Alex Tuch contract talks

[ponokasabre]

Mcdavid has just singed his extension, no word yet on AAV, years or total money

[mjd1001]

18 minutes ago, ponokasabre said:

Mcdavid has just singed his extension, no word yet on AAV, years or total money

2 years at $12.5 m per year for McDavid is what is floating out there.

 

[ponokasabre]

11 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

2 years at $12.5 m per year for McDavid is what is floating out there.

 

This helps us in the Tuch negotiations in my honest opionon

[DarthEbriate]

With McDavid and Kaprizov off the market, anyone who does want to wait until next summer as UFA will have that much more money available to them.

[JP51]

1 hour ago, ponokasabre said:

This helps us in the Tuch negotiations in my honest opionon

Does it help, maybe in setting a number range... but does it really with Kaprizov and McD off the market does this make him one of the if not the Premium FA out there in 2026.... I think he tests the market... just my guess... 

[Thorny]

I can’t see the McDavid deal used in any way to artificially lower the value of every new deal now for the foreseeable future. I don’t think people will pretend it’s anything but an anomaly - otherwise he effed over the nhlpa lol 

[Jorcus]

On 9/30/2025 at 10:02 AM, Jorcus said:

 

I know your looking at it from the Sabres point of view as to playing a wait and see how things go with Tuch before the contract extension or trade. If I were Tuch I would probably wait and see how things are going before being tied down to the Sabres. Thing thing about the Sabres you pretty much know what is going to happen by mid January if not sooner. If it's the same old wait till next year I think he would want out even if it ment less money overall. 

I think I am less concerned about Tuch's decline than you might be. He is a very dedicated player who plays all aspects of the game. Good to great players seem to last longer than the middle of the road types. Of players in his birth year class he has played fewer games than many of them at 536. Not sure if that matters but I think I would expect a player of his level to get 900 to 1000 games. That fact he can play any situation would seem to shelter issues as age catches up.

Then there is Florida. Age seems to be of no concern to Bill Zito. I know different team in a different place but it's interesting to look.

Player           age             years left              AAV

 

Barkove      30               5                          10M

Tkachuck    30              5                          9.5M

Reinhart      29               7                          8.6M

Bennet        29               8                           8M

Verhaeghe  30               8                           7M

Marchand   37                5                           5.25M

Jones          30               5                            7M

Ekblad          30              5                            6.1 M

Mikkola         29               8                            5M 

Maybe the writings on the wall with this group, Barkove is out. Tkachuk is out out and to be honest it's pretty much his physical game that makes him a good player because he is not a fast skater. The Verhaghe and Marchand contracts don't look that great on paper. The point is that they have 7 aging contracts and we have none, well one if you count Skinner. An aging Tuch contract should not break us. 

I suspect it gets done in a bit less than the 9M dollar range. AFP has it at 7x8.5M. We will see. 

 

I just added Mikkola to Florida's list as he signed an 5x8 at 29 years old. They are up to 9 long term contracts for players well into the 30's. Time will tell if this does not blow up in Zito's face. 

[nucci]

5 minutes ago, Jorcus said:

 

I just added Mikkola to Florida's list as he signed an 5x8 at 29 years old. They are up to 9 long term contracts for players well into the 30's. Time will tell if this does not blow up in Zito's face. 

They've won 2 Cups in a row. 

[LGR4GM]

17 hours ago, Thorny said:

I can’t see the McDavid deal used in any way to artificially lower the value of every new deal now for the foreseeable future. I don’t think people will pretend it’s anything but an anomaly - otherwise he effed over the nhlpa lol 

Teams will spend too the cap. McDavid deal doesn't change that. 

[Jorcus]

9 minutes ago, nucci said:

They've won 2 Cups in a row. 

True but there is an discussion in this thread about extending players beyond their early thirties. Florida now has 9 contracts that go beyond that. He did not have to make that many of those deals. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Just pointing it out because we have zero contracts like that except the Skinner buyout.  

[French Collection]

Just now, Jorcus said:

 

I just added Mikkola to Florida's list as he signed an 5x8 at 29 years old. They are up to 9 long term contracts for players well into the 30's. Time will tell if this does not blow up in Zito's face. 

I think a lot of this is rewarding people who have been part of the Cup runs and an attempt to extend their window of opportunity by a few years. They could just gradually fade away like Pittsburgh. I prefer this more than the cutthroat approach Vegas took. Pittsburgh should have moved on from their old core before now though but I like that the “wiz” GM Kyle Dubas continues to flounder. I better watch what I say, TP could hire him down the road.

[JohnC]

18 hours ago, Thorny said:

I can’t see the McDavid deal used in any way to artificially lower the value of every new deal now for the foreseeable future. I don’t think people will pretend it’s anything but an anomaly - otherwise he effed over the nhlpa lol 

As you point out, the McDavid deal is a contract that specifically deals to his situation. It made a lot of sense for him to get a bridge deal that will get him to the next NHL elevated financial agreement. The player and his representatives made a deal that they believed was in his best interest. How does this contract affect Tuch? I don't think it does. Tuch is in a much different situation. He's now in his prime and in a few years he will probably be on a downslide. So maybe he would rather lock in a longer-term deal now. What's also interesting is how does the Sabre organization view the Tuch contract scenario. Would they rather give him a bulked up short-term deal or give him a longer deal that will carry them over into the new NHL higher cost landscape? What makes the situation more complicated for all parties is that next year the financial landscape will change and everyone will have to adjust to that richer reality. The players who will be the most affected are players such as Dahlin and Tage who already have signed long-term contracts and will soon have undervalued contracts.     

