or hand injury after blocking a shot during Monday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Fortunately, given the line rushes the team was using, there’s no expectation that Forsling will be out long, if at all.
- In the AHL, the Belleville Senators, affiliate of the Ottawa Senators, are making a move at head coach. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch reported that Belleville fired head coach David Bell and has promoted Andrew Campbell in the interim. Bell had been the Senators’ head coach for the last three years, managing a record of 83-69-12-8. The team didn’t qualify for the postseason last year and is currently in fifth place in the North Division.