The Buffalo Sabres are a revived franchise in 2025-26, on the verge of not only rectifying 14 straight missed postseasons, but in serious contention to win the Eastern Conference altogether.
A big part of that success has been star forward Alex Tuch, who is third in team scoring with 28 goals and 57 points in 65 games. The 29-year-old is playing on an expiring contract, and could be an unrestricted free agent on July 1 if he doesn't sign a new deal to remain in Western New York between now and then.
Although the hope was that player and club would have agreed to an extension by this point, as Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Thursday, his performance in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs could end up being the decider.
“Buffalo’s new regime’s budged a bit with Alex Tuch, but obviously not enough yet that we’ve got a deal,” the hockey insider wrote in his latest 32 Thoughts column.
“It’s always hardest on the player, but there’s a lot of experience in the negotiations (Jarmo Kekalainen and Josh Flynn on one side, the Bartlett family on the other). No one’s going to panic. Maybe it gets solved before the postseason, but I could see this coming down to playoff performance. If Tuch has a big April, May and/or June, it forces the Sabres' hand.”
Tuch is playing on an ultra team-friendly pact, currently making just $4.75 million. Whether with Buffalo or elsewhere, that number figures to double on his next contract.
Friedman also provided another anecdote on the Sabres' success in the column:
“I think there are a lot of people around the league who are happy to see Buffalo rising. It’s been too long and their fans deserve it. If there’s any question, it is: Can their style work during grind-time? Another challenge: can you make life hard for Rasmus Dahlin, who clearly enjoys making life hard on others? It will be strategy to punish the Dahlin-Mattias Samuelsson pair.”
It's going to be intriguing to see how Tuch and the Sabres fare this spring, but one thing is certain: the KeyBank Center will be rocking come the middle of April.
