Mike Harrington
Sports Columnist
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Alex Tuch has been working hard in practice after missing the first couple of days of training camp with a minor injury, and he returned to game action Saturday when the Buffalo Sabres handled Detroit, 5-2, in KeyBank Center.
Tuch’s presence is notable on the ice at all times and is especially critical on the Sabres’ special teams. He’s a defensive dynamo who can skate and score at a moment’s notice. He’s easily one of the most important players in the dressing room, and probably rates as the most important to the fan base right now, too.
But for now at least, every time you see Tuch on the ice, it’s easy to wonder what’s going to happen with The Contract. It’s one of the biggest questions surrounding this club.
Josh Doan on his mother’s new role within Arizona hockey circles: “She made sure that I had the full hockey experience. She is the ultimate hockey mom, so it’s cool to see her doing this now.”
Tuch is signed for this season but eligible for an extension. No one in his boat has signed one yet. Not Connor McDavid, nor Jack Eichel, nor Kirill Kaprizov, nor Artemi Panarin. And not Los Angeles’ Adrian Kempe, who is coming off a 35-goal, 73-point season and might be the closest equivalent among this group of players to Tuch, who played all 82 games and posted his second career 36-goal season in 2024-25.
When Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams met the media at the start of camp, he made it clear he would have signed Tuch in July if he could have. When Tuch talked to us last week, he gave no hint there were any issues. Talks were ongoing and there are simply market forces at work to stop deals from being done, as both players and GMs are trying to gauge the market going forward with an exploding salary cap.
So what’s holding things up? It’s pretty much what we figured. It’s the money, stupid.
Alex Tuch set up Tage Thompson’s power play goal in his first preseason game, the Buffalo Sabres’ 5-2 preseason win Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and the Athletic wrote Thursday that “the Sabres and Tuch’s camp so far aren’t in the same ballpark as far as what the landscape will look like in the rising-cap world. I would imagine Tuch’s camp sees a double-digit AAV as realistic in that world.”
The thought of Tuch being a $10 million a year player might seem a tad preposterous at first blush. It feels like he’d be more in the $8.5-$9 million range. But then you have to take your second blush if you’re talking some deal in the range of six to eight years.
All of us − and that includes you, Terry Pegula − are going to need to reset our thought processes on what these guys make. Don’t forget the cap ceiling is going to be $113.5 million in just two years after being only $82.5 million as recently as the 2022-23 season.
The Buffalo Sabres will continue their lease at the KeyBank Center for five more years as the team continues to negotiate with the county and other parties for a more modern lease. It’s a process that will likely also involve the state, and possibly the city, and an ask for public funding to help with the arena’s many needs.
What might it be by 2033 or 2034, when a Tuch deal could expire? When will a $10 million Tuch deal start looking like a bargain if guys like McDavid and Eichel and Kaprizov are in the $16-$20 million range?
The Sabres have exactly zero leverage on this one. Tuch is the guy who grew up in suburban Syracuse rooting for the goatheads, dreaming of wearing them one day. There’s just about no one else like him in the league in that respect. KeyBank Center doors aren’t being beaten down by players trying to come here.
Imagine not signing Tuch and having to deal him in March at the trade deadline. You’d lose the fan base and the locker room in one fell swoop. Talk about a franchise-crushing daily double.
Tuch has played at $4.75 million per year for the Sabres on the back half of the contract he brought with him from Vegas. His reps are going to want to make up some of that money he’s certainly owed that he has yet to reap.
Pay the man, Terry. Just do it. Your GM clearly wants to. Your locker room and fan base demands it.
Ice chips
Josh Norris: With an empty-net goal and two assists against the Wings, the No. 1 center continues to look terrific all over the ice. I mentioned on X that “A direct faceoff win by Norris – faceoffs matter – and a snapshot” by Tage Thompson produced an instant goal in the first minute of the second period. A couple of Ottawa Senators fans in my feed started passing the tweet to each other. You could sense their angst about Norris staying healthy and finding his game again in Buffalo.
Ryan Johnson was paired on defense with Conor Timmins, and the Sabres had 56% of the shot attempts and 53% of the expected goals when he was on the ice. Zero hesitation in his game. He’s poised for a huge season in Rochester and a quick option if the Sabres need help. “Aggressive, physical, skated. … He was into people,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “I don’t think people wanted to play against him. I think he irritated some people. I think it’s the way he needs to play to be effective. And I thought tonight was probably one of the best games I’ve seen him play.”
Special teams report: The power play is 3 for 13 in the preseason but 3 for 7 in the last two games. The penalty kill is 8 of 10 in exhibition play. Both units look much more confident than we saw the bulk of last season. Of the power play, Ruff said, “We’re moving the puck around with authority, which is opening up things.”
The Sabres scored five goals Saturday, so fans heard all five of the arena goal song finalists that are available to vote for on the team’s website. If the choice isn’t “Swords of a Thousand Men,” they should riot. It’s got a catchy enough feel, sort of like “Chelsea Dagger” has in Chicago, but it should win almost on the name itself. Swords? Sabres? Come on. A landslide choice.
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Mike Harrington
Sports Columnist
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