{"id":483525,"date":"2026-02-22T08:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T08:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/483525\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T08:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T08:37:08","slug":"tuch-kulikov-nosek-zacha-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/483525\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuch, Kulikov, Nosek, Zacha \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Brian La Rose<\/a> |
\n at February 21, 2026 2:29 pm <\/p>\n

While Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen called extending pending UFA winger Alex Tuch<\/a> a top priority after being named to the position, it doesn\u2019t appear progress is being made on that front.\u00a0 In a recent appearance on DFO Live (video link<\/a>), The Fourth Period\u2019s David Pagnotta reported that while the sides remain communicative, they aren\u2019t getting any closer to getting a deal in place.\u00a0 The 29-year-old is in the middle of another strong season, as he has posted 22 goals and 26 assists in 56 games so far.\u00a0 At this point, it\u2019s likely that he\u2019ll more than double his current $4.75MM AAV based on comparable wingers to sign extensions in recent months.\u00a0 But even if Kekalainen isn\u2019t willing to pay that price tag just yet, it\u2019s unlikely that he\u2019d turn around and move Tuch before the March 6th trade deadline with Buffalo in the playoff picture as they look to reach the postseason for the first time since 2011.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:<\/p>\n

The Panthers welcomed a pair of veterans back to practice today. Team reporter Jameson Olive noted (Twitter<\/a> links<\/a>) that defenseman Dmitry Kulikov<\/a> and center Tomas Nosek<\/a> both took part in today\u2019s skate in non-contact jerseys.\u00a0 Kulikov suffered an upper-body injury in the second game of the season and has been out since then.\u00a0 The initial recovery period was expected to be between five and six months so Kulikov may be a little while yet before returning.\u00a0 As for Nosek, he has yet to play this season due to a knee injury.\u00a0 Both players are currently on LTIR and would give the Panthers some depth upgrades for the stretch run once they\u2019re able to return.
\nBruins center Pavel Zacha<\/a> took part in practice today in a regular (contact) jersey, relays Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link<\/a>). The 28-year-old has been working his way back from a concussion and was initially expected to be able to play for the Czechs at the Olympics.\u00a0 Instead, recovery has been slower than expected, causing him to withdraw, and he was in a non-contact sweater as practices resumed this week but this is a step in the right direction.\u00a0 Zacha had 11 points last month before being injured and sits fourth in Boston scoring with 37 points in 54 games this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Brian La Rose | at February 21, 2026 2:29 pm While Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen called extending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[70861,1785,1809,222755,4820,385,47315,99,222756],"class_list":{"0":"post-483525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-alex-tuch","9":"tag-boston-bruins","10":"tag-buffalo-sabres","11":"tag-dmitry-kulikov","12":"tag-florida-panthers","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-pavel-zacha","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tomas-nosek"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}