Buffalo and pending unrestricted free agent winger have been negotiating since last summer and are still far apart on a new contract.
The Buffalo Sabres focus following their elimination from the Stanley Cup Playoffs shifts to contracts of pending free agents, and at the top of the agenda for GM Jarmo Kekalainen is finding out what the future holds for winger Alex Tuch. The 30-year-old become eligible for unrestricted free agency on July 1. Going back to the start of training camp last September, the Sabres and Tuch’s representatives were apart on a new deal, and that is still the case according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday’s 32 Thoughts podcast.
“We had talks with Kevyn Adams and his management staff that didn't progress to where we wanted it to, so we decided to kind of hold off and go through the season a little more," Tuch said at locker cleanout earlier this week. "When Jarmo stepped in, we initially had some good talks, and then they kind of stalled out a little bit. They continued to talk (throughout) the course of the season, and at a point when we were starting with the playoff push, I decided that it was my best interest, and the best interest for the team to put anything like that on hold until after the season was over."
Tuch posted his third 30+ goal season in four years, and had seven points in the first round series against Boston, but went pointless in seven games against the Montreal Canadiens. In spite of that, it is expected that the big forward will attract a significant amount of suitors this summer and with the cap going up to $104 million, could get more than the $10.625 million per season that LA’s Adrian Kempe signed with the Kings for earlier this season.
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“(Alex has) been an important part of our success, he's always giving us the most ice time for any of the forwards, killing penalties, playing power plays, he’s a consistent goal scorer, he's a valuable part of our team, but just like I've told him, and I tell everybody in the same situation, we make our decisions based on how can we make our team better,” Kekalainen said on Wednesday. “We have to come to an agreement that this is the type of contract (where) we can still make our team better, and hopefully we can do that.”
According to Puckpedia, the Sabres have just under $13 million in cap space going into this summer. The club has three restricted free agents in Zach Benson, Peyton Krebs, and Michael Kesselring, and another UFA forward in Beck Malenstyn. Kekalainen indicated a desire to get Benson and defenseman Bowen Byram (who becomes eligible for an extension on July 1) signed to long-term deals, but based on their available cap space, it would be difficult to extend Benson coming off a very impressive playoff performance, and re-sign Tuch for something close to his asking price.
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