[Jorcus]

14 minutes ago, JohnC said:

As you point out, the McDavid deal is a contract that specifically deals to his situation. It made a lot of sense for him to get a bridge deal that will get him to the next NHL elevated financial agreement. The player and his representatives made a deal that they believed was in his best interest. How does this contract affect Tuch? I don't think it does. Tuch is in a much different situation. He's now in his prime and in a few years he will probably be on a downslide. So maybe he would rather lock in a longer-term deal now. What's also interesting is how does the Sabre organization view the Tuch contract scenario. Would they rather give him a bulked up short-term deal or give him a longer deal that will carry them over into the new NHL higher cost landscape? What makes the situation more complicated for all parties is that next year the financial landscape will change and everyone will have to adjust to that richer reality. The players who will be the most affected are players such as Dahlin and Tage who already have signed long-term contracts and will soon have undervalued contracts.     

I think the Sabres would like to go less for longer or have a back loaded deal. They have to get over the bad Skinner year, and if they sign Tuch to a shorter 10M plus deal it leaves little room for the RFA's. They would have to dump contracts if everything else stays equal. Still a lot of possibilities but longer for less is the easier path for the Sabres right now.  

[nucci]

58 minutes ago, Jorcus said:

True but there is an discussion in this thread about extending players beyond their early thirties. Florida now has 9 contracts that go beyond that. He did not have to make that many of those deals. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Just pointing it out because we have zero contracts like that except the Skinner buyout.  

ok but maybe they are rewarding players for winning. I don't know but they win and we don't. Hard to compare them to us

[dudacek]

Wasn't going to spend any time worrying about a Tuch deal until the evening of the regular season.

(Checks calendar)

Edited 10 hours ago by dudacek

[PromoTheRobot]

Tuch was chipper at the autograph signing event, chatting up fans, etc. 

[JP51]

4 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Teams will spend too the cap. McDavid deal doesn't change that. 

Most teams will spend to the cap.... 

[LGR4GM]

If Kyle Connor signs for the alleged 12mil x 8 years that's going around, that puts a hard cap impo on what Tuch could ask. But we shall see. At this rate, 10 x 6yrs would be exceptional and 10x 7yrs livable. 

[mjd1001]

23 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If Kyle Connor signs for the alleged 12mil x 8 years that's going around, that puts a hard cap impo on what Tuch could ask. But we shall see. At this rate, 10 x 6yrs would be exceptional and 10x 7yrs livable. 

I don't know how much the comparables will matter...but Kyle Connor: Younger than Tuch, less career injury history, about 100 more career goals, 200 more career points, multiple 40 goal seasons, almost 50 goals in 2021-22......3 points shy of a 100 point season last year..

If he gets 12m, Tuch shouldn't get anything over 10m per year.

[sabremike]

People really don't seem to understand how markets work or the concept of supply and demand:

Pool of top UFA's hitting market shrinks

=

Cost for Tuch goes up.

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

If Kyle Connor signs for the alleged 12mil x 8 years that's going around, that puts a hard cap impo on what Tuch could ask. But we shall see. At this rate, 10 x 6yrs would be exceptional and 10x 7yrs livable. 

It does absolutely no such thing.

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, sabremike said:

People really don't seem to understand how markets work or the concept of supply and demand:

Pool of top UFA's hitting market shrinks

=

Cost for Tuch goes up.

It does absolutely no such thing.

There's a flaw in your logic.

As the pool of UFAs hitting the market shrinks, the cap space available on the market also shrinks.

There's a unique offset this offseason. If Tuch signs with Buffalo b4 July 1, he can sign for 8yrs, however if he goes to UFA to sign elsewhere, he can only sign for 6.

Edited 11 hours ago by LGR4GM

[mjd1001]

7 hours ago, sabremike said:

People really don't seem to understand how markets work or the concept of supply and demand:

Pool of top UFA's hitting market shrinks

=

Cost for Tuch goes up.

It does absolutely no such thing.

Also, as the pool of top UFA's shrink (supply) so does the teams with the will, or money to sign them (Demand).

If Connor chose not to sign in Winnipeg, sure there would be more supply with him on the market, but the also would be more demand (Winnipeg now looking elsehwere to fill that hole.)

Every free agent signed, even with their own team, impacts both supply and demand at the same time in a salary cap league.

Edited 4 hours ago by mjd1001

[French Collection]

Friedman’s 32 Thoughts today mentions that Roy and Pominville thought Erhoff and Leino contracts messed up the Sabres room.

[sabremike]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Also, as the pool of top UFA's shrink (supply) so does the teams with the will, or money to sign them (Demand).

If Connor chose not to sign in Winnipeg, sure there would be more supply with him on the market, but the also would be more demand (Winnipeg now looking elsehwere to fill that hole.)

Every free agent signed, even with their own team, impacts both supply and demand at the same time in a salary cap league.

Winnipeg paid him because they knew if they didn't they were losing him in a bidding war on July 1st. The cap paradigm is completely changing.

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, sabremike said:

Winnipeg paid him because they knew if they didn't they were losing him in a bidding war on July 1st. The cap paradigm is completely changing.

Yes but it's still one less team that can bid him. It's one less team that can bid on Tuch. Also there's 8yrs versus 6. I don't disagree at all about the cap paradigm changing, Tuch is getting a big bag.