“I still heard Tuch and the Sabres were apart,” Friedman said. “Now, I don’t know if they talked at all during the playoffs and, who knows, maybe we drop the pod on Friday morning and they announce he’s signing, but I just heard before the playoffs that they were still apart.”\n<\/p>\n
It feels like negotiations have been pretty much stalled since last summer.\n<\/p>\n
Tuch’s reported asking price has remained relatively steady around $10.5 million per season on a long-term extension and it doesn’t seem like Buffalo’s front office, while it was led by either Kevyn Adams (fired in December) or Kekalainen, has been willing to meet those demands<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n The Syracuse native, who grew up rooting for the Sabres, didn’t do himself any favors in the second round of the 2026 NHL Playoffs. He failed to register a single point<\/a> as the Blue and Gold were eliminated by the Montreal Canadiens on a Game 7 overtime goal.\n<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Tuch would still be the best forward available if he hits the open market<\/a> in July, which means at least one team will probably be willing to match his asking price.\n<\/p>\n So, the ball is probably in Buffalo’s court unless the 6-foot-4 power forward has a change of heart and is willing to accept a “hometown discount” to help the organization navigate a tight salary-cap situation.<\/p>\n Alex Tuch contract projection shows Buffalo Sabres star’s demands aren’t unreasonable<\/p>\n Tuch is a unique case because he’s not a player who’s going to produce 90-plus points. His value comes from being a highly dependable secondary scorer and power-play contributor (66 points in 2025-26) while also serving as one of the NHL’s most versatile penalty-killing forwards.\n<\/p>\n So, it’s a little tricky to determine the 2014 first-round pick’s true value.\n<\/p>\n AFP Analytics<\/a> recently dropped its 2026 offseason contract projections, and it pegs Tuch’s next contract at $10.1 million per season over seven years, which is only a tad low than what the two-way winger has been seeking all along.\n<\/p>\n He also benefits from being an impending UFA, which means he’s about six weeks away from creating a bidding war among as many of the league’s 32 teams as possible. That’s always going to drive up the price.\n<\/p>\n It’s still fair to debate whether that’s a doable number for the Sabres, though. They’re projected to have just $12.9 million in cap space entering the summer (via PuckPedia<\/a>), which means giving Tuch what we wants would leave less than $3 million for all of the club’s other business.\n<\/p>\n As a result, Kekalainen would have to pull off other moves to make the roster cap complaint because, at minimum, Buffalo will want to re-sign restricted free agents Zach Benson (who should be targeted for a long-term extension) and Peyton Krebs.\n<\/p>\n That’s without even factoring in trades or signings to upgrade the roster<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n So, it may ultimately be a situation where Tuch is making sure to capitalize on his final opportunity to sign a lucrative max-term contract, while the Sabres simply don’t have the flexibility to make that type of eight-year financial commitment to a player already in his 30s.\n<\/p>\n
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