Alex Tuch extension (poll)

[jad1]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

He's going to be 30, not 27 when the new contract starts. 

We're discussing that he might be looking for 8 years, not 6 years. 

And how many of those players are below Superstar level but are asking for over 10% of the salary cap in year one? Not many.

Those  facts TOTALLY change the conversation.

If he were 27 years old when the new contract starts and he wanted 6 years? I'd be all for doing that at $11 million per year for him. But that's simply not the case.

Giving up 5 years of what Tuch could contribute to the team because you're worried about his cap number 6-8 years from now is just wrong.

Do you think that the Knights, Panthers, or Lightning give a rat's a## about their salary cap situation six years from now?  Is that how they make decisions?

Tuch isn't a superstar like McDavid, but he's the best player the Sabres will be able to sign over the next few years.

Metrics might say that he's slowing down, but metrics also say that he's 2nd in scoring on the team and contributes to the power play and penalty kill.  He's also a leader.

The time for the rebuild is over.  The time for prioritizing 6 years from now over the next 3 years is over.  The window is now to load the roster.

And thinking outside of the "vacuum," if the Sabres sign Tuch for 8 years at 10.5M, they have their two best forwards (Thompson and Tuch) wrapped up at 18M for the next 5 years on the cap.  That's not bad considering the projected increases in the cap.  It would be a pretty good foundation for a Cup run.

 

[JohnC]

18 hours ago, Doohickie said:

I think Quinn is taking a developmental step (and that's been feeding into the streak), but in my mind the jury's still out on him.  I saw him and JJP untouchable last season yet I think we're better for the trade that moved JJP.  I think Quinn is likely to mature into a good player, but still not sure.  I don't want to trade him, but I'm not going to be crushed if he goes.

If I was in the Quinn jury box 📦 my vote would be to keep him. If you watch him play now you can see how he has transitioned his game to playing a mature two-way game. Although he’ll never be a defensive jaugernaut, you can see him putting in the effort. 
 

The JJP situation is completely different. He didn’t want to be here and wasn’t willing to put in much effort on defense. KA got a great return for him. Looking back, simply getting Doan tipped the deal in our favor. And if you add in Kesserling, the deal was much more favorable to us. KA deserves a lot of credit for the deal.

[Doohickie]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Looking back, simply getting Doan tipped the deal in our favor. And if you add in Kesserling, the deal was much more favorable to us. KA deserves a lot of credit for the deal.

I think both Doan and Kesselring  were players in need of a change of scenery and seem to be thriving (especially Doan) in Buffalo.

[JohnC]

Just now, Doohickie said:

I think both Doan and Kesselring  were players in need of a change of scenery and seem to be thriving (especially Doan) in Buffalo.

Sometimes the change of scenery issue relates to playing time opportunity. Especially for Doan, he is seizing on his playing opportunities. His more rugged and gritty style of play, especially around the net, were attributes that this team desperately needed. This was a great deal for us that helped to better round out the roster.

[SwampD]

I voted to pay Tuch. I would do 8 for 10, but don’t really care, and I really don’t care about 8 years from now. Not doing something now because it may affect something else in the future is what got us to 14 years.

[Doohickie]

On 12/30/2025 at 12:36 PM, JohnC said:

Sometimes the change of scenery issue relates to playing time opportunity. Especially for Doan, he is seizing on his playing opportunities. His more rugged and gritty style of play, especially around the net, were attributes that this team desperately needed. This was a great deal for us that helped to better round out the roster.

I couldn't agree more.  I kind of get the impression that with AZ/UT, Josh Doan was treated like, "Oh, that's just Shane's kid."  Like he was a nepo bro that was only there because of his father, and was never given the full platform to prove himself.  (Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way it seems to me.)

The change of scenery gave him, as you point out, increased opportunity.  If he felt like he was being held back or not being valued in UT, the trade may also have served as a wakeup call for him.  So when he got the ice time he's been highly motivated to prove them wrong.

Edited January 20 by Doohickie

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

I voted to pay Tuch. I would do 8 for 10, but don’t really care, and I really don’t care about 8 years from now. Not doing something now because it may affect something else in the future is what got us to 14 years.

I don't care about 8 year from now either. That least year, or maybe 2, could be bought out. I'm not for giving him a long term deal because I am worried about everything beyond year 2 of a long term contract at close to $11m per year.

And to be clear, all indications, all rumors are he is looking for closer to $11m per year, not 10.

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

He's going to be 30, not 27 when the new contract starts. 

We're discussing that he might be looking for 8 years, not 6 years. 

And how many of those players are below Superstar level but are asking for over 10% of the salary cap in year one? Not many.

Those  facts TOTALLY change the conversation.

If he were 27 years old when the new contract starts and he wanted 6 years? I'd be all for doing that at $11 million per year for him. But that's simply not the case.

I know Tuch is 29, not 27, and looking 8 years, not 6. 

I am saying that looking at your criteria independent of Tuch, the cutoff for players of this ilk is not if  >27 years and not for >6 years.  Which should support you point. 

I also would not do $11M (or $10M) for 8 years.   I'll let Jarmo figure it out, but I want to keep Tuch for this playoff run and then hope the market influences him to stay for less term once he see that else is out there.  

 

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

On 12/29/2025 at 7:11 AM, Dlou said:

Tuch has been a real solid player for the Sabres and have been wanting to keep and sign him to an extension for a while , but I think longer than 6 years is too much at this time 

Welcome.
 

I tend to agree.  They need to sign him.  If they don't it sends a terrible message.  That said, the deal needs to be reasonable and fair for both parties.  Tuch is a team first guy.  He loves Buffalo - basically a native son.  5 years and $40M or so is where I would try to land.

 

[mjd1001]

17 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

Welcome.
 

I tend to agree.  They need to sign him.  If they don't it sends a terrible message.  That said, the deal needs to be reasonable and fair for both parties.  Tuch is a team first guy.  He loves Buffalo - basically a native son.  5 years and $40M or so is where I would try to land.

 

I would absolutely love that deal. 

As much as I might sound negative on resigning him, that's not really the case. I'm negative resigning him on what the rumors are out there... 

And the rumors appear to be strong rumors, coming from multiple places... Some of them  the credible insiders that would have information leaked to them by the team or his agent... So I would tend to call them more reports than rumors. 

That said, he wants the deal that Kempe has. Possibly with even a little bit more money than him.

Edited December 31, 2025 by mjd1001

[Weave]

I am really curious to see how the negotiations with Tuch progress publicly.  The biggest criticism I have heard of Jarmo’s time in Columbus is that he takes contract negotiations personally, and he “negotiated “ in public, which caused hard feelings with certain players.

Will be interesting to see if he’s learned not to do that.

[Brawndo]

I personally would not sign Tuch to the extension he wants particularly with Benson and Doan needing new deals. 

That being said there might be a way that Tuch gets the deal he wants and the Sabres have a way out after five years. It would take Pegula doing something that he has not wanted to in a long time and front loading the contract with signing bonuses. If you look at Kempe’s Deal with the Kings, it does exactly that.

And the buyout is not cost prohibitive and is actually beneficial to the team In the first three seasons and with a rising cap the three million will not be bad in the final three seasons either.

 

[Archie Lee]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

I personally would not sign Tuch to the extension he wants particularly with Benson and Doan needing new deals. 

That being said there might be a way that Tuch gets the deal he wants and the Sabres have a way out after five years. It would take Pegula doing something that he has not wanted to in a long time and front loading the contract with signing bonuses. If you look at Kempe’s Deal with the Kings, it does exactly that.

And the buyout is not cost prohibitive and is actually beneficial to the team In the first three seasons and with a rising cap the three million will not be bad in the final three seasons either.

 

I'm no cap or buyout expert, but there might be a flaw in the buyout calculation.  It is showing the initial cap hit as $5.5 million for the 3 years of the buyout, but that is Kempe's current cap hit.  His actual initial cap hit in those years would be $10.65 million.  

According to Spotrac, if bought out after year 5 the cap hits would be

2031-32  $3,902,778

2032-33  $4,902,778

2033-34  $4,902,778

2034-35  $3,027,778

2035-36   $3,027,778

2036-37    $3,027,778

Edited January 3 by Archie Lee

[EM88]

2 hours ago, Brawndo said:

I personally would not sign Tuch to the extension he wants particularly with Benson and Doan needing new deals. 

That being said there might be a way that Tuch gets the deal he wants and the Sabres have a way out after five years. It would take Pegula doing something that he has not wanted to in a long time and front loading the contract with signing bonuses. If you look at Kempe’s Deal with the Kings, it does exactly that.

And the buyout is not cost prohibitive and is actually beneficial to the team In the first three seasons and with a rising cap the three million will not be bad in the final three seasons either.

 

I like the option of a buyout being do-able. However, I still cannot get my head around a contract that large. If they can get Tuch or force Tuch to taking a bit less per year, it would sure help with signing Doan, Kesserling, Benson, Krebs, Malenstyn and others next year.  

Even if you choose to not sign some of those guys, you still need to sign the replacemens for them.

Edited January 3 by EM88

[Brawndo]

2 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

I'm no cap or buyout expert, but there might be a flaw in the buyout calculation.  It is showing the initial cap hit as $5.5 million for the 3 years of the buyout, but that is Kempe's current cap hit.  His actual initial cap hit in those years would be $10.65 million.  

According to Spotrac, if bought out after year 5 the cap hits would be

2031-32  $3,902,778

2032-33  $4,902,778

2033-34  $4,902,778

2034-35  $3,027,778

2035-36   $3,027,778

2036-37    $3,027,778

Mine were from CapWages-either way I would not sign him to an extension 

[WatchedrookieGilP]

From Barn Burner pod w/Rhett Warrener…

Edited January 9 by WatchedrookieGilP

[Pimlach]

5 minutes ago, WatchedrookieGilP said:

 

This was a waste of time.  The guy on the right blusters about Tuch and Jarmo and ends with "be patient".  

[Carmel Corn]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

This was a waste of time.  The guy on the right blusters about Tuch and Jarmo and ends with "be patient".  

That’s Dreger (I think).  Just not used to seeing him wearing a ball cap.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, WatchedrookieGilP said:

From Barn Burner pod w/Rhett Warrener…

That was a different tone than he was taking with Marty and Duffer recently.

That one gave off a "jarmo wants to sign him" vibe.

Wonder what he's heard in the interim.

[Crusader1969]

I'm still not sold that Tuch is a $10 million plus player.  In today's game against the hurricanes, he was a no show.  Well except for when you saw him allowing Jarvis 2 attempts to put the puck past UPL on their 2nd goal 

good to see that his play wasn't just noticed by some of us 

from the athletic in recap of the game 

2. The Sabres needed more from Alex Tuch. He had zero shot attempts despite nearly 20 minutes of ice time. He also had two giveaways, according to Natural Stat Trick. He’s been one of the Sabres’ best forwards this season with 40 points and a 52 percent on-ice expected goal share. But these are the games when the Sabres need their best players to match the intensity and talent level of the opponent. Tuch is one of the few Sabres with playoff experience, so he should be the one leading the way in these types of games.

[LGR4GM]

If you can flip Tuch for Thomas (meaning move Tuch out an get Thomas in, not in a trade together) I would consider it. 

Tuch will get a high value. You trade him, recoup a 1st, then trade whatever to get Thomas and back fill Tuchs spot.

[Doohickie]

On 12/30/2025 at 11:47 AM, jad1 said:

Do you think that the Knights, Panthers, or Lightning give a rat's a## about their salary cap situation six years from now?

Did they have to suffer with Skinner's contract before finally buying him out?  I mean I'm sure Sabrespace wants to be like the Big Boy teams but old wounds take time to heal.

[Doohickie]

On 12/30/2025 at 12:21 PM, JohnC said:

If I was in the Quinn jury box 📦 my vote would be to keep him. If you watch him play now you can see how he has transitioned his game to playing a mature two-way game. Although he’ll never be a defensive jaugernaut, you can see him putting in the effort. 
 

The JJP situation is completely different. He didn’t want to be here and wasn’t willing to put in much effort on defense. KA got a great return for him. Looking back, simply getting Doan tipped the deal in our favor. And if you add in Kesserling, the deal was much more favorable to us. KA deserves a lot of credit for the deal.

Quinn is still a bit of a whipping boy for the forum, but I think the forum needs that.  One forward and one Dman that absorbs the collective hate of the forum.

I think Quinn has been elevating his game all year and growing into a mature player.  We could trade him to try to upgrade, but if we do he'll end up a middle six player on a good team, like Evan Rodrigues on the Panthers.

I think we all hoped he'd be another dynamic scoring forward and he is at times, but his scoring is streaky.  

[jad1]

57 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

If you can flip Tuch for Thomas (meaning move Tuch out an get Thomas in, not in a trade together) I would consider it. 

Tuch will get a high value. You trade him, recoup a 1st, then trade whatever to get Thomas and back fill Tuchs spot.

The team would still be short a top 6 foward.  And it would probably require another move to stay under the cap this season.

 

[steveoath]

I don’t have an athletic sub. But apparently…..